Page 27 of Touch of Heartache


Font Size:  

For an irrational moment, her eyes fell on the worn Tildy Tapir plush by the pillows on her bed. She’d been in the box with her things along with a note from Grandma Violet that she hoped “Tildy Tapir makes your dreams cometrue.”

Lilac vomited again, all joy lost and all dreamsbroken.

* * *

When Lilac goton Skype the next morning, she wanted to ask Gavin to tell her about his bad date, to offer support where she could. She wanted to keep him distracted—keep herself distracted—with whatever tale he had to tell about Brielle and Pembroke going at it—squabbling while she’d had that filth’s hand down her bra—but she’d started crying almost the second she, Gavin, and Brielle had all exchanged theirhellos.

“Whoa,” said Brielle. “What’s wrong, Li? Are youokay?”

“I’m… I’m sick,” said Lilac, brushing tears from her eyes. “I… I got food poisoning lastnight.”

“Aw,” said Gavin, and he seemed genuinelyconcerned.

“That sucks,” said Brielle. She didn’t seem dismissive, but she seemed distracted. Her eyes kept gazing off to the side of her bed, where there was a stack of thinbooks.

“What are those?” asked Lilac, grabbing a tissue and wiping her nose withit.

“Graphic novels,” saidBrielle.

“Somebodygot to go on a date with her hot comic artist client last night,” said Gavin. He winked at thescreen.

“It wasn’t a date, really.” Brielle laughed and tucked a bit of hair behind her ear. “Or it sort of was, but it wasnotjust the two of us and oh my god, Lilac, did Gavin tell you aboutPembroke?”

Lilac ought to have cared about Pembroke. Part of her really did want to know what had gone on and why she was the only one out of the loop. But then the thought struck her that she knewexactlywhy she was out of the loop because she remembered what she had been up to while this had all gone on and so she started sobbingharder.

“Lilac!” said Gavin, all sweetness. “What’s wrong, honey? This can’t just be food poisoning, canit?”

“It is,” said Lilac, choking a bit on herwords.

“Lilac,” said Brielle. “What’s going on?Seriously.”

Lilac dabbed her eyes, deciding part of the truth would suffice. “I shouldn’t have come here. I shouldn’t have blown away all the hard work I’d done to become a teacher, I shouldn’t have thought I could be happyhere—”

“Told you,” snapped Brielle, entirely unhelpfully. “I could have told you you’d regret it even before you went off like that on awhim.”

“Brielle, I know you mean well, but that’s not really helpful,” saidGavin.

Lilac could feel that bitter anger burning behind her eyes again. “So I was stupid? Does that make you happy? For me to say I was stupid to do this stupid thing?” Her breathhitched.

Brielle actually had the audacity to look concerned. “Whoa, okay, look, I’m sorry. Let’s just… Take deep breaths. You’ve only been there a week. Give it time before you make another rashdecision—”

Lilac wanted to throw the phone across the room and scream. Instead, she grit her teeth and smiled sweetly, saying, “Yup. That’s me. Rash Lilac. Look, I have to go. Talk later. Bye,” and then swiped the call off before they could respond. She settled for tossing the phone—hard—into her purse, grabbing her keys and heading toward thedoor.

At the entryway, she hesitated, not knowing where she was going. “I’m going for a walk!” she cried over her shoulder to Aunt Frankie, who was at the kitchen table, reading off her tablet. She was sure she could find a park or a beach or something. She didn’t care that she was still in yoga pants, a tank top, and a sweatshirt. She didn’t care about applying sunscreen or grabbing asunhat.

“Are you sure you’re feeling well enough?” asked Frankie. “Maybe you should rest today so you’re ready fortomorrow.”

“I’m fine,” lied Lilac, slamming the door behindher.

Chapter Eight

Nolan hada tradition after work on Sundays, even though it was technically the first work day of the week forhim.

He’d take his time after ending his shift and follow a routine: showering in the locker room, stopping by someplace to get dinner for himself, and then heading to a bar—usually alone—and just enjoying the last hour or two he’d have to himself for the rest of theweek.

Not a bar at Tildy World, of course. He got as far away from there as he could for this moment ofquiet.

There was a bar within a twenty-minute walk from his house. He’d often park the car at home and just walk there—his dad, if he knew what he did, certainly never called him on it. He seemed to realize that Sunday was the one day he needed to take charge of Willow and Landon, the one day he could manage to step up to the plate and give his eldest son some peace. They often weren’t even home when Nolan dropped off the car after his shift. Their dad couldn’t cook even if his life had depended on it, so he usually took the kids out, even if just for fastfood.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
Articles you may like