Page 80 of The Trouble with Love and Ink
Beck, who’d been brushing his teeth, paused, looking at my reflection in the mirror. “I told you already,” he said around his toothbrush before spitting and rinsing. “I’m staying with you.”
“I know, but these are your friends. I don’t want you to feel obligated to hang out with me. I’ll be fine here.”
Beck took the bandage from me. I’d made a mess of loops around my arm. His slow, steady fingers made for a cleaner roll of the bandage. “I’m not staying with you because I feel obligated. I’m staying with you because you’re the person I want to spend the day with.”
A flutter rose in my stomach. I believed him. I believed he wanted to spend the day with me. I just didn’t understand why he would choose to be stuck in a resort room with me over a hike in the jungle with his friends.
He squeezed antibiotic cream onto my cut and then reapplied a fresh bandage, all with a touch that suggested if he breathed wrong, he would hurt me. “But,” he continued, “I want to try catching Victoria at breakfast. Talk to her about everything.”
“You really think that’s a good idea?”
“Trust me. This is her. She just needed time to be mad.” Beck kissed the bridge of my nose. “I’m going to fix this.”
With him gone, I plopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling, pondering the choices that had led me to this tangled predicament until my phone’s bouncy ringtone assaulted the quiet. My heart tried to find an exit from my chest, as I fumbled for it, sure Wesley was calling to let me know they’d be terminating me. Effective immediately.
I sighed when Hailey’s name showed on the illuminated screen. Good. I could use someone to talk to.
“Hailey,” I answered, a second away from saying, You aren’t going to believe the shit show I’ve been through, when a choking sob cut through the other line. I sat up straight.
“Hailey? What’s wrong?”
“We—we,” she choked on her own words, another sob breaking through.
“Slow down. What’s going on?” I scrambled off the bed, coming to a stand, to do what, I didn’t know. I was a three-hour flight away, but I couldn’t just sit there.
“We broke up!” she finally got through and then crumpled into sobs again.
“You and Florida Man?” I asked dumbly, still trying to make sense of what she was saying—to make sure I’d heard her correctly.
“Yes!” she said, exasperated.
“Oh, no! I’m so sorry.” I started to ask what happened, but then I heard a blinker. “Are you driving?”
“This subdivision is a fucking labyrinth!”
I needed her to be okay. I needed her to be safe. “Pull over! Right now!” More sobbing, but the whooshing car noise quieted.
“You were right all along. I didn’t know Braxton, and moving with him to Florida was the stupidest thing I have ever done. And I know that’s saying a lot.” She dissolved into tears again.
“Breathe. Okay?” And she did, gulping oxygen and then hiccupping it out.
After a long time, she finally seemed to settle.
“What happened?” I asked gently.
“Nothing.” She blew her nose. “That’s the problem. It was nothing major. Just all the things I would have noticed if I’d dated him before deciding to live with him. Like the fact that he steers every conversation back toward him. Or how he never screws the cap back on the toothpaste. It’s the way he says irregardless as though he’s so intelligent, but it’s not a fucking word, Emily.” She huffed out a breath. “I really can’t. He may as well sell whale organs on the black market—like you warned me about—because I can’t stand another minute with him.”
“Hailey, I know you are sad. But breaking up is the right move if you already feel this way about him.”
“I know,” she said shakily. “But I just had all my shit delivered from my apartment and canceled my lease. I don’t even know where I’m going to live now. It’s going to be the biggest clusterfuck to get my life back on track after this. Not to mention, as much as he annoys me, we had some good sex—great sex. Like, toe-curling sex.” And then she started crying again. “And I know that sounds shallow, but I thought it said a lot about our chemistry, you know?”
I chose to ignore the sex part. “Listen to me. We are going to take this one step at a time. You have a place to live—with me—until we get things situated. Let’s start there. Okay?”
Hailey let out a shaky breath. “Okay.”
I stayed with her on the phone until she felt well enough to drive. She agreed to head straight to my apartment and stay there until I got back from Costa Rica. I hadn’t told her I planned to come home early anyway—there was no use making her feel worse with the details. And there was no way I could unload my burdens onto her when the ground beneath her feet had turned into sinking sand. Besides, I was only making things awkward. If I left, maybe Beck could find a way to have a good time with his friends—enjoy his sister’s big day. The lack of my presence would uncomplicate things.
I headed out to find Beck and to tell him what had happened and my decision to leave. I had reached the bottom of the elevator bank when the doors opened on Beck and Reagan. She had her hands in his hair, her mouth on his mouth. Kissing Beck, my Beck. His back was toward me. I couldn’t see his expression, but I could see the way Reagan was relaxed into him. Like after the longest day, she’d finally come home.
