A Magnolia Friendship - Anne-Marie Meyer Page 0,68

arm around Tag and squeezed. It felt like I was hugging a limp fish, but he wasn’t pulling away. This was progress.

We gathered the kids’ belongings and moved to the front door. When they were packed into the car, I turned to face Craig. I gave him an annoyed look. It irritated me how quickly he’d given up. I’d gotten over how quickly he gave up on our marriage. But he couldn’t do this with our kids. Not now.

“Try harder next time,” I said as I folded my arms across my chest and glared at him.

He sighed and scrubbed his hands over his face. “I tried. But they were adamant that they needed to come check on you.” He let his hands fall. I didn’t like the look he was casting my direction, but I didn’t falter in my stance.

“New boyfriend?” he asked as he nodded to where Danny had been parked.

I narrowed my eyes as I set my jaw. “Good night, Craig.” I hadn’t had time to process what had happened, and there was no way I was going to attempt to work through it while standing in front of my ex.

“I was just wondering,” he said as he held up his hands. Thankfully, he didn’t push it further. Instead, he walked over to the driver’s side and climbed in.

I waited on the front stoop until Craig was out of sight. I waved until Bella could no longer see me.

Now alone, I slipped into my house and stood in the entryway, in the dark.

Without my children or Craig around me, I let my tears fall.

My broken heart came to the forefront, and there was nothing keeping me from feeling the pain that came from walking away.

Danny and I were finished, and it was going to take me a long time to get over it.

I may be stronger than I’d thought, but that didn’t mean that I was unbreakable.

I had broken into a million pieces. And I feared I was never going to be whole again.

19

Victoria

The next week went from bad to worse, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Sawyer tried. I tried. But the polls kept tipping in Peter’s favor, and it was getting to the point that my campaign was beyond repair.

I knew it. Sawyer knew it. Mom and Dad knew it. Every time we were in the same room, they were quiet, and I could feel their stares and unspoken words. To them, I was a failure, and it was eating me alive.

Danny was no help. It had been a week since I’d seen him at the inn with Shari, and ever since he came home that night, he’d been either working or moping. He’d come home and cement himself to the couch. He was upset about something, but I wasn’t in the headspace to figure out what.

I was relieved when I woke up on Saturday morning. The sun was streaming into my room, so I pulled my covers up over my head and reveled in the darkness. I didn’t have to go into the office today, and I’d told Sawyer to cancel all of my appearances. I didn’t want to admit defeat, but I also didn’t want to continue when there was no point.

I was flip-flopping and figured it would be better if I just ignored the things that were causing me pain rather than facing them. At least for today.

I stretched out on my bed. The feeling of stress leaving my body helped me to relax. I was going to spend the day doing what I wanted to do. I was going to wallow in my self-pity until I felt better.

I was determined to make this day all about me.

By ten o’clock, I’d watched a chick flick on Netflix and eaten the stash of chocolate I had hidden in my nightstand. I was feeling pretty good. I had my phone out and was getting ready to order some Chinese food for delivery when there was a soft knock on the door.

I paused the movie and glanced over. I wanted to tell whoever it was to go away. By my calculations, it was either Mom, Dad, or Danny. And right now, I was not interested in talking to any of them.

I figured that silence was the best way to deal with unwanted guests, so I pulled my covers over my head, planning to hide until they went away. My entire body tensed when I heard the door click open and someone entered