CHAPTER FORTY
Jamie – Now
Avi’s words slice through me like a knife made of ice, leaving me frozen in place—fingers digging into the couch on either side of her.
My mind races.
She almost came for me. The day I announced my book deal.
That day feels light-years away now. So much has happened in the six years since then, but I remember that day in vivid clarity just the same.
I’d finally gotten the official Publisher’s Marketplace announcement and was so excited to share the news.
I’d created my new author profile and was feeling like I was on top of the world.
Exactly as I should’ve been, yet I had no idea that thousands of miles away my success in one area of my life all but solidified the failure of another…
“I-I think I need a minute.” I push to my feet, away from her, away from the sadness in her eyes. “I need some time. Can you, um, can you go? Please?” The words are getting harder to force through my throat and I really don’t want to lose it in front of her again. “Please, Avonlea.”
She stands and the grief in her eyes is something I never wanted to see. But at the same time, my heart is shattering as all the implications of this bombshell begin to take shape in my mind.
“I know you don’t want to hear it, but I am sorry, Jamie.
I’m sorry for all of it, but I’m especially sorry you found out this way.
I’ve been wanting to tell you for weeks but couldn’t find the words.
This was never what I wanted.” She walks past me, and when we come shoulder to shoulder, she squeezes my bicep and looks up to meet my gaze.
I flinch away from her touch—not because I don’t want it but because my entire body feels like an exposed nerve. Raw and painful. Her face falls and she drops her hand—along with her gaze—and walks out of the cottage.
I don’t even bother to go to the couch. I just slump down onto the floor and drop my head into my hands.
What the fuck do I do now?