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“Daph...”A light knock on my door pulls me from the warmth of my dream. I was building a sandcastle on the beach while my mother laughed at something I said. It wasn’t so much a dream as a vivid memory from my childhood. And whoever insists on knocking again isn’t allowing me to slip back into my happy place.
Dammit.
I ignore my intruder and pull my pillow over my head when the door creaks open, listening as someone walks gently into my room. It’s not Maddie. She’s already over my pity party. She told me yesterday that pity was a self-indulgent luxury, and since I no longer had that option, it was time to get up and go to work.
Mads isn’t a sugarcoater.
According to her, that’s another luxury she’s never had.
It seems calling off work the day after my dad dropped his bomb was acceptable, even though I was a coward who sent an email instead of picking up the phone. But apparently, you only get one day of mourning when your father upends your entire life. The fact that I’ve now taken two and still don’t want to face my life is unacceptable. When the bed shifts under the weight of my intruder, I peek out from under my pillow.
Carys has pulled her legs up in front of her chest and is tugging at my duvet.
“Go away,” I moan.
She ignores me and turns from gentle to bulldozer in about two point two seconds, yanking my duvet from me and tossing it to the floor. “Don’t think I can do that, D. Time to get up.”
“No.” I swing a pillow back at my best friend, and the bitch laughs and snatches that away too.
“You’re going to get up, get in the shower, and go to work. You’ve had two days to wallow. And I get that may not be enough to unpack everything you’re dealing with, but life goes on, Daph. You’ve got to get the hell out of bed.” She sniffs the air, then covers her face. “Definitely take a damn shower. You stink. Come on.”
“You’re not going away, are you?”
She grins and shakes her head.
“Fine.” I swing my legs over the side of the bed. “What time is it?”
Carys scooches her butt further down the bed until she’s sitting next to me. “Too fucking early for me to be here convincing you to go to work. Yet, here I am. Don’t make me get Dixon in here because I bet I could convince him to throw you in the shower if I need to.” She wraps her pale arm around my shoulder and leans her head against mine. “Maybe you could convince him to shower with you. He’s gorgeous, after all. Shame to let all that go to waste.” With one more gentle squeeze, she hops off the bed and offers me her hands. “Now. Get. Up.”
“Carys...”
“Nope. No whining. Get. Up.” She takes my hands in hers and pulls me up, then walks into my adjoining bathroom. The shower turns on, and steam quickly starts to billow from the open door before she returns and throws a towel at me. “You’ve got one minute before I open your bedroom door and ask Dixon for help. And just saying... I think he’d be really happy to help you, D.”
I reach forward and smack her with the towel. “That’s the last thing I’m thinking about right now, C.”
“Men suck, but they’re a lot of fun.” She tugs my arm until I follow her into the bathroom. “Life goes on. It has to. Now, shower and brush your damn teeth, please. Then get dressed. You’re going to work today if I have to drive you there myself.”
“Fine.” I stomp my foot like a toddler. “But I’m going to remember this the next time you and he who shall not be named break up.” I take off my night shirt and throw it at her face. Nothing she hasn’t seen before. “No sympathy from me.”
Carys laughs, but the sound is forced and laced with regret. “We’d have to get back together for us to break up again, D. And we’re not getting back together. I fucked it up this time, and I’m not even sure why. I’m so fucking stubborn.” And I’m an ass for bringing him up. “You’re going to work today, and tomorrow night, we’re going out. I think we need drinks to deal with the dumpster fires our lives have become.”
“Fine. But you’re buying. I’m poor.”
Carys picks my nightshirt up from the floor and tosses it in the hamper before agreeing.
The door clicks shut behind her, and I thank God for my tribe.
As I kick off my panties and step under the hot spray, I consider crawling back under the covers and hiding for one more day, but I know the girls are right. I’ve got to get up and get functioning.
I need my job now, more than ever before.
The team my mom and grandpa loved. That he sold.
And here, in the privacy of my shower, I slide down the wall and let the hot spray wash away my tears for everything I’ve lost one last time. I won’t give him any more of my tears.
Not today.
Not ever.
