Chapter 39
Evangeline
(One week later…)
There’s a light tap at the door right before it swings open and Annaleigh sticks her head inside. The knocking is a warning that she’s about to come in, not an actual request for permission to enter. She knows that I refuse her company every time she tries to come and talk to me.
“I need some time alone,” I say hoarsely as I sit on the edge of the bed, staring blankly out the window.
She steps into the room anyway with Blakely on her heels. They sit next to me, each one flanking a side. “Honey, it’s been a week…” Blakely says softly. She reaches over to put a hand on mine but when she sees the way my fingers flex on my thigh, she hesitates and pulls back out of self-preservation.
It’s been a week? It feels like an eternity since I walked out of that hotel room, not knowing where the hell Raphael went or what happened while I was at the drug store. In that time, there hasn’t been even one sign of life from his end. Not a telephone call. Not an email. Not a fucking text message.
His cellphone has been disconnected and the last time I telephoned his office, his secretary told me flat-out that he wanted me to stop calling him.
Now, that’s cold.
He told me that he loved me, that he wanted to be with me regardless of what my parents think. And then…he just left.
I thought that he had changed, that he had realized that some things in life are more valuable than money. But when those businessmen showed up at his hotel room, everything we’d spent the past few weeks building went down the drain. His love of money won out over his love for me.
“Your mom called again.” Annaleigh looks at me with compassionate eyes.
I shake my head. “I don’t care. I don’t want to talk to her.”
I’ve wanted nothing to do with my parents after that whole debacle the last time I saw them. By now, they probably know how he abandoned me in that hotel room. I imagine them gloating about how right they were. So thankfully Annaleigh and Prescott were willing to let me crash in their extra bedroom. I can tell that Prescott’s just itching to start painting and transforming this room into the baby’s nursery but he hasn’t said a word. Yet. So for now, I still have a roof over my head and a bed to lie in every night to nurse my broken heart.
I can’t believe he just left me behind.
I thought that Raphael loved me but he just skipped town and that was it. He didn’t turn back. I’m starting to wonder if this was all just some game to him. Was it a middle life crisis or something? Because it was more than that to me. It was everything. It felt so real, like we were made for each other. Like he’s the only person who ever understood me. I loved him. I still love him. And he’s gone…
Annaleigh eyes me worriedly. “What’s the plan moving forward, Eva?” she asks. “You can’t just sit around here moping for the rest of your days.”
“Can’t I?” I ask, making a weak attempt at humor.
Blakely gives me a little smile. “No sweetheart. You have to pick yourself up. I know your heart is broken, I know it hurts…but life goes on.”
“So, what’s your next move?” Annaleigh rubs a hand over her little baby bump. Her belly has began to push against the fabric of her t-shirts and her cheeks are pink and rosy all the time. Pregnancy looks good on her. I wish I could tell her that but I’m so broken that I can hardly get a few words out without feeling like I’m going to break down in tears.
I shrug, my shoulders falling helplessly. “I don’t know.”
“Eva, you’re stronger than this,” Blakely reminds me softly, brushing her red hair from her eyes. “And we’re here for you. You can’t just stay paralyzed.”
She’s right. I have to pull my shit together. I give my friends a little nod.
“Any ideas what would make you feel better?” Annaleigh questions. She’s out of suggestions. She’s tried everything imaginable over the past week. Mani-pedis. Netflix and chill. Home-baked brownies with a little sumthin’ sumthin’ inside. None of it has made me feel any better.
But now, all of a sudden, I have an idea. Something that might dull the sharpness of my pain, at least for a little while.
“Maybe I could call Faith from the community center,” I tell them, my lips tingling at the corners as they curl up for the first time in days. “Maybe I could set up another jewelry-making workshop.” Maybe getting lost in my love of beads and trinkets for a few hours will help.
“That’s an awesome idea,” Blakely say encouragingly.
“An amazing idea, hun.” Annaleigh grins at me.
The two of them wrap me in a hug and the clouds part just a little bit. I think I even glimpse the sun.