Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 64767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
I stand, my hands run down my legs straightening my skirt. “I’ll have to think about that, Lucy. I’m trying to repair myself as well.”
Lucy leans over and clasps my hand in hers. “I’m happy to wait for you, you deserve so much happiness and more.”
“Lucy, I’m here for this.” I look over at her, around the room, and back again. “But this has been a long time coming, and for a change, you aren’t my first priority. I am. I like putting me first. I like who I am now. I can finally breathe and stay calm.”
“I like who you have always been, it’s why I never really left. And I could have. I could have moved across the world, but I stayed here in our shitty little town because I knew if I was ever in trouble, you were always there to bail me out. Always.”
And there it is.
What I have always said, but she never heard, or maybe she chose not to hear.
I was there for her, no matter what.
Yet, who was there for me?
Not one single person.
“I have to go, Lucy,” I say, pulling my hand free.
“Can I write to you? And… will you come back?” She says the words hesitatingly, almost like she’s afraid of the answer I might give her.
“How long are you here for?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. At least a few more months, maybe even years. Atlas has it all covered and under control, so it’s not costing me or even you anything.”
“You shot him!” I say while shaking my head. “You shot him,” I say again in disbelief.
“I wasn’t thinking clearly. He wanted you, but I wanted him. Who do you want, Thea? Do you want Atlas?” she asks.
“I don’t have to discuss my personal life with you, Lucy.” My words shake a little as they come out of my mouth.
“So you do,” she guesses, and I know she’s right. “And I’m sorry I made you think Atlas wasn’t right for you, and that you met him in the situation you did. I believe if you met under different circumstances, you would have been a fire that burned so brightly no amount of meddling could have extinguished it.”
“I have to go.” I pull away and step off. I look back and see Lucy sitting at the table, not moving when she says, “I love you, Thea.”
When I step out of the building, Tina’s waiting for me.
“How was it?” Tina slides her arm through mine as we walk to her car. “You didn’t stay long. Was she—”
“Better. Well, considering who she is anyway,” I cut Tina off.
“Wow! Never thought I would hear those words come out of your mouth, Thea,” Tina says as we slide into her car.
“Yep, even told me she loved me as I left.”
“Well, holy shit.”
“Yep,” I say with the same disbelief in my voice as I heard in Tina’s as she spoke. “She told Atlas about my father.”
Only Tina knows about my relationship with my father.
“Did she say why?”
“She wanted him to understand our relationship. Well, that’s what she said.”
“Well, I want to believe her intentions are good for the first time, but her track record is pretty shitty.”
I agree with her words and simply nod as she drives off.
“Do you plan to tell me what happened?” I ask Tina, breaking our silence a few minutes later. We both have so much going on in our lives, that sometimes silence is all that’s needed.
“She brought up marriage… again.” Tina shakes her head. “Then showed me a ring. She bought one, Thea. She literally bought me one. She wants me to marry her. But I don’t know if I want to. What if I just want to be in a relationship and simply love her. Why isn’t that enough?” she asks me.
“I wish I had all the answers, but I don’t. You love her, though?” I pause. “Right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, tell her that. Tell her you want and love her, but you don’t believe in marriage.”
“I did. Well, I tried.” She shrugs. “It got a bit heated, and she may have thrown me out.”
“Of course, she did,” I say while shaking my head. “Go back there and make it right. You are happy with Sydney. Be happy, Tina. You deserve all the happiness you can get out of this life.”
“So do you, you know?”
“I’m starting to believe that.”
“And Atlas can be a part of that happiness, too, Thea. You two met, and you were going along different paths. Maybe it’s time you start meeting on the same one.”
Maybe she’s right.
Atlas is at my house the next day, leaning against his car, wearing black boots with grungy torn jeans. Somehow, he makes them look sexy, and I already know what’s underneath is everything, and more than meets the eyes. His whole package does not lie. There are no misleading labels when you look at Atlas. What you see is what you get.