Page 27 of Vitamin Sea

" J esus.”

That was the first word out of her mom’s mouth when she saw her.

Chloe wasn’t sure if it was a comment on her appearance or an urging for her to find him. Although given what had greeted her in the mirror that morning, she was pretty sure it was the former. Her appearance could accurately be described as The Walking Dead meets Rocky .

In addition to being unable to catch any restful sleep, she also hadn’t found the motivation to shower.

Which wasn’t doing her hair or her face any favours.

Her outfit didn’t help anything either. A large coffee stain spread across the front of her gray sweatshirt and her similar-coloured sweatpants were tinged with flecks of food.

The look on her mom’s face said everything her one-word utterance didn’t, and she immediately gathered Chloe into the kind of hug that only moms are capable of. The all-consuming, all-loving, safety-filled kind that really lets you know just how much they care.

“Honey,” she said softly, “I am so sorry.”

Chloe collapsed into her mom’s arms and cried while her mom comforted her. The next thing she knew a steaming mug of tea was cupped in her hands and she was sitting on the couch in her living room.

Her mom asked questions about the breakup, but Chloe brushed them off—she had discussed it ad nauseam with her friends that week and wanted to take her mind off it.

The scene at Opus was on constant replay in her head and the last thing she wanted to do was to spend the next few hours wallowing in it again.

Which was easier said than done.

Her mom graciously acquiesced and, sensing that Chloe didn’t have the mental capacity to respond in anything more than an affirmative ‘hmm’, ‘no way’, and ‘that’s funny’ manner, she talked. And talked. And talked.

Two hours later, Chloe was all caught up on the gossip about the neighbourhood, friends, family, and work. Her cousin Tracey, she was not surprised to hear, was engaged for the fourth time in almost as many years.

“We’re placing bets as to how this one pans out,” her mom said conspiratorially. “So let me know if you want in on the pool. Grandma Ryder has $100 on them not making it ’til Easter.”

Normally, Chloe would have eaten it up. She loved hearing about the goings-on in other people’s lives, especially Tracey’s.

As much as she liked her cousin, she was a bit deranged when it came to her love life.

But the fog of despair that had settled over Chloe made it difficult for her to focus on much of anything.

Liam was still staying with Karam, but Chloe knew that it was only temporary.

Technically, Liam owned their condo so she would have to give it back to him at some point.

They hadn’t communicated since the breakup, with the exception of Liam telling her via text a few days after he had dumped her that he was coming over to pick up a few things over his lunch hour.

Not that he had gone to Karam’s with only the clothes on his back. No, no. Liam was smarter than that. He had packed a few things into his gym bag and had apparently dropped it off at his friend’s place several days before he had dumped her.

Bastard.

How could he, she wondered, spend those few days sleeping next to her when he had every intention of breaking things off?

Or maybe it had been going on for longer than that.

Maybe he had been planning to break up with her for months.

Had he just been keeping Chloe, his girlfriend, on the back burner while deciding if he wanted to pursue things with Sophia instead?

It hurt to think that her ex-partner might have been so Machiavellian towards her. So cruel.

Which was life, really. But that didn’t mean she liked it.

Unwilling to leave her condo and not wanting to face the world, she had hidden in the bathroom before noon. When Liam came to grab his things, he had noticed the closed bathroom door with light peeking out from under it and he had given a hesitant knock on the door.

“Chloe?” he asked.

Her stomach had clenched and her throat tightened before she replied in a scathing manner.

“Go to hell.”

Her voice was full of venom.