Divine Blue [Book One]

Chapter Twenty

Taylor woke up Saturday morning to a flurry of new text messages from Adrienne. After a night of sleep, aided mostly by over-the-counter sleeping pills, Taylor felt like she had more clarity in order to tackle the issue as best she could. However, she wasn't sure what she was really walking into with the messages she was about to read. Taylor opened her phone to read Adrienne's messages.

[Adrienne]: taylor???

[Adrienne]: ??

[Adrienne]: why aren't you talking to me?

[Adrienne]: why are you doing this? was it me? did i do something wrong?

[Adrienne]: my heart is crumbling taylor. i'm so mad, but i'm so confused.

[Adrienne]: forget it...

Taylor sighed looking over all of the messages. This had beaten Adrienne up in a way that Taylor had wanted to avoid. She would never break up with Adrienne in her heart, but the outward appearance had to be there. Taylor decided to text back a carefully crafted message.

[Taylor]: adrienne

Taylor stared at the cursor for some time. She erased Adrienne's name and decided to just type frankly.

[Taylor]: i'm sorry. i didn't know what to say that wouldn't just make it worse & it already hurts me that i hurt you. i don't know how to explain what's going on.

It was 9:00 in the morning, and Taylor hoped that she hadn't awoken her. She sat her phone down at her side and covered her arms back up in the comforter. She wanted to be able to stay in bed all day, but she knew this would only breed more sadness. She didn't see the harm in a few more minutes, though.

Taylor's phone buzzed with an incoming message.

[Adrienne]: you haven't even really given me a clear answer taylor. i slept like shit last night

Taylor decided to write back, praying she could reign in some of her own heartbreak.

[Taylor]: i don't know how to explain it to you. there's not a clear answer for me to give. there's something going on in my life that i can't tell anyone about.

[Adrienne]: why does it mean you have to let me go in the process?

[Taylor]: because it's not right & it won't end well.

[Adrienne]: this sounds like the worst cop out in history taylor

[Taylor]: call it what you want but don't think for a second that it was easy for me.

[Adrienne]: it sure seemed easy for you to just cut shit off at the very end of the night

[Taylor]: it wasn't easy.

[Adrienne]: whatever. peace out

[Taylor]: adrienne... i'm so sorry.

Adrienne stopped texting her after that. Taylor was numb. She couldn't provide Adrienne any comfort or closure, and it was annihilating her from the inside. But she had to keep reminding herself that she was doing this for Adrienne's benefit. There was something unpredictable about Sarai, like there was more to her than she obviously let on, and the idea that Sarai had the potential to make Adrienne's life a living hell outweighed the pain of letting her go.

Sandra opened Taylor's bedroom door and walked in. "How's my sweet angel this morning?"

Taylor gave Sandra a scolding look.

"Too soon? Sorry, Sweetie, just trying to cheer you up a little."

"It's OK. But the wound is still pretty fresh."