Page 168

“Sorry again, dear.”

“That’s alright. Have a good day.”

Pearl nodded at her and Romi ducked away from the teller, past the

lineup behind her, and out the bank’s front door.

She took the check out of her purse when she got back in her car. She

inspected it. Everything looked fine. The date. The signature. Pearl did say

that it was cancelled, which could only mean that it was something on

Kiera’s end.

Had she done it on purpose? Did she regret being so generous?

Romi stared out the windshield at the sidewalk that ran past the bank’s

parking lot. People walked by occasionally. Cars passed on the street.

People always said that it was so strange how life just went on after

something horrible or monumental happened to them. It was true. The

wider world wasn’t concerned with her. They didn’t even know she existed.

The people who did care about her had no idea that anything was going

on with her, even though it had been almost a week since she and Kiera

broke up. She hadn’t told her parents. She hadn’t even told her brother. She

didn’t want Jack asking any questions. Yet. She couldn’t face the hurt that

talking to them would cause. She wasn’t ready. She wasn’t ready to discuss

how brief everything had been, or how abruptly things ended. She hated

that she had no control over any of it and feeling powerless was a really

shitty feeling.

She hadn’t told her parents that she’d quit her job either.

Romi knew she was going to have to. Soon. She had bills that needed to

be paid. Her rent was due in a week. She had her car insurance to pay for,

groceries to buy…it all added up. She hadn’t even looked for another job

yet. Moving on sucked. It really, truly, sucked.

Romi pulled out her phone and checked the time. The bank closed at five

and she’d made it just in time. She knew that the store would be closed

soon and that Kiera would probably be at her house unless she was out on a