Page 39 of Played
It's actually perfect.
"I know it's not much," Kendra says from the doorway. She's holding folded towels, her blonde hair twisted into a messy bun. "But it's yours for as long as you need."
"It's great. Really." I mean it.
She sets the towels on the bed, sits beside them. "I've been there, you know. Bad breakup. Nowhere to go. Felt like my whole life imploded."
"Yeah?"
"Dated this guy for three years. Thought we'd get married. Turned out he was sleeping with my cousin." She laughs, but it's hollow. "Found them in our bed. On my birthday."
"Jesus."
"Right? So I get it. The shock. The embarrassment. Wondering how you missed all the red flags." She touches my arm. "But you got out. That's what matters."
I swallow hard. "Thanks."
When she leaves, I unpack slowly. Hang my jackets in the tiny closet. Stack my jeans on the bottom shelf. Everything I own fits in three suitcases and two garbage bags. Pathetic.
My phone buzzes. Jenna.
Jenna: Reeves told me. You okay?
Liza: Yeah. Staying with him for a bit.
Jenna: Good. That asshole Daniel deserves worse than what he got.
Liza: You got Liam this weekend?
Jenna: Yep. He's excited.
That kid. My heart squeezes.
Liza: Tell him I miss him.
Jenna: He misses you too, Liza. Bye, love.
Liza: Bye. <3
I toss the phone aside and flop onto the bed. The ceiling has a water stain shaped like Australia.
I think about Jenna living here. Sleeping in the master bedroom down the hall. Making breakfast in that sunny kitchen. Building a life with Reeves before it all fell apart.
Now she's in Portland with Caine. Pregnant. Starting over.
And I'm here. In her old house. Starting over, too.
My chest tightens.
Julian.
I wonder if he's thinking about me. If that kiss haunts him the way it haunts me.
Is he sitting at a piano right now, those long fingers moving across the keys, thinking about me between songs? Is that kiss outside Alicia's place replaying in his mind the way it won't stop replaying in mine. I wonder if he touches his lips sometimes and remembers. If it's driving him as crazy as it's driving me.
I close my eyes, but all I see is his face in the darkness outside Alicia's apartment. The way he looked at me right before our lips met.
I squeeze my eyelids shut, trying to block it all out, but it's impossible. Julian's face materializes behind my closed lids—those deep, soulful eyes fixed on mine in the shadowy darkness outside his sister’s house.
