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Did your day go as planned?

You’re locking and alarht? I don’tto be home alone

LM

Landon,

Yes, I’ht The state-of-the-art alared (And I’m not insulted I appreciate the concern)

I spent the day at my ex’s His parents have no idea we’re broken up--he never told them, for some reason It ard I don’t knohy I let hi He wants to see o back to ca friends tomorrow, so that should be more fun

What about your family? What did you do?

JW

I couldn’t be sure when he’d get my answer, since he’d need the Bait & Tackle & Coffee’s wifi to sign on After a restless night--one that crawled by, leaving ned into tonew fro Lucas, but ould I say? That I’d tossed and turned all night, thinking of his hands on as halfway back to cao back early

My phone rang before I even pulled back onto the interstate Kennedy I took a deep breath and switched off the stereo before answering

"You’ve already left? I thought you were leaving toht"

I sighed, wanting to bangwheel, which wasn’t the best idea while driving seventy miles an hour "I don’t understand what it is you want to talk about, Kennedy" I wondered if he’d been blind to howto talk, and the nored

"I think Imy stunned silence, he added, "Ito take me a while--"

"What do youup"

I was silent again, the words sticking as I tried to take theossip as h to know that Kennedy had been no saint in the weeks we’d spent apart He’d also had no shortage of willing participants But girls willing to share your bed don’t equal girls willing to put up with your randoal opinions, or support your life’s goals the way someone who loves you would No--that had been my role And I’d been dished and I i, co his hand there, elbow bent He couldn’t hide habitual mannerisms from me, even on the phone "Why did I make a mistake, or why do I think it was aa question with a question was his way of buying time while he reasoned his way out of a problematic situation "This conversation would have been easier in person--"

"We were together almost three years, and you just broke up withI stopped and took a deep breath "Maybe it wasn’t a mistake"

"How can you say that?" He had the nerve to sound hurt

"Oh, I don’t know," I snapped "Maybe the same way you so easily broke it off in the first place"

"Jackie--"

My teeth ground together "Don’t Call Me That"

He was silent, and all I heard was road noise asbetween the last town and the next Most of the fields on either side of the road were inactive, given the tih one cotton field, and I stared at it Noon elsewhere The first time Kennedy kissed me, it stood to reason that at the saht Kennedy broke ht there inin love

"Jacqueline I don’t knohat you want me to say"

In a h a town that boasted a sizable outlet mall and little else Every mile took me farther from Kennedy Closer to Lucas I was unsettled by the notion that Lucas was so that he’d been that safety zone for ," I replied "I don’t want you to say anything"

My ex had the sense to knohen he’d reached a deadlock He thanked ot back to cae

Jacqueline,

It sounds like he wants you back, or at least, he wants so more than friendship The question is, what do you want?

My family is justDay, so he was more conversational than he would have been otherwise When it’s just the two of us in that house, we tend to go hours without speaking If you don’t count "excuse s, the silence can enco boat Not es deep-sea fishing trips or native bird-watching tours over the winter He’d scheduled one for today, so we said our goodbyes at 5am, and here I am, back at my place just after noon