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Their goldendoodles…
I don’t even have a fish.
Jack Sparrow died even though Hannah, a freaking scientist, was taking good care of him. He didn’t stand a chance, belonging to me. He was cursed. Just like the rest of them.
I’m totally, utterly, alone. Just like I was my entire childhood, almost my entire adulthood. The curse following me around like a cloud, keeping me from having anyone in my life to love with my whole heart. No man, no baby.
He hasn’t even called…
I know, I know. I told him to forget me. I wanted to protect him from my curse. But as the days went by, I couldn’t help but to sit near the phone. Check that it was charged. Double-checked to be sure my ringer was on. He didn’t call. He hasn’t pursued me.
I finger the beautiful little flower encased in glass that hangs from the chain around my neck. White petals surround its cheery yellow core. It reminds me of the sun. I’ve not yet taken it off since he clasped it around my neck, only for showers to protect it from the water, but as soon as my skin is dry, it goes right back on.
I thought about changing my mind. Calling him. Telling him I was wrong, and my little pink vibrator misses his sexy voice.
But I can’t. I’ve never, ever been able to be the pursuer. I know when I’m not wanted. I had an entire childhood of experience with it. I’ve never been one to burden someone with my presence. I didn’t beg my own mother to want me.
Why would I bother a man I barely know?
She-devil says,Because you’re sitting here on your lonely ass which is expanding by the moment from the pounds of chocolate you’re inhaling, and it’s your fault because you told your soulmate to leave you alone.
Would it be so weird? To call him? To tell him I’ve made a mistake?
Because right now, being without him is more painful than losing the other two combined.
I shoot him a text. Two little words that sum up my pain.
Missing you
My phone rings, instantly.
My heart lifts in my chest, a smile spreading across my face. I feel giddy, like a little kid getting a present. “It’s him!”
I clear the chocolate and tears from my throat. “Hello?”
“Charlie, it’s Ashely. Calling from Nikolaos’s phone.”
That’s strange. Why would she be answering his phone? My mind instantly goes to my past. “Is he okay?”
Her professional tone is clipped, as if she’s trying to contain her emotions. “Charlie, you should sit down. I need to tell you something.”
“Ashely?” My fingers tighten around the phone. “What is it?”
“It’s Nikolaos. He’s hurt.”
My heart sinks. My voice rises in pitch with each word. “What? When? What happened?”
“Last night. We didn’t know if he was going to make it through the night, but thanks to his stubborn will and Dr. Williams, he’s pulling through.” She talks fast. I catch the words island, gunman, shot. This can’t be true. What she’s saying… it’s not true. My head spins trying to process what she’s telling me.
I stayed away. I tried to stay away to keep him safe. And still, the curse reached him? I never should have danced with him at that wedding. Gone down to that alley. Got in his car and rode to that island…
Ashely is still talking, but the words land like cotton balls, thick and soft, their lines blurred.
Then she says something that rings clear as a bell in my mind.
“The last thing he said…” Her voice breaks. “Was your name.”
22
