She takes a stuttered breath in.
“It’s silly, really,” she says.
“Well, I seriously doubt that. It can’t be that silly if it’s gotten you this upset.”
She lifts her head and looks at me. I hate to see her so upset.
“It’s my ex.”
My ears pull back, and this ball of rage fills a section of my chest. That’s all she needs to say. I’ll beat his ass.
“Should I kick his ass?” I ask her, and that gets a small smile out of her. She’s not opposed to the idea.
“No. Technically he did nothing wrong.” She wipes her eyes and I sit on the bed next to her. She hikes her knee up and turns towards me.
“He broke up with me a few months ago. I took it hard. He was taking me out for our one-year anniversary of being together. I thought he was going to propose. He was suppose to be taking me to my favorite restaurant. I bought a new dress and spent hours with Chrissy getting ready.”
“And Chrissy is?”
“My best friend.”
“But on our way to the restaurant he told me he made other reservations, to a new steak house his parents liked or something. It wasn’t a huge deal; he just hadn’t told me until that moment.”
My jaw tightens. The more she talks, the more I want to show him how the blunt end of a hunting rifle feels like to his face.
She takes another deep breath and continues.
“We got our drinks and even ordered our food before he told me he doesn’t think it’s working anymore. That he got a promotion at work, and that he and his co-worker Maddie would travel together more.”
When she says Maddie, her lip purses up and eyes roll so hard I think the people in the next room hear them.
“I’ve never liked Maddie.”
“Really? I couldn’t tell,” I say facetiously.
Her smile broke through her sadness a little more this time.
“So, what has you so upset?”
“I stupidly went to his social media page, and there is a picture of her kissing him on the cheek, on lounge chairs at the beach. He always told me nothing was going on. That she was just a people person and touchy-feely with everyone. Never with me of course. I shouldn’t have looked. I am here to have fun, to get away from him, them and reset my mindset and my life.” She gets a little fired up and slaps her hands on her knees.
“It’s ok to be upset. I can totally see why you are. Coming from a guy’s point of view, he just wanted to break it off before you found out. He didn’t want to get caught.”
“I figured that was the case. He was never that great, anyways.”
“How so?” I was honestly curious. How else is a guy supposed to understand the workings of a woman’s brains unless they learn everything they can?
“Well, for instance, I was going back through all my pictures of us together. They were all at work functions, he's a realtor, so there were lots of work functions, house closings, stuff like that. Always places wherehewanted to be. We never really did anything I wanted to do. We never talked about anything I wanted to talk about. He would listen to me for a few minutes, but then he would be on his phone, or a call would come in. I was never more important than work.”
“So, what I am hearing is that I should beat his ass.”
She laughs, and I love to hear it.
“I mean, if I don’t see it happen, did it really happen?” She shrugs her shoulders.
“Nope,” we both laugh this time, and I scoot over next to her. I put my arm around her waist and crane my head back to look her in the eyes.
“You, Sarah, are an amazing woman. You’re smart, you’re the most organized person I have ever met, you have a passion for life and the things you love that shine bright. You’re stunning, and you have made this trip ten times better than I ever imaged it would be."