AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER26
Beth burstinto Lacy’s room at ten the next morning. Lacy had been awake since six when she heard Jonah leaving. His footsteps had lingered outside her door for what seemed like an eternity while she held herself from running to open it.
She didn’t want to move from her bed because as soon as she left this room, reality would smack her in the face again. Jonah had left. Her chest ached where her heart used to be.
Beth dropped her suitcase and closed the door behind her. Her shoes must have been out by the door. She climbed up on the bed and laid down facing Lacy. She mirrored Lacy’s pose: hands beneath her face, laying on her side.
“Want to talk about it?” Beth’s voice opened up a fresh wave of tears.
Beth drew Lacy into her arms and rubbed her back. She made shushing noises, not for Lacy to be quiet, but comforting her. Lacy released the tension in her body and let Beth hold her. This wasn’t the first time one of them had to be the support for the other and it probably wouldn’t be the last.
“I told him I loved him and then I told him fuck you,” Lacy said through her tears. She’d been sober enough to remember everything from when they headed home. But not sober enough to stop from spilling her heart onto the floor at Jonah’s feet while he stared at her helplessly. “I’m thinking of taking up day drinking.”
Beth chuckled. “Maybe just for today, but let’s not make it a habit. Is the coast clear?”
“Do you mean has Jonah left?” Lacy peeked up at Beth. The hollow feeling in her chest widened.
Beth nodded, looking at the door like a fierce mama bear ready to take down a lion to keep Lacy safe.
“He left hours ago.” Lacy dropped her head down on her pillow. “Thank you for coming.”
“Of course, I’d come. This is huge for you and I want all the details. But first, what stage are we at?”
Lacy blinked up at Beth. “Stage?”
“I’m assuming the crying stage, but have we gotten to the angry crying stage yet?” Beth settled into the bed more. She made faces to go along with her speech. “Are we to the play break up songs that make us cry or break up songs that make us swear at the guy? Do we need alcohol, chocolate, or ice cream?”
“I have to chose?” Lacy smiled as the tears started to dry up.
“Nah, no choosing. You want it all? I make a mean mud slide as long as you have a blender.” Beth’s smile slipped as tears started to flow more. “Crap, what did I say?”
“Blender,” Lacy said into her pillow. This was ridiculous, but she couldn’t help it. Every piece of her was broken right now. She shouldn’t cry because Jonah woke her up with the blender and made her coffee every morning. She definitely shouldn’t be crying because Jonah wasn’t here to run the blender and wake her up. But she was.
“Okay, this is going to be a long day.” Beth blew out a breath. “I’m going to check to see if Sophie wants to hang out with us today.”
Beth pressed a kiss to Lacy’s forehead and shoved a handful of tissues at her before heading out the door. When the door shut, Lacy could hear the murmur of their voices outside it. She rolled onto her back and blew her nose. Last night she’d tugged on some pajamas, not really caring what they were. She’d discovered earlier they were the kitten pajamas she’d met Jonah in. And yes, earlier she’d cried about that. Gah, ridiculous.
Jonah was probably still on a plane. She picked up her phone and saw a notification that multiple text messages had come in. She opened it and saw messages from Logan, Claire, even Emily, and then Jonah. Her heart stopped for a moment.
Beth came in and stopped cold. “Why do you look like you saw a ghost?”
Lacy held out her phone to Beth. She couldn’t deal with this. Beth scrolled down.
“Emily wanted to check to make sure you are feeling okay. Claire says fuck guys. They’re all assholes.” Beth glanced up. “I like Claire. Logan wants to know if you wanna go watch a game on Sunday.
“Why is Logan texting you?” Beth again looked at Lacy. “I definitely need to be caught up to speed.”
She clicked on the final text and Lacy held her breath. Beth’s face gave nothing away.
“Just tell me.” Lacy hugged the pillow that still smelled like Jonah to her chest and braced herself for something truly awful. After all, she’d been mean last night. She hadn’t wanted to tell him she loved him because it would ruin everything. But everything had already been ruined.
“It doesn’t even make sense.” Beth shrugged and held the phone out for Lacy to look at it.
Stay fierce, little bird.
* * *
“Hey, Dad,”Jonah yelled as he entered his father’s condo. He set his bag inside the door and tossed the keys to his rental car onto the console table. Leaving this morning had been more difficult than he’d expected. Especially not saying goodbye to Lacy, knowing she was pissed at him.
