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“It’s called a lie of omission.”
“You’re wrong. You know I was with her and I’m not telling you I wasn’t. But I can’t tell youwhy. It’s not for me to tell you. It’s not my story.”
“Okay.” She might be acknowledging, but she certainly wasn’t relenting.
“Starfish, come on! Give me half a fucking break here.”
Her shoulders sagged. “Fine.”
“Fine?”
“Fine. I’ll give you a break. It doesn’t mean we’re a-okay.”
Better than what she’d been giving me for the past few months. “Will you come in so we can talk?”
She shook her head. “I can’t. I’m late for a dinner date.”
“What?” A barrage of emotions slammed through me at once. Topmost were fear and anger. I’d end the guy. Starfish wasmine.
“Calm down. You’re practically hulking out over there.”
“Calm down? Can you blame me?” I cut in.
“Dinner and drinks with Carla and Keyton, not some guy,” she said, annoyed and sounding a little condescending. “I’m not interested in a relationship or meaningless sex. Six months after you seems way too soon for anything, anyway.”
“Sixty years from now will still be too soon. I’m not going anywhere.”
“I can’t say the same is true for me. I’m… I’m not planning to stay in Sizzle Beach.”
I shook my head, almost wondering if confusion from earlier was setting in again. “What do you mean? Your family is here. Your friends and everything you know are here.”
I’m here.
Her head shook. “I really have to go, Felix. We’ll talk tomorrow, okay? I promise.” Her eyes met mine. “And you know I can’t lie to you, either. I promise we’ll talk tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
What else could I say? I couldn’t keep her hostage here in the Jeep, even as much as I might want to. She’d already surrendered her entire afternoon and early evening to me.
With a heavy heart, I opened the door and stepped out. Everything in me protested. There was my girl. We’d been so close. And now, I was letting her drive away with everything still a mess between us.
She didn’t pull away until I’d walked inside my building. My feet were like lead, and I barely had the will to climb the two flights of stairs to my third floor apartment. The temptation to just sink down onto the steps and stay there was almost too great.
How pathetic was I? I had to do better. I’d almost died today because I’d allowed myself to spiral into a numb oblivion where I didn’t mind my health, I drank too much, and I slept too little. All while eating any nutritionally bankrupt food I wanted.
After what seemed an eternity, I hauled my ass up to my apartment. Knowing I shouldn’t be this tired, I scrounged around for my monitoring device so I could check my levels. The tattoo on my arm was still brown, so clearly they were still high, even if they had been lowered enough for the hospital to release me.
Sinking onto a stool at the counter, I unzipped the zipper in the case and pushed the button to turn on my glucose meter. Dead.
I dropped my head into my hand. The battery was dead. If that wasn’t a metaphor for my life, I wasn’t sure what was.
Chapter Four
~ Breezy ~
“Girl. Start talking,” Keyton said when I sank into my chair at Sanchez, a little off-main street Mexican restaurant where we could have apps and margaritas. It didn’t escape my attention that her man, Wade, who was also my co-worker, sat at a table on the other side of the room. His companion was Carla’s new husband, Jake.
“Seriously, guys?” I asked. “I thought this was girls night.”
