Pieces of Us - Carrie Elks Page 0,84
Every muscle in her body ached. It was like she’d spent the day climbing Everest rather than overseeing a charity event. The pier closed an hour ago, laughing visitors leaving after the final concert, as the fairground rides switched off one by one. And now the pier was empty, save for Autumn, Lydia, and Ally who’d snuck into her office with a bottle of wine and three glasses. Ally was pouring them out as Lydia helped mop up Autumn’s tears.
“Griff’s a complex guy,” Ally said, passing the wine out. “He’s like an iceberg. That top ten percent is calm and easy-going as hell. But it hides all the crap he’s been through in his life.” Her eyes caught Autumn’s. “And he’s been through a lot.”
“I know.” Autumn blew her nose loudly. “But he shouldn’t take it out on me.”
Ally smiled. “You’re one of the only ones he shows the ninety percent to. That means he trusts you.” She pulled out the chair next to Autumn’s. “But that doesn’t mean he should get away with it. You should definitely give him hell, nobody should talk to you like that. But maybe you can understand why he’s the way he is. He’s built up this armor to protect himself.”
“Then you stripped the armor away,” Lydia said, patting Autumn’s hand. “And he panicked, like a wild animal.”
“That’s a pretty good description of him,” Autumn muttered, remembering the hardness in his stare. “It was like he’d closed in on himself and was lashing out without thinking.” Another tear rolled down her cheek. “And it hurt.”
“Of course it did.” Lydia hugged her. “You poor thing.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“Go home and go to bed, I guess.” Autumn looked at Lydia. “All your things are at Griff’s, but I don’t think I can go there. Can you go pick them up in the morning and bring them back to the cottage?”
“Of course. But you’ll have to face him yourself some time.”
“I can’t. Not yet.” Not without it hurting too much.
“What’ll you do if you two never make up?” Ally asked. “Would you still stay here?”
Autumn ran her finger around the top of her glass. She hadn’t touched a drop. The thought of it made her stomach tight. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “But it would be difficult if I did. Griff’s a tenant and I’ll have to work with him every day.”
Her mouth was dry at the thought. Could she deal with seeing him every day knowing she couldn’t touch him, go home with him, laugh with him? So much of her time in Angel Sands had been spent with him, first as friends, then as friends with benefits, and now as…
Nothing.
The blankness made her heart ache. And the tears started to pour all over again.
“I’m sorry, just ignore me,” Ally said quickly. “You don’t have to worry about any of that now.”
“Of course she doesn’t.” Lydia checked her watch. “Hey, when was the last time you ate anything?”
“I think I had some funnel cake late this morning,” Autumn croaked.
“You should eat. You must be starving.”
“I’m not hungry.” Autumn shook her head. “I think I’ll just go home and sleep. What time is dad’s plane home?” Her dad and Josh had beaten a hasty retreat to their hotel rooms at the Silver Sands Resort when it was clear Autumn didn’t want to talk to them. Mr. Carlsson was already on his way back to L.A.
“At lunchtime tomorrow.” Lydia shrugged. “I’m supposed to fly out in the evening, but I can change it.”
“No need to change anything,” Autumn told her. “I’ll be fine. And you’ve done enough for me already.”
“Yeah, because all of this is my fault.” Lydia gave her a sad smile.
Autumn smiled tenderly at her. “No it isn’t. We all know you can’t keep a secret. You’re an open book, and that’s part of who you are. It’s not as though it was some terrible thing, anyway. I got drunk, made a mistake, and then tried to fix it.” She shrugged.
“I love you,” Lydia said, her own eyes watering. “So much. And if Griff has any sense, he’ll realize how much he loves you, too, and come crawling on his knees to beg you to take him back.”
Autumn almost laughed at the image of Griff crawling anywhere. Only almost, though, because her heart was so bruised it hurt to do anything other than breathe.
It was time to go to bed and sleep, because she had no idea what else to do. Maybe tomorrow