“I miss him already,” Angie said.
And dang it anyway, I teared up. I teared up because she had no idea that anything she had done was hurting me. I teared up because she was just a woman who fell in love with Fisher Mann. And it was nearly impossible to not fall in love with him.
“H-he lived … but I still l-lost him.”
I wiped my eyes as I leaned against the doorframe and listened to the mess I helped create.
“I’m so sorry for your pain,” Rory said, and I imagined her hugging Angie. Someone needed to hug her.
I gently closed my door and sat on the edge of my bed. When did he break things off with her? Did that change things between us? Did he sleep with her in Costa Rica? A goodbye of sorts? How did I feel about him?
So many confusing and unanswered questions.
Did I feel her words? Did they ring true for me too? Did I lose Fisher, but he didn’t die? Did I lose Fisher, but he didn’t end up with Angie?
Was that the right choice all along? Did he need to start fresh? Walk away from the past he couldn’t remember and find someone completely new?
I didn’t know. And by that point the pain was rather numbing.
A while later, there was a knock at my door.
“Yeah?”
Rory opened the door. “Morning.”
I smiled. “Morning.”
“Were you listening?” She gave me a sad smile while taking a seat next to me on the bed.
“For a little while.”
“He ended it.”
I nodded. “When?”
“The night they got home from Costa Rica. Angie had to go out of town for work the following week, probably for the best, and so this has been her first chance to tell us. She’ll be okay.”
I glanced over at Rory, eyes narrowed. “I heard enough of the conversation to know that she’s not going to be okay anytime soon. Why would you say that?”
Her nose wrinkled. “I’m Team Reese and I don’t want you to feel responsible because you really are not responsible. Had he not fallen in love with you, I don’t think he was going to fall back in love with her.”
“So two weeks …” He’d broken up with her when we went to Starbucks, but he said nothing.
“Give him time, sweetie. I think he’s dealing with his own loss. He’s lost hope of getting his memory back, and that has to be hard to accept.”
He lost faith too. Faith in me. Faith in us.
I knew from experience that losing faith sucked. And it was lonely. And you did reckless things. You made poor decisions.
Maybe we needed another five years apart like Abbie and Drew. Or maybe it was really never going to be our time.
“It sucks that she’s losing her new job over a guy.”
“She’s not. She put in for a transfer, that’s all.”
I nodded. “That’s good, I guess.”
“So … Christmas is next week. I think we should make cookies today. Pop popcorn to string on the tree. And maybe drive around and look at lights tonight. I think we could all use a little Christmas cheer.”
“Yeah,” I said, lacking all cheer.
“Rose and I are going to run errands. We have some shopping to finish up. And then we’ll grab groceries on the way home so we can make cookies.”
I nodded. “Give me twenty minutes to shower and I’ll go with you.”