Page 31 of Vitamin Sea

I t had been two months since the breakup and Lala was on her way over. She had been a bastion of support for Chloe, suddenly single, who was eternally grateful for it.

The night the breakup had happened Chloe didn’t tell anyone.

Emotional devastation aside, she also had feelings of extreme embarrassment to contend with.

She had kept the state of her and Liam’s relationship a secret for several months, sweeping her worries and concerns under the rug while projecting to friends and family that everything was rosy.

Perhaps most embarrassing of all was that she had actually believed that Liam might propose to her that evening.

That belief had been so strong that she had hinted to a few of her friends that there was a good chance there would be a change in her relationship status that night.

Which there had been. Just not the kind she had been hoping for. Instead of being upgraded to fiancée and future wife, she had been downgraded to Chloe, party of one. The embarrassment was almost too much for her to take.

Her first phone call the next morning had been to Lala. Her friend had barely been able to understand her on the phone and she had come by quickly afterwards. Alejandra and Opal had shown up a little while later and they supported Chloe during her emotional breakdown.

A hurried knock at the door alerted Chloe, wearing the same pajamas she had gone to bed in two nights ago, that her friend had arrived. She went to open it.

The minute she saw the look on Lala’s face she knew something was wrong.

“What is it?” Chloe looked at her with caution. She didn’t know what Lala was going to tell her, but she knew it was going to be bad.

“Give me a second,” Lala said, stepping inside to give her friend a big hug. “How are you doing?”

Chloe’s eyes began to mist. What was it about people expressing concern about her that made her want to cry?

“Oh, you know . . .,” Chloe trailed off noncommittally.

Lala stepped back for a second and furrowed her brow.

“Um, Chlo?” she said hesitantly. “I don’t want to judge you or anything, but have you changed out of those pajamas since Thursday?” She glanced at the clothes that Chloe had not, in fact, changed out of since Thursday. Lala had come over that night with H?agen-Dazs and a board game.

Chloe grimaced and Lala shot her a pitying look.

“Okay, I’m not going to judge, but I will implore you to consider the benefits of a shower and clean clothes.” She paused. “Or at least rotating out your pajamas.”

Lala headed for the fridge and pulled out a diet soda before taking a seat at the dining table.

Chloe followed and took the seat beside her.

She wasn’t onto the wine yet as, despite being in a hole of depression so deep she couldn’t see sunlight, she had made it a rule for herself that she was not to indulge in any alcoholic cocktails before 5 p.m. Unless, of course, it was a statutory holiday or a weekend. Then she relaxed this rule to 1 p.m.

“What is it?” Chloe, again, asked cautiously.

The diet soda tab opened with a metallic click and Lala took a sip.

“I don’t even know how to tell you this,” Lala said with trepidation. “I feel awful telling you this.” She paused a beat. “But I don’t want you finding out from someone else or finding out when you’re alone.” She took a deep breath.

Chloe’s heartbeat sped up and she braced herself for what was coming. She was pretty sure at this point that she didn’t want to know.

Lala continued.

“I have it on good authority, and by ‘good authority’, I mean I saw it with my own eyes and then confirmed it with one of Liam’s friends.”

Chloe’s stomach turned in knots.

“What did you see and what did you confirm?” Chloe’s voice shook. She didn’t want to know what Lala saw and confirmed. She really didn’t want to know.

“Do you really want me to tell you?” Lala looked concerned.

“He’s with Sophia, isn’t he?” Chloe’s heart beat loudly in her ears.

A pitying look crossed her friend’s face, and she nodded.

“He is,” Lala sounded pissed. “That total trash monster of a man. Moved in with her, the bastard.”

Chloe said nothing for a minute and then she burst into tears while Lala leaned over and comforted her friend.

Hearing that Liam no longer wanted to be with her, that he didn’t want a future together had been brutal.

It had kept her in an emotional spiral for more than two months.

But somehow, hearing that her suspicions had been correct and that he was with the woman she had spent so much time concerned about made it that much worse.

They were living together.

Two months after breaking up with Chloe, her ex-boyfriend was actually living with another woman.

Her heart, which was already broken into a million pieces, turned to dust.