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“I guess it is. You know, early on he said everything he wanted and I followed it. Then he is the one who started all of this at the Christmas party. I don’t know why he can’t see that.”
“Maybe he does see it,” Dahlia said. “Maybe that is part of it. That he always said he didn’t date or have relationships and then he finds himself in one. Just like the holiday dinner comment. Could be the thought of a pregnancy—however tiny and quick it was—made him look at everything and so...the scared part comes in.”
“I don’t know. I’m not asking either.”
“You’re not?” Dahlia asked.
“Nope. I’m not doing that. He wants space. He’s getting it. He can come to me if he wants to talk. I’m not begging anyone ever again.”
“I want to say good for you, but if you love him…”
“I’ve said I loved a lot of people,” she argued. “Haven’t you told me that before?”
“This is different and we both know it,” Dahlia said. “But I agree you should make him come to you.”
“I can’t make Brooks do anything,” she said. “That’s the sad part. So I told myself I’d be prepared if he ended things and I’m trying to be. I just didn’t think it’d hurt quite this much.”
“Being prepared for things in life doesn’t mean it stops hurt feelings,” Dahlia said.
“Is that how you felt?” she asked.
“It’s not about me,” Dahlia said.
“But you always say it shouldn’t all be about me,” she argued.
“Tonight it’s all about you,” Dahlia said.
She sat back down next to her sister and picked up her sundae. Dahlia had eaten just as much as her. “Thank you. You don’t need to eat that whole thing. It’s an emotional pig out.”
“Maybe I’m emotional for my sister,” Dahlia said.
She put her head on Dahlia’s shoulder. “Thanks for that too. It’s going to be okay. I know it. It will just take time.”
“You’ll be fine,” Dahlia said. “Because you’re tougher than you realize.”
She reached up and touched the necklace her father had given her. “I’m starting to realize that.”
38
Love Has No Time Limits
“How are you doing, Ivy?”
Ivy turned to see Poppy coming into her office two and a half weeks later.
Everyone knew by now that Brooks had ended things with her. She’d tried to put on a brave face and not get emotional at work, but it hadn’t happened in the beginning.
Dahlia and Jasmine had given everyone a heads up on what was going on so that people knew before they asked about Brooks.
She appreciated that from her sisters. It saved that embarrassing comment that she’d failed at another relationship. More so when three days after Brooks ended things with her, she had to go to Violet and Trace’s wedding alone. Brooks was supposed to go with her.
Talk about the crappy timing of everything.
“I’m doing well,” she said. “What can I help you with?”
Poppy came in and shut the door. “How are you really doing? It’s me. You can be open. I won’t tell anyone else. I know you. Or I feel like I do. I’d want to call him and find out what was going on. But Rose would tell me not to. To make him suffer. Lily would tell me I was better off without him.”
“That about sums it up,” Ivy said. “Dahlia is keeping me strong. Jasmine telling me how well I’m doing. I feel like such a baby for only dating him a few months and acting this way.”
