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“You don’t knowP and P.”
“I do, too,” I counter. “My mom showed it to me once. It’s not bad. But there’s no way I’m sitting through the really long one from the nineties.”
“This might be controversial, but there are parts of this Keira Knightly version that might be better anyway.” She cringes and laughs, and I can see the condensation from her breath in the cold night air.
“Scandalous, dahling.” I chuckle. “But seriously. A romantic movie and ice cream on your bed? What’s up?”
She sighs and looks out into the dark sky. “For someone who doesn’t have any sisters, you sure know the drill, don’t you?”
“Camilla’s a good teacher. Besides, my mom taught me stuff, too.”
“I know.” But it’s clear Aria’s snark isn’t coming from my comment. Something much deeper is at play here, and I’m going to find out what happened if it kills me.
“Seriously, though,” I continue. “Did a great-aunt die and leave her inheritance to her pet goldfish instead of you?”
She rolls her eyes and shakes her head. “I might as well tell you.” She shoots me a glance and rubs her eyes. “Rob and I broke up.”
I swear I hear angels singing out in the vast night as they float by on wispy, celestial clouds. But I can’t start singing “Hallelujah” in front of her.
“Oh no. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” she shoots out. “It actually happened months ago.”
I try not to let it bother me that she allowed me to believe they were still together. “Then why the . . .” I pause and make a circling motion around my head with a sniff of my nose and patting my eyes.
She snorts. “I heard some news that . . . I wasn’t prepared for, I guess.”
“So, what happened? I mean, did you tell him to jump off a cliff or was it the other way around?”
“Are you asking if I got dumped? Wow. Subtle, Theo.”
“No. Well, okay, yes. I’m wondering how things went down. I can’t help you as well if I don’t know the deets.” I’m tempted to rub my upper arms and stamp my feet back and forth to warm up. But there’s no way I’m going to make her feel bad by thinking I’m too cold to be out here.
“I’m not going to be giving you any deets. Geez, Theo.” She pauses and licks her lips, her eyelashes fluttering. “I’ll summarize by saying he told me this spring that we need to either get engaged or break up.” She shrugs. “I agreed and told him I needed some time. I guess I took too long to decide, which was a decision in and of itself. We officially broke up in September.”
I weigh her words, letting the silence sink in around us. Finally, I catch her gaze. “I’m sorry. You two dated a long time. I’m sure it’s hard.”
She stares back. “Thanks.”
“So what happened tonight to cause the ice cream andP and Psesh?”
“A social media post.” She gives up a stilted laugh. “A photo of him with a woman with a ring on her finger.”
“What? Already?”
“Yep. He wrote out their story. Apparently, the woman was living in Europe until she went to Arkansas to live with her brother the end of September. Her brother is Rob’s good friend. And the rest is history. Things happened fast.”
“That’s crazy. I can’t imagine making such a life-altering decision that fast.”
“I know. Obviously, me neither. But they seem really happy. Good for each other, actually. I maybe did a little social media stalking of her accounts.” She cringes and bites down on her bent pointer finger.
“I can see how that could be hard to find out, though,” I offer.
“It hit me hard that he was ready for marriage. It wasn’t an ‘us’ problem. It was a ‘me’ problem. I sort of feel broken.” She raises her voice, leans heavily on the railing, and gestures with her hands. “He’s brave enough to move forward and get married and what am I? Stuck. The thought of marriage is terrifying.”
“I agree. But why do you feel that way?”
“Well, my parents. And my grandparents.” She shakes her head bitterly. “My mom’s always saying how charming my dad was until they got married. My dad says the same thing about her, too. I know they love each other, deep down. But all they can see is the hurt. The changes.” She whisks a tear from her cheek with one quick swipe. “Anyway, I’m happy for Rob. I just feel sort of lame. Like I can’t get it together. Like I’m a child almost.”
