Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 61591 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61591 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
I barely recognized him when I stepped into the lobby. He’d dyed his hair back to its original black and had slicked it into a stubby ponytail, and he was wearing a light blue Oxford shirt and khakis, along with a plastic name tag. The only sign of the Vee I knew was his jewelry. It wasn’t the big, eclectic collection he usually wore, but his bohemian stud earrings, beaded bracelet, and silver rings let a tiny bit of his personality shine through.
As soon as I stepped through the door, he yelled, “Tracy!” Then he rushed around the mahogany counter and grabbed me in a hug as he said, “It’s so good to see you, dude. It’s been ages!”
“It’s always good to see you too, but it actually hasn’t been that long. We saw each other when Ever and I came to dinner last Sunday.”
“Oh, right.” He dropped onto a green velvet chair and sighed. “Time’s been dragging since I started working here.”
“I’m surprised you took this job. You said you left the resort on Catalina Island because you needed a change, but now you’re basically doing the same thing at this hotel.”
Vee slumped and admitted, “I haven’t told you the whole story of why I left Catalina. Sage and I were dating, and when it fell apart I had to get out of there.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you’d started dating your best friend?”
“When we first started hooking up, we decided to keep it a secret. I guess we didn’t know how to explain it to anyone. Then it got really intense. We began spending all of our time together, and I loved every minute of it.
“But this was during the summer. As you know, Sage is close to finishing his PhD in marine biology, and when school started in the fall, everything changed. It wasn’t that he got too busy for me. I fully expected his time to become very limited, and I was fine with that. But once he was back in school and working toward his degree, it was this huge reminder of how totally different our lives are. He’s ambitious, driven, and career-focused, and I’m… well, me. We didn’t make sense as a couple. There’s so much he wants to accomplish, and I’d only be holding him back.”
“So, you broke up?”
“Not at first. We tried to dial it back to friendship, but it was too painful after all we’d shared. Finally, I had to leave. It was the only way my broken heart would ever heal.”
“Are you still in touch?”
Vee nodded. “We said we’d remain friends no matter what, and we both meant it. But it’s not like it was before. Our texts are polite and impersonal, and it sucks. His friendship meant everything to me, and we ruined it.”
“I’m so sorry you’re going through this.”
“And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I actually hadn’t told anyone, because it hurts to talk about it. But bottling it up isn’t doing me any favors.”
We talked for a few more minutes, until a ringing phone sent him running to the front desk. Once he finished the call, I opened my backpack and gave him the package of baked goods I’d come here to deliver.
I knew he had to get back to work, so I said, “I’d better get going, but if you need anything or want to keep talking, please call me.” Vee always seemed like he didn’t have a care in the world, but now that I knew he’d been keeping his real feelings hidden, I hoped he’d keep confiding in me.
“I will.” He walked me to the door and gave me a hug as he murmured, “Thanks for listening, Tracy.”
“Any time.”
I replayed our conversation as I walked to the bus stop. Hearing about him and Sage had been a real surprise. They’d been the best of friends, and I never would have thought anything could come between them.
In a lot of ways, what Vee had told me felt like a cautionary tale. While Ever and I weren’t in exactly the same situation, I saw a lot of parallels between our story and theirs. One part that stood out was that they’d thought they could dial it back to a friendship, but it had failed miserably. It would feel like a huge loss if that happened to Ever and me.
I didn’t want to let those worries spook me, though. Instead, I wanted to live in the moment and enjoy this, for as long as I possibly could.
When I got home, sweet, thoughtful Ever was waiting for me, dressed all in red, from his shorts and tank top to his Santa hat. He handed me a cup of cocoa with a candy cane sticking out of it and said, “It’s cold out, so I made you this to warm up.”