Page 39 of Broken Pieces
She sighs into the phone. “Yeah it is. I think I am just tired of New York City but enough about me. How is the baking going?
I fill her in on everything I have been doing including the baking for Ivy’s diner and preparing breakfast for the guests in the bed and breakfast. I tell her about how well the wedding went two weeks ago and how much business is picking up for Summer. “She will have all six rooms open next week for guests. The reno inside is nearly finished.”
“That’s awesome. But if she has all six rooms for rent, where are you staying?”
Shit. I did not mean to let that cat out of the bag. “Ummm…you can’t get mad because it wasn’t my idea. It was all Summer so you can kill her not me.”
“Oh boy, how much am I going to hate this?”
“I am staying in the cottage with Brooks.”
“What!” she shrieks before I can say anything else. “No way. That is bad news. How did Easton handle this news?”
“Um, well, I—he doesn’t know.” I wait for her to yell, but she stays silent. I decide me rattling things off to her might make her not overreact. “It’s really not a big deal. I barely see him. He goes to work an hour before me, and he tends to go out at night with his friends, so I am usually asleep by the time he comes home. And he is annoying as hell and a freakin’ man whore. I try to avoid him.”
“Uh huh,” she says.
“It’s true. He is an asshole to me. Ever since I moved here. He’s annoying and crass and tries to make my life a living hell. Just yesterday he left me at the damn diner with no ride home. I wanted to punch him.”
Tacoma starts cracking up. “You want to punch him? I think it sounds more like you want to kiss him.”
“I do not!” Do I?
“Rae, it sounds like you have a crush.”
“Stop, Tacoma. I don’t. I mean he is hot as hell and I don’t mind watching him run laps every afternoon, but once he opens his mouth, I would give nothing more than for him to shut it. Especially when he goes on and on about his damn conspiracy theories.”
She continues laughing into the phone. “Oh you sweet girl, you got it bad.”
“I do not!” I shout again.
“Whatever you say, little sister. But be careful, please. I told you he was bad news. I don’t want you getting in trouble over him.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah I know he was in jail or what not. Summer told me.”
I hear her sigh, “Just be careful. I don’t want you getting hurt any more than you already have.”
“I will never let any man put his hands near me again.”
“I meant your heart, Rae. Don’t let him hurt your heart.”
I take a giant sip of my margarita wishing I had made a pitcher of them with the way this conversation is headed. “Trust me. All the broken pieces of my heart are under lock and key. There is no way I am letting anyone near it. Not after what I let myself get into with Logan after I lost Tyler.”
“You need to stop blaming yourself for that,” she says sternly.
“Why does everyone keep saying that? He wouldn’t have killed himself if I hadn’t gone to that stupid party.”
Tacoma tsks into the phones. “He was depressed, Rae. It had nothing to with you.”
“He was getting better. He was happy with me. Just like I was happy with him. He made me feel loved in a way I hadn’t felt since Mom and Dad died.”
“That doesn’t mean he still didn’t have moments of sadness.”
“Exactly,” I growl into the phone. “He was fucking sad because he thought I cheated on him. And then he took all his pain away and gave it to me by killing himself.”
“Rae you told him the truth. He knows you got drugged at that party. He knows you were raped. Stop blaming yourself for his death.”
“You know I won’t ever be able to do that.” I sniffle. This was not how I wanted my relaxing day to go. I was trying to get thoughts of Tyler out of my head and now he just drove his way right to the forefront of my mind. “I gotta go Tacoma.”
“Raely, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“Yeah you shouldn’t have.” With that, I hang up the phone and throw it onto the deck. It starts ringing again but I choose to ignore it. I don’t want to talk to her. My good mood has been killed and I hope the soothing waves of the pool will calm my head and my heart.