Page 95 of Have To Be Mine

“We noticed,” Mandy said with a small smile. “But we’re doing it anyway, so buckle up.”

“Mandy,” Elizabeth said again, but she was smiling too. She turned back to me. “We’re worried about Dash. And we’re worried about you.”

I didn’t know what to do with that. When was the last time someone had worried about me? My dad, obviously. But other than him? No one. I’d made sure of it.

“I’m fine,” I said automatically.

“You look like someone kicked your puppy and then stole your lunch money,” Mandy said.

“We saw that picture,” Elizabeth said. “The longing. I still look at Adrian like that.”

“It was a moment that didn’t matter,” I said.

“Looked like it mattered to you two,” Mandy said. “If I was planning your wedding, I would put that as one of the main pictures in your wedding program.”

“It’s complicated,” I said.

“Love always is,” Elizabeth said softly.

They were trying to help, even though they barely knew me. “I don’t know how to do this.”

“Do what?” Elizabeth asked.

“Any of it. Relationships. Feelings. Talking about relationships and feelings. It’s just not my thing.”

“You could make it be,” Mandy said.

“Look, Dash is fun but nothing serious would ever work between us,” I said bitterly. “I’m rarely home. I travel. He travels. It’s just not in the cards.”

“Well, not with that attitude,” Mandy insisted.

I took a deep breath. “Ladies, thank you, but I have to go.”

“Maybe you guys will connect back in the city,” Elizabeth said.

I got to my feet. “Yeah, maybe. It was nice meeting you all. Sincerely. Thank you.”

I was gone before the tears burning the backs of my eyes could slide down my cheeks.

I made it back to the villa and tossed my things in my bag. I left the Blackwell stuff. It wasn’t mine. They had already paid me. I would never wear it anyway. There was only one man I wanted to dress up for, and I was leaving him behind in Europe.

I grabbed my luggage from the villa and didn’t look back. I couldn’t. If I stopped moving, if I let myself think about what I was doing, I would fall apart completely.

The car I had called for was waiting outside. I threw my bags in the trunk before climbing into the backseat. “Ferry terminal, please and thank you.”

He nodded and pulled away from the curb. I kept my eyes forward, refusing to glance back at the villa. Refusing to think about Dash, who would eventually figure out that I’d left without saying goodbye.

I hoped he would understand I was trying to spare us both. I wasn’t trying to be cruel.

We’d been driving for maybe ten minutes when the first drops hit the windshield. Just a few at first, then more. Then it was coming down in sheets so thick I could barely see through the window.

“What the hell?” I muttered.

The driver whistled low. “This is not good. It’s very unusual for this time of year.”

I looked up at the sky through the window. It had gone from brilliant blue to an angry gray in what felt like seconds. Thunder rumbled somewhere in the distance. I felt it in my chest.

“The gods are unsettled,” the driver said, his tone almost reverent.