She blinked in disbelief and shook her head again, flicking her hair around. 揑 can抰 go with you. After all this? The store is making money again. I can抰 leave.?
揧ou can run the store remotely.?Hadn抰 she heard me earlier?
揑 don抰 want to.?She shook her head, stabbing me in the gut. 揥yatt, are you serious? I have to stay at the store. She would have wanted that. I blew up my entire relationship with my dad over this store. I can抰 walk away now.?She blinked. 揑 painted over her mural, Wyatt. I can抰 leave the store like it means nothing to me. My dad wants to take the store over again. If I leave, who knows what抣l happen??
揂re you serious??I leaned forward and she shifted under the weight of my gaze. 揂fter all this, it抯 still not about what you want? You spent your entire life doing what your dad wanted and now it抯 time to do what she wanted? She would want you to live your fucking life, Hannah.?I softened my tone, swallowing. 揅ome on, bookworm.?I whispered the words, pleading. 揃e brave with me.?
Her mouth pressed into a line and her nostrils flared. At least she was mad. At least she wasn抰 fucking hiding like she used to. The people at the next table glanced over at us, listening, but I didn抰 give a shit.
揟ell me you抮e ready for this to be over, bookworm.?
Fire flashed in her gaze. 揇on抰 call me that.?
I jerked my chin at her. I could feel the furious expression on my face. 揋o on. Tell me. Tell me you feel nothing.?
She wrenched her eyes closed. 揑t doesn抰 matter.?
揑t does fucking matter.?My chest strained with pressure. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Max approach with a pitcher of water and do a U-turn when he saw our table.
Her eyebrows drew down. 揧ou teach me to choose myself and now you want me to choose you??
揑 do want you to choose yourself. I want you to choose us.?
She didn抰 say a word. She just sat there, petrified. Pain pulsed in my chest and I rubbed a hand over my face. I had jumped, but the safety net wasn抰 there, and this was me hitting the ground.
This was it. This was the end, it just didn抰 happen in a way I expected. I knew it would happen, though, didn抰 I? Because all things ended and the universe was cruel. It gave one tiny taste of something spectacular before ripping the spoon away from your mouth.
My chest was going to explode with pressure. I stood and my chair scraped the deck with a screech. Hannah抯 shoulders hitched. Something flashed behind her eyes.
揧ou were always going to leave.?Her voice shook. 揥e knew this. You were my practice guy.?
The waves I surfed on might be dangerous, but they were nothing in comparison to the words Hannah threw at me. Pain wrapped around my heart and suffocated everything else out.
I leaned down on the table to look into her eyes. 揂fter all this time, you抮e still afraid.?
Her shoulders curled forward and my stomach pitched. My hands itched to pull her into my chest where she belonged, but we couldn抰。 We couldn抰 go back, like she said.
揃ye, Hannah. It was fun while it lasted.?
I walked out of the restaurant, my heart still at the table with the girl I loved.
30
Hannah
When I returned to the shop that afternoon, Liya was helping another customer in the queer romance section. My dad was nowhere to be found.
Come with me.
The open, vulnerable, trusting look on Wyatt抯 face appeared in my mind and my stomach lurched.
I want you by my side.
Behind the desk, I rubbed my chest. Something ached.
Tell me you抮e ready for this to be over.
The keys on the laptop tapped as I logged into our social media. Anything to take my mind off this horrible day. I scrolled past posts, pressing 憀ike?on images without seeing them.
He was always going to leave. We both knew this. He taught me that everything was temporary and then he acted like it wasn抰。
He acted like we were forever.
She would want you to live your fucking life, Hannah.
I swallowed past a knot in my throat. I glanced around the store, at the new flooring and fixed bookshelves and eye-catching wallpaper. It had only been a week but the plants were thriving.
I had put so much work in. Everyone had. My dad was furious, and he wouldn抰 speak to me for a week, but it was worth it because the store was perfect and special. I had achieved something, changing the store when we had been stuck for so long. Sitting beside Wyatt on the window bench the day we fixed the store up, talking and laughing and eating pizza, it was meant to be.
Like she would want me here.
So why was my chest so hollow right now?
My phone dinged and I unlocked the screen to see notifications on Wyatt抯 social media accounts. I had posted clips of him surfing this morning during the festival and forgotten to check until now.