Page 43 of Worth the Try (Atlanta Granite #1)

Elodie

K ari’s eyes widen when she opens the door. “Elodie? What’s going on?”

“It’s over,” I manage to get out between hiccuping sobs. “Me and Ansel. I told him I loved him, and it’s over. And I told my mother to go to hell.”

“You what ?” She looks me over, taking me in. The massive bag hanging off one shoulder, the cat carrier in the other hand, the tear-streaked face that I didn’t bother washing, the pajamas I’m still in because I didn’t bother changing.

Once I ran upstairs, I threw everything I could into a bag and got out of there quickly. I didn’t want to face Rosie. I was already in a bad headspace, and seeing her would have absolutely destroyed me.

I take a deep breath and try to focus my thoughts. “I told him I loved him, and he doesn’t want anything to do with me,” I sob. “It’s all my fault. All of this—everything that’s happened—is all my fault, Kari!”

Her face falls. “Oh, no, sweetheart. No. Come in, come in.”

I step over the threshold, and she takes the carrier out of my hands to let Cleocatra out.

The cat yowled the entire drive over, and I truly wasn’t sure if she was angry about the car ride or that I’d lured her away from a still-sleeping Rosalie’s bed.

Kari unlatches the door, and Cleo’s calico head pops out, her pink nose sniffing the air.

Kari looks up from where she kneels in front of the carrier. “Coffee?”

It’s only then that I realize what time it is. “You’re about to go to work, aren’t you?” My shoulders sag, and the massive overnight bag slides off my shoulder and thuds to the wooden floor beside me.

She stands and takes my hand. “I was . But now I’m not. I just need to call Frank.”

I wince, the tears coming back in force. “Everything is all my fault,” I wail.

She pulls me into her arms, shushing me and rubbing my back. “Nothing is your fault,” she soothes.

Her kindness only makes me cry harder. “It is,” I promise her, sniffing and failing miserably at keeping the tears from falling. I can’t see a way out. That beautiful clarity I’d somehow woken up with is gone. It disappeared into ash the second Ansel told me we weren’t a team. “It definitely is.”

Kari releases me from the hug and studies me, her hands on my shoulders. “Hey. It’s going to be okay. You’re going to tell me everything that happened, and we’ll fix it. Because that’s what we do. Okay?”

I sniff. “Okay.”

She gets me settled onto her couch and presses a cup of coffee into my hands, then grabs her phone. “Let me call Frank, and I’ll be back.”

She leaves the room, her voice growing distant as she speaks. “Frank? Hey. Listen…”

She’s back a few minutes later, sinking onto the couch and tucking her feet beneath her. “Start at the beginning. What’s going on?”

A fresh wave of tears begins as the magnitude of what I’ve done starts to hit me.

“I have to move. I told my mother to go to hell. Ansel’s got a custody hearing.

If he loses—no. He can’t lose. But I’m never going to see her again.

He’ll never let me see her. She’ll forget about me, and so will he, and it’ll be like I was never there,” I sob, unable to breathe.

“Oh, God.” This is worse than the other day. So much worse.

“Let’s start with the mother from hell,” Kari suggests softly. “Did she call you?”

“No,” I hiccup. “I called her because I woke up and had all this clarity. I finally understood something vital.”

“Which was?” she prompts.

“That my mother is a horrible, selfish monster and I needed to tell her that.”

“Okay, maybe not the best timing in the world, babe, but sometimes that’s just what needs to happen.”

I give her a watery smile. “You’ve always told me I need to tell her off.”

“I have,” she agrees. “So you had that call.”

Nodding, I continue, “And then I took Ansel some coffee, and I was finally able to tell him I loved him. But the timing was bad on that, too.” My lip trembles and I bite down on it.

It takes a while, but eventually I’m able to tell Kari the full story. When I finish, she studies me for a long minute. Then she stands and holds up her phone. “This calls for day drinking. With friends. Now, go take a shower and get dressed. I’ll handle the rest.”

I let out a stuttered breath. “I don’t think so.”

She snorts. “I don’t care. This is happening. Come on. Up you go.” She waves me away, shooing me to the bathroom.

“I can’t.”

“You can.”

“Kari—”

She purses her lips. “Move it, woman. Go. Go go go. We’re fixing this.”

My heart squeezes, and more tears emerge. “It won’t help.”

She tilts her head, and when she speaks, her voice is soft again. “Well, it sure won’t hurt. So go.”

Defeated, I sigh and make my way to her shower.

I take my time, washing my thick hair and using a body scrub before shrugging and using her razor on my armpits and legs.

None of it helps, exactly, but the soothing routine of self-care lulls me into a sense of false calm.

Like everything will be okay if I just stay numb.

And numb is what I need. Numb is necessary.

I don’t want the clear-headedness I woke up with.

Look where that got me: blurting out I love you to yet another person who doesn’t want it.

My body finally let the words out, only it was at the exact wrong time.

Because it was too late. Way, way too late.

I pull on my favorite pair of Costco lounge pants and a loose crop top over a lacy black bralette and make my way out of the steamy bathroom.

Kari bustles around the kitchen, but I don’t bother her as I beeline for the couch and pull a blanket over me.

I grab my phone, forcing myself not to open any of the social media apps or my email.

Instead, I open my reading app and attempt to get lost in the historical fiction I usually love to read.

I must fall asleep, because the next thing I know, I hear voices coming from the kitchen.

After a few moments, I recognize the husky laugh of Allyson and the Australian lilt of Sam.

The temptation to throw the blanket over my head and pretend to keep sleeping is strong, but I make myself get up and fold the blanket instead.

Padding into the room, I find all three women chattering away, all smiles and happiness, and it hits me then. How empty I feel. I can’t fathom feeling as light as they seem, as unburdened. It’s no surprise that tears once again spring to my eyes.

Allyson chooses that exact moment to turn and gives me a big smile. “Elodie!” Then she scowls. “Nope. We’re not crying.”

And that, of course, makes me cry.

All three women surround me as I boo-hoo and generally make a mess of myself, but eventually Sam pulls away.

“All right, enough of that,” she scolds playfully. “We were called over for day drinking, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

“But first—did you hear back from that whale-watching company?”

“Allyson!” Kari exclaims.

“What?” Allyson asks. “No better way to get her mind off things than to talk about me.”

I can’t help the laugh that comes out even as I grab a paper towel to blow my nose. “Yes, Allyson, I did.”

She wiggles her eyebrows and rubs her hands together. “Ooh, is it gonna work out?”

I nod. “It is.”

Allyson whirls to the counter. “Okay, now it’s time to drink. Are we starting with straight tequila shots?”

“ No ,” all three of us respond.

I don’t know how much time passes, but I do know that we impart some serious damage to Kari’s liquor collection and put a hurting on Jake’s DoorDash account.

No one remembered who ordered what, but once the delivery driver deposited Taco Bell, at least five different kinds of chips from the convenience store, and an entire cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory on Kari’s front porch, it didn’t matter.

I tell them everything. The way I loved Rosalie from the second I met her, the way Ansel and I slowly fell for each other. How Ansel steadily pulled me out of my “nice girl” shell and told me he loved me, and how I loved him, too, but couldn’t get the words out. And this morning, when he ended it.

In exchange, Allyson spilled all the tea about the team, giving us the gossip on everything from which players the old coach had it out for to which ones were being scouted for moving to Europe.

Sam told us how she’d left Melbourne not just to accompany her brother—who honestly doesn’t need his older sister to look after him—but to break free from the monotony that had become her life.

Kari simply watched me from across the room, quietly making sure I was okay.

I wasn’t. I’m not.

I don’t know when I will be.

Kari clears her throat and raises her glass of wine. “A toast,” she declares.

We raise our drinks, Allyson and I drinking expensive and delicious tequila, and Sam joining Kari in the wine department.

“Here’s to us. Strong women taking chances, leaping into the unknown, and making ourselves brand new all over again.”

“Here, here,” Sam says, and we toast.

My phone pings as we drink. I pick it up from its spot on the coffee table and open it, half expecting it to be a text from Ansel, and half knowing he’s not sending me squat.

UNKNOWN

Told you not to fuck with me.

I stare at the text as another comes in, then another.

How’s it feel to be a pariah? To be used and discarded just like I was?

Hope you enjoyed the free ride. Because it’s over.

A wave of hot, bright anger washes over me, and I growl. “That fucking bitch .”

“Whoa,” Kari breathes.

Allyson and Sam gape at me.

“Did you just curse?” Kari continues.

I keep staring at the texts, rage building inside me. Absolutely nothing she’s done has been out of love for her daughter. Nothing. And the fact that she sent this tells me she’s still got someone watching the house. Which is frightening and disgusting in equal measure.

“I hate her,” I seethe. “I hate her fucking guts.”

Kari nods appreciatively. “Okay. I like where this is going. This is better than crying.”

“Amen,” Allyson agrees. “But who do we hate?”

I hold the phone up for them to read. “Lauren.”

They’re quiet as they read the texts, then they explode into righteous cries of indignation and fury.

“What the fuck ?” Kari demands.

“She really just sent that,” Sam says.

Without a word, Allyson stands and walks to the hallway, then returns with her laptop.

I narrow my alcohol-blurred eyes at her. “What are you doing?”

“Y’all know what my job is, right?”

“Glamorous Black Goddess?” I guess.

She laughs. “Close. I run a private investigation company.”

“Wait. You what ?” Sam’s eyes are round.

“You never told us that!” Kari accuses.

Allyson flashes a predatory smile. “You never asked.”