I ignored the pitying look my mom was giving me from across the food truck. With four people in there, it was becoming wildly apparent this small truck wasn’t made to hold this many of us.
“I thought you and I could switch jobs for a little while,” Finn said. “I’ll handle The Dump Truck for you—the baking and the night shift selling. That way, you don’t have to see Chloe until you’re ready.”
I glanced at Addy. “And you’re here because…”
“I figured I’d help Finn out tonight.”
“That’s ridiculous. You have your own bar, your own job—”
“There are other bartenders who work there,” she waved off my concerns.
“None as good as you.”
“Well, duh,” she laughed. “But right now, I’m needed here more. When I checked in on Chloe today, she wasn’t up for working tonight—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” I massaged my temples. “You checked in on Chloe? When? Why?”
“Because she’s my friend and our brother’s girlfriend’s sister. She’s practically family—”
“She’s not family,” I snapped. “Elaina and Neil aren’t even engaged—”
“Oh, they will be,” Mom said. “And you know it. Regardless of whether or not you two work out your differences, Chloe’s going to be in our lives.”
“Fine.” I tossed my hands into the air. The thought that Chloe was someone I couldn’t walk away from was maddening.
It meant she was right—that it was too damn messy for us to get involved. Her reservations about us dating were completely valid.
Shit. Why did this have to get so damn complicated? “It’s going to be fine,” I whispered. “Chloe and I will be better off if we learn how to stand on our own two feet.”
“Allowing yourself to be vulnerable enough to need someone can take a lot of courage,” Mom said. She stepped closer to me and even though her voice was soft, there was fire in her bright green eyes. “Standing alone and being alone are two different things. If you don’t realize that, then maybe you don’t deserve her.”
38 Chloe
Tanja never called this morning like she said she would.
She did text after lunch, though. Four whole words:
Hey girl what’s up?
That was it. I didn’t even get the courtesy of a comma.
I stared at that text for an hour.
Tanja and I had been friends for years. Yes, I was pissed at her. But I wasn’t ready to give up on our friendship yet, either. Especially not now with Elaina in another country and Liam…
I gulped and squeezed my eyes shut against the onslaught of burning tears.
Tanja didn’t know I loved Liam. She thought we were friends. Could I really blame her for coming onto him?
Yes, a little voice whispered. I shoved it aside. It was wrong. That voice was just wrong. And it wasn’t like I was swimming with friends these days. Most of my friends ditched me when Dan left.
But Tanja didn’t. She was busy and flighty and sometimes a little self-absorbed, but she was also fun and she loved me.
I glanced at the clock. Six-thirty. With Addy filling in for me at The Dump Truck tonight, I had the whole evening to myself. Alone.
I could do this. An evening by myself. With no one to distract or temper my thoughts.
I popped my earbuds in—if I couldn’t distract myself with friends and conversation, then maybe I could with music.
Two and a half hours later, I had cooked and eaten a bland veggie stir-fry. I’d done the dishes. Caught up on laundry. And vacuumed, mopped, and dusted my entire house.
And I was coming out of my skin. Maybe I should go to sleep? Sure, it was only nine o’clock, but I probably needed to catch up on rest.
I slumped onto my couch and reached for my phone.
There was a missed call and a voicemail … from Tanja. Two hours ago.
As I pressed play, her voice filled my ears.
“Chloe,” she said in a tone that was quieter than I’d ever heard her in my life. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t think you and Liam were… I mean… I thought you were just friends. Can I see you tonight? Or tomorrow? Please. Call me.”
She sounded… different. Really, really different. The only other time I’d heard her sound this contrite was back in our freshman year of college when she got caught sneaking into the theater building to “borrow” a dress she’d seen in the costume department for a date she had. When the guard caught her and asked her name, she’d panicked and gave the guard my name, not her own. It was a huge mess that ended up with me being called into a disciplinary meeting. It eventually blew up in her face, but she’d dragged me into a situation that I wasn’t even a part of in the first place.
It almost ruined our friendship back then, and my parents have distrusted her ever since. But she’s spent eight years making up for that and proving that she was a good friend despite that hiccup.
And what was so wrong about leaning on your friends, anyway? I was angry, and sad, and humiliated on a national level with that stupid viral video… and alone.
I hated being alone. I hated it to my core.
Screw you, Liam. Being alone may work for him, but not for me. Everyone handles grief differently; it wasn’t my fault that I was an extrovert. Just like it wasn’t Liam’s fault he was an introvert! Why should I be forced to do things his way? I wanted to hang out with my friends. I wanted to spend my time with other people. Even during times of distress. Or maybe especially during times of distress.
And that didn’t make me a bad person, for God’s sake.
If he couldn’t understand that, then maybe we weren’t meant to be friends.
Clutching my phone, I grabbed my keys and some snacks, and hit the redial button. It rang a few times, then went to voicemail. “Tanja,
