left her without a word and it looked like he was never coming back.
She had opened her heart and her body in ways she never had before. Deep in the aching cavern inside her, the loss of her parents was waiting with poisoned fangs. No one loved her, everyone left her. There was no future. The past was all a lie. The moment she had made herself truly vulnerable, the only guy she had ever really liked had abandoned her.
Tears ran down her cheeks at all hours of the day and night, following the paths of the ones that had run down just a short time before. She couldn’t move without crying. She curled up in a corner of the bed, her arms wrapped around a tear-stained pillow as she stared blankly at the walls.
If I never leave here, I’ll be safe. The thought was ridiculous, but she couldn’t shake it. She knew her mind wasn’t working rationally, but that didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was the grief eating into her chest and slowly devouring her heart.
I found love. I believed in it, I gave my all. It took me so long to trust. Does he even know or care what he's done?
If she could talk to him for even a minute, she thought it might heal her. Just to see him, to know that he was okay. To try and understand why. She clung to these threads but really, she had no true hope of ever feeling happy again.
If he came back, could I ever trust him?
For the first few days, she had given him every benefit of every doubt. Now that those days had stretched into a week, she was far less forgiving. If she saw him again, she didn’t know if she would leap into his arms or try to smack him right across that gorgeous jaw.
She shifted slightly, dropping a blanket to the floor. There was a clank of spoons and she glanced down to see that the ice cream graveyard was quite a bit bigger than it had been before. She was eating endless bowls of mint chocolate chip ice cream, trying to find comfort in the sugar and fat. Maybe it wasn’t working because she didn’t even like mint chocolate chip, but she wasn’t going out and no one in the house was buying any other flavor.
Her roomies insisted on buying only the one flavor she hated most, hoping there might be a tiny bowl left for themselves. It wasn’t like Kelly meant to eat it all…but the brownies kept asking what they could do for her. She kept saying ice cream. In a situation like this, any ice cream was good ice cream.
Maybe I’ll switch to donuts, she thought vengefully. There isn’t a single flavor of those I don’t like!
There was a faint, almost apologetic tap on the door. Kelly sat up eagerly, praying it was Ronun and knowing that it wasn’t.
“Kelly, it's Cora. Can I come in?”
The door cracked open and Kelly hugged her pillow even tighter. Cora’s face broke with sympathy as she hurried over and wrapped her in a hug. It was all Kelly could do to not break down into tears. Again.
“Don't exert yourself,” she admonished her hugely pregnant friend. Since Cora was no longer her boss, and she was here to cheer Kelly up, that meant she was a friend, right?
“I had to,” Cora said, settling her bulk down on the bed. “Everyone is so worried about you, kid.”
Kelly tried to find something to say that would ease Cora's concerns, but only ended up crying all over again. Her lip trembled. Her breath shuddered in her chest. Cora wiped her eyes gently, giving her a stack of tissues.
“I’ve found out a few things that I think might help you understand what happened. It might make you feel better.”
Kelly sniffled and blew her nose loudly before meeting her friend's gaze. “Okay, what? Tell me what could make me feel better about having the man I love—and saved from a terrible curse, by the by—leave me without so much as a goodbye. Or thanks, for that matter. Lay it on me, Cora.”
Cora grimaced, then sighed. “Okay, maybe it won't make you feel better…”
Nothing would ever make Kelly feel better again, of that much she was certain, but Cora was only trying to help. With a resigned sigh, Kelly shrugged. “Sorry, tell me what you found.”
Cora gave her a long look before nodding. “Ronun’s ancestor was going to become