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When would God give her a break?
She’d thought Serenity had been that break, but she’d been so wrong.
In the morning, she would try to gather herself together. But that night, grief once again demanded its pound of flesh from her broken heart.
When morning came, Aria’s eyes were gritty and swollen from crying, and she was a mess. She laid there for a moment, hoping that everything had just been a bad dream, but the lumpy mattress beneath her squashed that thought pretty quickly.
As she lay under the thin blanket, Aria stared at her phone where it lay on the worn nightstand. She’d plugged it in, so it was fully charged, but she still hadn’t turned on the cell or data.
She still wasn’t sure that she had the strength to listen or read the messages on it. Or maybe she was afraid that there wouldn’t be any messages once they’d discovered she was gone.
Aria’s chest tightened at the thought. She pulled her arms in tightly, curling into a ball. Fresh pain flooded every cell in her body, layering over the existing pain of losing her mom.
For a brief moment of time, she had felt like she had a place in the world once again. That she had people she could rely on. The Halversons had welcomed her into their world without hesitation. She wanted to go back to Serenity. She wanted to see Gareth and explain everything.
But she was too ashamed of herself and her actions.
Gareth was such an amazing man, and the last thing she wanted was to see the disgust on his face when he found out what she’d done. There was no way he’d want to be with her after that.
Aria couldn’t help but wonder if Nora planned to tell everyone what she’d done. Or maybe Nora would pretend that she had no idea why Aria had abandoned her job at the clinic.
Those thoughts did nothing to ease her pain, and she knew that she needed to accept that her employment in Serenity had been granted under false pretenses. It had never been truly hers.
And yet, she couldn’t seem to move further away from the place that held her heart. So when it neared checkout time, Aria crawled from the bed and got dressed to go to the office to let them know she was staying an extra day.
Given that there weren’t many cars in the parking lot, it wasn’t a surprise when the college-aged woman in the office said it was fine for her to stay in her room for another night.
“There’s coffee and muffins if you’d like some,” the young woman said with a friendly smile. She had also been working the day before when Aria had checked in. “And there are cookies, too. We get all of it fresh from the bakery in town.”
Aria glanced at the cute setup on the buffet against the wall. Her appetite was non-existent at the moment, but Aria was sure that at some point, she’d need to eat.
“Take as much as you’d like,” the woman said as Aria walked over to the buffet. “We didn’t have a lot of people here last night.”
“Thank you.” Aria poured some coffee into a large disposable cup that came with a lid. “This is very nice.”
“We try.” The woman paused, then said, “Are you okay?”
Aria looked up from where she was doctoring her coffee. “What do you mean?”
“You look… sad,” she said. “Is everything alright?”
Aria hadn’t expected a stranger to pick up on her emotional state. “Oh… uh… Life has kind of kicked me over the last few days.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. I hope you feel better soon.”
Aria tried to give her a smile, but it felt like too much effort. “Such is life, huh?”
“That’s true,” the woman said as she got up and came over to the buffet. She reached out and grabbed a cookie. “But that doesn’t make it any easier. I lost my mom five months ago, and it’s been hard not to let my grief drown me. Thankfully, I still have my dad and siblings.”
“You’re very fortunate,” Aria said, clutching her cup in both hands. “When my mom passed away a year ago, I had no one else.”
The woman’s brow furrowed. “Is that what you’re struggling with?”
Aria shrugged, then lifted the cup to take a sip, savoring the warmth. “It will always be something I struggle with, and it has certainly compounded other struggles recently.”
The woman nodded. “My mom’s death has made everything harder. Situations I could deal with before are more complicated now. I was away at college, and I had to come home after she died. School was too hard. Life was too hard.”
Aria understood that feeling, but at least the young woman had family around to share the weight of grief. “Is this motel owned by your family?”
