Page 95 of Pick Me This Time

Fiona gave me a sweet smile, but I saw the possessive satisfaction brimming in her eyes. She always had been like a dog that had marked her territory with Sterling, and it looked like that hadn’t changed. I was still Eric’s sister, and as a result, it seemed she still didn’t like the fact that it meant I was in Sterling’s proximity so often.

If only she knew.

Not that it mattered.

If he was getting drinks with her, it meant he’d changed the tune he’d been singing the last time I’d asked about the two of them. With tears suddenly rushing to my eyes, I gave her a quick wave and spun around, dodging bodies and keeping my head down as I hurried toward the exit.

My insides felt heavier than they should’ve on my way home. These last few days, I’d been feeling like I was being held together by spit and tape and those flimsy bonds were coming undone. This was all too much for me. I was going to fall apart unless I could do something about this feeling inside.

I just didn’t know how to fix it.

Why, oh why did I allow myself to get into this mess with Sterling?

I collapsed into the driver’s seat of my truck. Wrapping my fingers around the steering wheel, I fought the sobs rising up and screwed my eyes shut against the tears. It had been so stupid to get involved with a man I knew wouldn’t be sticking around, and even more so to let my heart into the mix.

I hadn’t been able to help it, but it really had been reckless. As I drove home, my vision slightly blurry with the tears I was desperately trying to swallow, I felt like a complete fool.

I’d been perfectly happy before. There had been no reason to jump into something this complicated and I’d known it all along.

Parking in front of our house, I sniffed and wiped my eyes, practically feeling the tape starting to come loose around my heart.

Any minute now, I was going to start crying and not be able to stop, so I jumped out of the truck, needing to make it to the privacy of my house before that happened. Valiantly making it out around the house, through the garden gate, and to my parents’ patio before the tears started falling, I didn’t even see my mom sitting out there until she spoke.

“Daphne, honey? What happened?”

My head jerked in the direction of the patio, and there was she was, lounging in an armchair with a book open in her lap. Her brow was furrowed, her kind eyes sweeping across my face before she closed the book and got up.

“Did Eric say something to you?” she asked gently as she approached me, her arms already open to pull me into them. “Or was it Sterling?”

I shook my head. “Neither. It was Fiona. She says she and Sterling are having drinks and I just…” I trailed off, the lump in my throat so big that it was making my voice crackly and wobbly. “I can’t, Mom. This is all just way too much drama for me.”

She hugged me tightly, enveloping me in her warmth and understanding, and held me for a long time while I wept. Rubbing my back in a circular motion with the flat of her palm just like she used to when I was a kid, she shushed me gently, just comforting me until I finally stepped out of her embrace.

When I did, she ran her hands up my arms and rested them firmly on my shoulders, looking right into my eyes as she spoke. “If Sterling is what you want, then you know I’m supportive of you two, but you can’t walk away at the first sign of trouble, darling. Relationships are hard.”

“I know, but I don’t think that really matters anymore anyway. I haven’t heard a peep from him since he ran after Eric, and if he’s agreed to a date with Fiona, then I’m pretty sure I have my answer.”

Mom’s gaze held mine. “You don’t know that it’s a date. You don’t even know if it’s true. Just breathe, baby. Fiona was always a nasty little witch.”

“Mom!”

She shrugged. “What? I said witch.”

I dragged in a deep breath through my nostrils, holding it in for a moment before I shook my head. “I don’t have time to worry about this kind of thing. I have another shift at the bakery tomorrow and we’re too busy for me to be dealing with personal crap. Then it’s all hands on deck to help get ready for the reunion and the parade. I need to focus on that.”

“Whatever you need, baby girl. Just don’t give up, okay? Take a break. Maybe take a bath. But don’t give up. If you want to be with Sterling, then you need to keep your chin up and your wits about you. None of this so-called drama is between you two. It’s Eric, and it’s Fiona, and it’s logistics, but only you know what you guys have. It’s up to you to decide whether you’re going to fight for it.”

With those parting words, she let go of me and I nodded, sniffling some more. I trudged to my house and decided to take her advice about that bath. If it was up to me, I would’ve fought for us. I just didn’t know if there was anything left worth fighting for.