Unbroken

“No emergency.” Garrett frowns.

“Are you sure?” I ask, a note of desperation creeping into my voice.

Garrett shrugs. “Sorry, kid, I’ve been here since seven, so if there was something going on, I’d know…”

I must look devastated, because he trails off, and a sheepish look comes over his face. “Shit, did I just put my foot in it?”

“No, it’s fine,” I say quickly. “It’s my fault. I got, confused. Sorry!” I babble, then turn and flee, back out the doors into the harsh morning sunshine.

My skin flushes hot and I feel like a total idiot. Of course there’s no emergency, it was just a lame excuse he used to blow me off.

I stare at the extra coffee in my hand for a long moment, then hurl it angrily in the trash. Tears sting the corners of my eyes, and I try my best to blink them back, even though I want nothing more than to burst into tears right here outside the bar.

He lied to me.

Emerson lied to me.

After everything that happened last night, he bailed, and left me alone, and lied. Now he’s God knows where, doing who the hell knows what.

I stand there a moment, frozen, then pull out my phone to read the short message again. My eyes devour it, looking for anything I missed before, but the words stay the same. Short. Harsh. Uncaring. There’s nothing personal, no affection. It reads like something you’d send a distant acquaintance, not the girl who’s name you were crying out in desperate ecstasy just a few short hours ago.

What the hell am I supposed to do now?

As if the universe is listening, my cellphone lights up suddenly and starts to ring.

I snatch it to look at the screen. It’s a private number, but still, my heart leaps as I lift it to my ear. “Hello?” I demand hopefully.

“Hi, Juliet?”

It’s a woman’s voice.

All my nervous expectation shatters to pieces, leaving a cold heavy weight in my stomach. I swallow back a sob. “Yes, it’s me.”

“Hiya! It’s Hallie? From Kingston Realty?” Her chirpy tone is dripping with enthusiasm. “How are you!”

I stand there. What can I say? Well, I don’t know, Hallie. I just spent a mind-blowing night with the love of my life, only to wake up and find he’s run out and left me here, and now it feels like my whole world is falling in on me.

I bite my reply, and manage a vague, “Fine, thanks.”

“Awesome!” Hallie chirps. “I just wanted to call and let you know the good news: we’ve had an offer on the beach house!”

I hear blood rushing in my ears. “What?” I stutter as her words crash through me.

The house, gone, just like that?

“Isn’t that great?” Hallie coos, completely oblivious to my distress. “Now, it’s quite a bit under the asking price, and I told your dad to hold out for more, but he wants to get this done ASAP. We’ll be rushing the deal through, and should have it all settled in a couple of weeks!”

I start to feel dizzy and nauseous. I stand there, listening to Hallie babble about closing dates and surveys, and how great this all is to be off my plate. “You’ll be able to get back to school!” she says, “The buyer says not even to worry about getting everything cleared out. I think they’re planning to raze the whole thing, you know, and just build something new on the land.”

“They want to tear it down?!” My voice rises in horror.

“Well, it’s such an old place, but the view is worth it,” Hallie continues. “Anyway, sweetie, you think you can be out by the end of the week? I don’t want to give them time to change their minds now!”

“Sure,” I whisper faintly. “Whatever you need.”

“Fab—“

I hang up, stunned.

Sure, I’ve known for weeks that the house was going to be sold. Dad and Carina outvoted me. But all this time, I’ve pictured some other family getting to enjoy it: kids playing in the front yard, tracking sand up from the beach. It took the sting away, imagining the new happy memories that were going to be created under that shingled roof.

But torn down?

The thought makes me sick to my stomach. Coming after Emerson abandoned me this morning, it feels like everything I love it getting ripped away from me, and I’m powerless to do anything to stop it.

With a start, I realize I’ve been standing here, frozen outside Jimmy’s for ages. I hitch my purse over my shoulder, and start walking down the street towards home. It’s a lovely morning: blue-skied, with a fresh breeze dancing in from the ocean, but inside, I feel like I’m trying to walk through a hurricane. I take deep breaths, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other along the side of the dusty road, but with every step, my strength falters, and I feel my determination start to unravel.

A car passes me on the road, honking the horn. The driver whoops out the window. “Lookin’ good, darling!”

I flinch, realizing with a blush that I’m doing a walk of shame here, early in the morning in a flimsy dress. A wash of embarrassment rolls through me, and I hug my arms around myself and keep my head down until the car is gone.

I keep walking, tears stinging in the back of my throat. I don’t understand, why Emerson would just up and bail like this, after everything we shared last night. Held tight in his arms, feeling him surge up, hard inside me, I felt whole again, like every missing piece and broken part of me was mended, safe and complete.

I was home.