“I’ll manage. I always do.”
“I know.”
The dog’s barking finally diminished. Cole wondered if it had found something else to interest it. Brooke kicked at the snow before lifting her lashes.
“I’m sorry, you know. Sorry I didn’t treat you better.”
A bulge rose in Cole’s throat. “Those are words I never expected to hear.”
“I mean them all the same. It could have been amazing, you and me.”
“Yeah,” he said. “It could have. Things worked out, though.”
“For you, maybe,” she said.
“They will for you too.”
She pursed her lips. “Thanks for stopping by, Cole. Good luck, you know, with pirate girl.”
“Saylor,” he corrected.
He was tempted to tell Brooke the status of things. How he’d basically ended it with Saylor. How he’d been pining over her ever since and was tempted to call her but worried how pathetic he would sound.
The truth was, he’d probably crushed her. The more time passed, the more he was sure he’d made a mistake. Not only in hurting her feelings, but in hinting they should have any kind of separation between them at all. The problem now was, how could he make things right?
Chapter Twenty-three
Morning dawned, and Saylor’s heart drooped like a dehydrated flower at the sight of her phone’s blank screen. Cole still hadn’t contacted her.
She did her best to shake it off. There were things to do. Feed Parker breakfast. Rescue her poor, sad little car, left alone in the parking lot for two nights now.
Saylor’s dad gave her a ride to Cole’s building. There it sat in its same stall, stubborn as it’d been the night she’d left it here, refusing to start. Not that Saylor expected it to. Nothing else was going as she’d hoped. Why should her car?
“It’ll be okay,” her dad said, handing her his cell phone. He’d already dialed the nearest tow services, so she hurriedly held it to her ear to speak with the attendant. She did her best to avoid sweeping the lot in search of a gray Dodge pickup or its handsome owner.
Saylor sat in her dad’s passenger seat while the tow truck made its slow trek to them, and her father joined her in the waiting area at the mechanic’s shop, where the buoyant popcorn machine couldn’t quite mask the smell of oil and grease.
She checked her phone at least a dozen times in the interim, but there was still nothing from Cole. A wedge settled into her chest, right in the space between her heart and her ribs.
She considered texting him, but at the risk of conversation sputtering and dying like her little beater, she decided to leave things alone. If he wanted anything to do with her, he’d have to make the first move.
That thought didn’t stop her from keeping tabs on the elevator at work or popping her head above her cubicle far more often than usual, with her foolish heart hoping Cole would make another appearance.
He didn’t.
The dreaded Friday finally arrived, and Saylor still wasn’t sure what to do about David’s wedding. As soon as she picked up Parker from daycare, David made his appearance on her doorstep without much of a discussion besides the reminder of his instructions. Saylor breathed through her nose during the entire exchange, irritation heating her blood.
She stared out the window long after they left. Even into Saturday, she found herself ruminating, fuming over what she wished she would have said. Was her judgment clouded? She didn’t think so. David was getting married that evening, and if she wanted things to change, he certainly wasn’t going to be the one to instigate it. What, then, could she do?
Through her front window, she caught sight of a fluttering bird. It landed on top of the snow, pecking at berries that had fallen from a tree.
Despite her moodiness and frustration, the sight soothed her heart just enough, to know something so small and fun to watch could survive in the cold. Saylor wondered if it was the same bird that had hit the window back at Drex Corp, the same one who’d only seen its reflection instead of the building beyond.
How often did that happen, not only to birds, but people as well? How often did they focus only on things as they perceived them to be, not how they actually were?
It was time she stopped looking at herself that way. She was no different from that bird. Watching her life as if through glass. It was problematic. All it did was make her crash into things.
She thought about her brother’s words. Greg had called her strong. Strong enough to raise Parker, strong enough let this go.
David had Amanda, and that was okay.
Saylor’s limbs loosened, and the wedge in her chest dissolved at the realization. Everything was okay. Even without Cole, even without all of this, she was strong. Strong enough to move on.
It had been so daunting to confront Greg, to dredge up the past and address what needed to be addressed. But letting go of past hurts toward her brother had been so liberating, so incredibly restorative. She needed some more of that restoration fever.
Saylor thought through things for the length of a snap before rising from the couch with renewed purpose flowing through her veins. She charged to the laundry room to retrieve her coat and hat, pausing to grab a few things before she headed out.
Determination fizzed in her fingertips. She stopped first at the dry cleaner’s to retrieve Parker’s rented suit, and then drove with resolve to the house David and Amanda had bought. It was on the other side of Twin Falls, the same side as Cole’s office building, near the Snake River Canyon. With its triple garage doors, wide windows, and sky-reaching brick columns leading to a grand front door, the place screamed money.
Steeling herself, Saylor marched straight up to the large porch and knocked on the imposing wood door.
Amanda answered, her expression dimming at the sight of Saylor. Her long, platinum blonde hair was pulled away from
