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Asher looked up at the departure board and saw his flight was on time and that they’d be boarding shortly. “I have to get going. Make sure you message me.” He leaned in and kissed me.
“I will. Safe flight, okay.”
“You be safe getting back to your mom’s. I don’t like the idea of you taking a cab through this city.”
“I will.”
He looked into my eyes, not saying anything, then one more kiss and he turned and headed toward the agent at the desk. I stood there watching until he’d waved one final time and disappeared through a set of doors.
For some reason, I’d been waiting for the bubble to pop while he’d been here. Once he was gone, I turned and made my way to the front door to hail a cab. Then it hit me. Somehow, this was all too good to be true. I didn’t need to wait for the bubble to burst because it already had. I’d been pretending all this time that he was my boyfriend when, in fact, he was only my friend. Wherever it was that I settled, I’d be alone.
Bella
Three Weeks Later
“I have chicken soup,”Brielle said, coming into the living room at my mom’s apartment. “You should have some. It will make you feel better.” She placed the bowl down on the table in front of where I was laying. “Come on, sit up.”
“I said I’m not hungry,” I muttered, the smell of the soup making me feel nauseous.
“Bella, you’ve barely eaten anything in the past two, possibly three, days. You’ve been sick, and now you’re hardly drinking anything. I’ve called Sawyer. He told me it’s important that I get something into you before you dehydrate,” Brie said, sitting down beside me.
Mom had passed away two weeks ago, exactly one week to the day that Asher had left. The end had been brutal to watch and, for her sake, I was glad it was over. She’d been in pain and had done nothing but cry since nothing would stop it. However, everything I had to do now, combined with the funeral, had been too much. I’d passed out the night of her funeral from stress and exhaustion. Thank goodness Brie had been here. She’d called an ambulance, and the doctor at the hospital would only discharge me if she planned to stay with me. The stress of it all, of everything, had been too much.
Then I’d never looked for another place. I’d been too busy looking after Mom, but now her landlord was being unreasonable. He refused to transfer her lease to me because I did not have a job. So now, on top of everything else, I had no place to live as of the end of the month, which was only in a few short days.
Brie had helped me clean up and pack most of the apartment, and I’d donated most of Mom’s things to charity. They’d picked up the last of her things today, aside from the living room furniture and my bed and the few dishes I’d kept to get me through until I left. The rest of my things were back in Eastport. Sawyer and Brielle had rented a small storage unit for my things until I set down roots. Not that it mattered. I was still going to be homeless on Friday.
“God, get that soup away from me. I think I’m going to be sick again,” I said, getting up and running to the bathroom, my hand over my mouth.
I slammed the door shut, locking it behind me, making it to the toilet just in time.
“Bella, are you okay?”
I lay on the floor in front of the toilet, clutching my stomach. “I’ll be—” I heaved into the toilet once again, this time feeling as if my stomach were about to come out of my mouth. There was nothing left in me to throw up.
I was clammy and grabbed a cloth off the edge of the sink from the last time I’d been in here. I needed to wipe this clamminess off me.
“Bella, open the door,” Brie cried as she pounded on the door, jiggling the handle.
The bathroom spun as I was about to stand. “I’m dizzy, Brie,” I called out.
“Bella, open this door.” I heard her jiggle the handle once again.
I slid across the floor and unlocked the door.
Brie shoved it and took one look at me. She bent down and took the cloth from me and ran it under the water. Ringing it out, she placed it on the back of my neck. “Bella, just breathe.”
“I have a headache,” I mumbled.
“Yes, no doubt. Now come on, let’s get you up and get some soup into you,” she said, placing her arm around my waist. “It will make you feel better. I promise.”
I was so weak she practically carried me back to the living room, sitting me down on the couch. She sat down beside me and held on to the bowl, bringing a spoon full of the liquid to my mouth. I sipped on the salty chicken broth. At first, my stomach turned and my mouth watered, but that was only for a moment. After the second mouthful, I wanted more.
“Sweetie, you need to look after yourself. I know things have been tough,” Brie said, putting the spoon back into the soup and bringing it to my mouth again. “I wish you had called me and taken me up on the offer to come and stay with you before your mom passed.”
“I know, but you have enough on your plate with The Cooling Rack, Emma, and the baby on the way.”
“Yes, and so do you, and you needed help. Never think you can’t call us. If I couldn’t have been here, Sawyer would have been. We love you, Bella.”
