Brylee shook her head. “No. I know you had appendicitis. They got to you just in time. You’re in the mental ward in the hospital. They have you on suicide watch.”
Larkin’s eyes widened when she saw the nurse sitting in the corner.
She gasped when the memories came, and she started crying again.
“Oh, God.” Brylee wrapped an arm around her and put her head by hers. “Just cry for a bit. Get it out, and then we’ll talk. Whatever it is, we’ll fix it.”
Larkin shook her head. “No. I’m broken.”
“Why?”
“Darian … he’s married or had been married, and he told me he’d never been married when we first got together.”
Brylee gasped. “What? How do you know this?”
Larkin wiped a tear from her cheek. “I met her at the party. She was the one in the short red dress.”
Brylee’s eyes widened. “Her? I can’t even see them together. She’s so cold.”
“I don’t know. Even before tonight…”
“You mean last night? You’ve been here for a while.”
Hell, how many hours had she lost? “Yes. We weren’t doing well.”
“Why?”
“He’s been pulling away from me. I hardly see him anymore, like he’s trying to avoid me, and he never holds me at night when we’re in bed.”
“Maybe he’s busy at work?”
Larkin covered her face with her hands and cried. Brylee kept handing her tissues as she cried along with her. That was what best friends were for, and she had the best in Brylee.
“Remember when Aleena came to the pizza party and showed us her ring?”
“Yes. I could tell that bothered you.”
“No. I’m really happy for them, but Darian and I have been together twice as long as them. When I went down to the kitchen to get the sparkling grape juice, I heard him in the office talking to Kaleb. He said he wasn’t asking me to marry him because of rocking the boat, and he also said I wasn’t ready for marriage.”
“Why?” Brylee asked.
“I don’t know. What’s different about me than the other girls?”
“Nothing at all.”
“Then I don’t understand why he said that. What I do understand is he just doesn’t want to marry me. I really wished I had known years ago because I gave him all of myself, and now there’s nothing left.”
She tucked her face against the pillow and cried. She didn’t know a person could cry as long as she’d been and not run out of moisture.
“That’s not true,” Brylee cried.
“But it is. I have no idea what I’m supposed to do. Where do I go? I’ve given him total control of my life.”
“You’re coming home with me while you heal, and then we’ll figure everything out. I don’t want you to worry about it. I swear I’ll do everything in my power to make things good for you.”
“I don’t want to see him. I can’t.”
“I know. They’re keeping him away right now. They had to put a guard outside your door.”