Built To Last

“Sorry, girl.” Jake stared into her eyes, her mournful look matching the one he saw in the mirror when he walked in the house every night.

She nodded her head then lowered herself back to the cushion.

The past two weeks had been much of the same. Go to work. Come home. Stare at the walls. Barely sleep. Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

Jake glared at the splatters on the table. For the first time in his life, he didn’t care what his house looked like. He leaned his head back and let out an animal-like growl.

“Whoa, I come in peace.” Austin walked in the back door, his hands raised in surrender.

Jake turned his back. He couldn’t bear to see the sympathy in his friend’s eyes. Or worse… contempt. “I

don’t want company.”

“Too bad.” Austin sat on a stool at the counter, crossed his arms, and said nothing.

Jake stared at him. “What?”

“I’ve left you alone for two weeks, but nothing has changed. You wanna tell me what happened?”

“With what?”

“With Erin.”

He shook his head.

“Too bad. Because you are both my friends. And both of you are hurting. Consider this an intervention. I don’t care what you want, we’re going to talk about this.” Austin glared at Jake and strode into the living room.

Jake guessed he wasn’t getting rid of his friend anytime soon. His shoulders sagged. He just wanted to wallow in his own self-pity in peace. He certainly didn’t want to explain how he’d broken Erin’s heart for her own good.

If everything went as he’d hoped, Erin was halfway around the world right now, exploring the ruins in Italy or the plunging cliffs of Greece. While he stayed behind with a broken heart. But it was all for a good cause.

When it was clear Austin wasn’t going anywhere, Jake crossed into the living room and slumped onto the couch beside him. “She wanted to leave town. I just helped her along.”

“What do you mean she wants to leave town?”

Why was Austin surprised? He was her boss. He would have been the first to know when she turned in her resignation. Maybe she just hadn’t left yet. But her resignation letter made it clear that she intended to. “Really? I found her resignation letter.”

“What resignation letter? She hasn’t resigned.”

He didn’t understand this at all. The signed letter was in her desk. Ready to be turned in. She had been all set to start the rest of her life… and Jake had been the only thing standing in her way.

He couldn’t sit still, hadn’t been able to calm his mind or his body in the past two weeks. He stalked to the stone fireplace where pictures of his family lined the hearth. A picture of him with Nicolle slung on his back, both of them laughing at something he had said. Jake in his cap and gown, his parents on either side of him and Nicolle looking up at him and smiling. A third with him and Ryan, cutting the ribbon on the first house they built together in Laguna Beach. This was his life, and his dreams of a family of his own were slipping away with each day that passed. “I saw it. In her desk.”

“I don’t know what you saw, Jake. As far as I know, she’s not going anywhere. But she looks a lot like you do right now. And that’s why I’m confused.”

“What don’t you understand?”

“Erin told Abby you were getting back together with Lindsay.”

“I’m not!” Jake threw his hands in the air. Why didn’t anyone else understand this situation? It was like he and Austin were talking in circles. But yelling at his friend wouldn’t solve this confusion. He didn’t want to be the man he was becoming. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell.”

“I got it, man. But if you weren’t getting back with Lindsay, why would Erin think that?”

“Because that’s what I told her.”

Austin’s eyebrows shot up. “What?”

Jake threw a knowing look at his friend. He knew what was coming next. No one understood that he had done this for Erin. To set her free.