“Is your friend here?”
Sadness moved through Tammy like a wave at high tide. She couldn’t find her smiles anymore, not even if she tried. “He’s gone.”
Mom gave a pitied smile, and then asked, “Where is the celebration at?”
“Um, I’m not sure,” she admitted, looking around for Harley. She’d mentioned going out to eat or something. “Hey Harley?”
“Yep?” Her friend answered immediately from where she was chatting with the Cold Foot Crew a few yards away.
“Are we still going somewhere to eat for lunch?”
“Oh yeah. I reserved the back room of Pepper’s Pub.”
Sweet. She’d never been there before. “Thank you for doing that! Is there room for my parents?”
“Of course! There’s plenty of room.”
“Okay, we can meet you there if you want.”
“I’m starving,” Cash announced.
“You’re always starving,” Katrina jabbed.
“I am also hungry,” King said, raising his hand like he was in school.
She giggled and gestured toward the parking lot. “Let’s make like cows and moooove.”
Cash groaned, and Harley snorted, but no one laughed. Not like Tawk had done when she’d used a moo-cow joke on him.
Everything reminded her of him.
She scanned the crowd, but he really wasn’t here. She couldn’t deny the disappointment that swirled in her chest. She hadn’t realized how much it meant to her that he be here until she’d shown up.
She was proud of herself, but she wanted to celebrate with the people she cared about. It might have been a messy night that made them incompatible, but she still had those big feelings that had swallowed her heart up whole.
“What’s wrong?” Jess asked softly as she passed.
Tammy studied the woman’s face, and considered telling her what a problem she had caused last night, but she didn’t know Jess that well. Now, she mostly knew the witch was dangerous.
“I’m fine,” she murmured, and walked past the witch to put some distance between them. She hated that Jess could control Tawk’s reality.
The curse he’d yelled as he’d walked away last night echoed through her mind for the tenth time today. His tone had beenfull of agony, frustration, and regret. They had other issues as well, but Jess was a big reason for him leaving.
She still needed time to think about all of that, and figure out her feelings on the witch.
When she pulled into the parking lot of Pepper’s at the edge of town, everyone else had already arrived and were headed inside. For a few moments, Tammy sat there gripping the steering wheel, wondering if she could do this. Could she force the smiles and put on a happy face and hide the emptiness and uncertainty she was feeling? She had to. These people were here to celebrate her big day, and she didn’t want to be a downer.
She pulled her phone out of the cupholder and looked at Tawk’s text message again.
No one is allowed to mess with you.
How long had she craved for Aaron to figure that out? How many years had she waited for him to grow up and stick up for her on anything?
You are a woman who is going to figure everything out.
She loved the way Tawk saw her. He hadn’t been through her awkward childhood years, or her gawky teens. He hadn’t seen her being built into the woman she was…he only saw the woman as she was now, and the way he spoke filled her with a confidence that surprised her.
I wish you were there today. Her finger hovered over the send button, but she couldn’t do it. They’d had their closure, all messaging him would do was drag it out.
