Missing Pieces - Chapter 57
Hailey
Friday
I threw a few things into my duffel bag and zipped it shut.
For the first time since my father had passed, I felt hopeful.
There was no doubt in my mind that this was all just a terrible misunderstanding.
I'd go to him. He needed to know about the baby.
This couldn't wait. And I knew he'd be as excited as I was.
This baby would have a mother and a father who loved him. We'd be a family.
My heart was open. I was going out into the world. I would be doing everything my father wanted. I pulled the duffel bag over my shoulder. He'd be proud of me. I was proud of myself.
The mailman was placing down a huge stack of mail on the bar counter when I walked out of my dad's office.
"Morning, Hailey. You have quite a bit of mail there." He tapped the side of the counter. "How are you holding up?"
"I'm good, Chuck." For the first time, it wasn't a lie. I was taking a step forward. I was living my life again.
"That's good to hear." He tipped his hat. "Keep your head up." He whistled on the way out the door.
I lifted up the stack of mail and it felt like my heart crashed to the floor.
I dropped my duffel bag and let myself sink into one of the bar stools.
All the letters I had written to Tyler were sitting on the bar counter.
They were all stamped with different things.
Undeliverable as addressed. Return to sender. Insufficient address. Rejected.
Every single letter I had sent. They looked just like the letters I used to write to my mom. The ones I'd always get back.
He promised he'd write back. I swallowed hard. This was a bigger offense than the lie. Who the hell cared if he was really in the marines? I'd rather he wasn't. But this? He knew about the letters I wrote to my mom. He knew and he still gave me a fake address? I bit my lip.
This past week had been a living hell for me. But I saw a light at the end of the tunnel. I thought... fuck, I don't know what I thought.
I turned over each envelope. They had all been opened and then taped shut again. He read them? I swallowed hard. My pleas for him to call me. My desperation. He hadn't given me a fake address. He had seen all of it. He just didn't care enough to reach out to me. He didn't care about me.
I would have driven to the end of the earth for Tyler. But I didn't even know him. I didn't know where he was. I didn't know if the week we had spent together was even real.
Time hadn't stopped. Time had sped up, chewed me up, and spit me back out. I felt ten years older. And ten years wiser. Love did make people do stupid shit. It had given me hope about something that never would be. But I was done being stupid. Fuck him.
I didn't need Tyler Stevens. Which was good, because I was probably never going to see him again.
I grabbed all the letters and went back into my dad's office. I was embarrassed that I had thought that it was more than what it was. My grief had made me grasp on to straws. But I was stronger than this pain. I was. I slammed the letters down on the desk.
I didn't need anyone. I could pick up my own damn pieces. It suddenly felt like I couldn't breathe. God, I'm such an idiot. I collapsed into the desk chair in a fit of tears.
Just like with every guy in the history of men, it had been about sex. That's all it ever was. I should have never climbed in his car. I should have been with my dad.
I put my face in my hands as I let my grief swallow me whole.