A Way Out

Chapter 32

Eat, sleep, drink, and work. That's all I did these past two weeks. Raleigh tried talking to me about what happened, but I wasn't ready. I wanted the wounds to heal before ripping them open. My heart had bled for Donovan, wept even, but I didn't want to give him any more than that. I didn't want the pain and heartache. The only problem was that it caused me to go numb and function on an automatic pilot.

"Good afternoon, welcome to Cassidy's what may it be?" I repeated without looking at the customer. It didn't matter, and I didn't care. I'd never see these people again anyway, and I wasn't in the mood to make any regular customers.

"Geez, I didn't think I'd get a greeting like that after two weeks of radio silence," the customer spoke.

My eyes shot up and came face to face with Justin's judging ones. To say he looked unhappy was an understatement. Justin pressed his lips together as he raised his eyebrow at me. I looked behind Justin and unfortunately, he was the only one in line, meaning I didn't have any good excuse to avoid him right now.

"The radio silence started the day you were going over to Donovan Dane's house," he remarked as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

I get where he came from, but I would not discuss my personal problems at work. "Please Justin, not now," I pleaded.

"Then when, Everly? I'm your friend and I want to help you. It kills me to see that asshole has caused the spark in your eyes to disappear. You deserve to be happy and if there is anything, I can do then please let me know." Justin took my left hand and placed a kiss on the back of it, warming me with his small, but sweet gesture. He left, shooting one last look back at me, and it made me feel like crying.

"Can I take a break?" I asked Cassidy once she stepped behind the counter.

"Of course, babe." She knew something had been off. I usually was excited to start work. It kept my mind off things, and I loved interacting with the customers. Now I'd become a prisoner of my own head, and I couldn't break free of the questions that haunted me.

As I sat down at one of the tables in the back, I wondered if Donovan told his fiancee. When I met her, she seemed nice and that mere fact annoyed me. If she would be horrible then maybe, just maybe, I felt slightly better. I wanted her to know. If Donovan didn't have the balls to blow off the wedding, then I wanted her to know what she was in for. It wouldn't be fair to her, just like it hadn't been fair to me. That's when an idea popped into my head.

The next day I rummaged once again through my closet. I needed the best piece of fabric that would make me look like a million bucks, but I realized I wouldn't find it in my wardrobe, so that's why I resorted to the fashion queen of this apartment.

"Raleigh!" I said, bursting through her door.

"What the hell, Eve!" she called as she applied a face mask. Her blond hair was on top of her head in a big bun and she sported unicorn pajama pants. "Not exactly the look I'm going for," I thought to myself while chuckling.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"I need to look drop-dead gorgeous," I explained.

Raleigh's entire face lit up as she saw where this was going. "Do I want to know why?" she asked with a smirk, wiggling her eyebrows.

I didn't know how everything was going to turn out, so that's why I wanted to keep it to myself, for now. "I promise to tell you when I get back."

Raleigh narrowed her eyes. "You pinky promise?" She held up her pink, and I hooked mine through hers before shaking on it.

"Okay!" she exclaimed happily as she clapped her hands. Raleigh opened the doors of her closet and started throwing clothes around the room. I watched her do her magic and smiled as my best friend mumbled to herself.