She turned wild eyes on the burly stranger. “There’s a moving truck out front. Why is there a moving truck?”
The guy rubbed his greasy hair as he moved aside as two other men scooted behind him carrying a mattress.
“Put that down!” she shrieked. “Where’s Will?”
“The guy who owns the place? Never met him. Hired us over the phone and told us to pack it all and move it.”
This couldn’t be happening again. Not when she’d finally figured things out. Not when she’d finally gotten it.
“Moved where?”
The guy rolled his shoulders and stared down at her, taking in the missing shoe and the fact that she was now literally tugging on her hair.
“Don’t know that I should tell you that. Who’d you say you were again?”
“I’m his friend. Neighbor. I’m his girlfriend,” she said, everything running together in one big burst of panic.
“Riiiight,” he said, leaning down to pick up two enormous boxes like they were Kleenex. “Well, we respect our clients’ privacy, and if your ‘boyfriend’ didn’t tell you where he was movin’ to, I don’t think that I should either.”
“No, look, you have to,” she said desperately, kicking off her other shoe and climbing the stairs even as he came down them. She scooted along the walls, careful not to bump him while he was carrying stuff but also really wanting him to just stop and listen to her.
“See, we had this fight, you know?” she said, trotting after him toward the truck. “And I thought he wasn’t the one. Because he’s so…unpredictable, and kind of mean, and, well…he’s been with lots of other women, although now I don’t know if that’s even true, and…”
“Lady,” the guy said, setting the boxes on the back of the truck. “You’ve gotta go. And move your car, or I’m calling the cops.”
She clasped her hands together and tried to do that sweet, desperate-female thing that Sophie had perfected at the age of seven, but Brynn could never bring herself to try. “Please,” she said. “It’s really important that I find him.”
The guy looked at her for several seconds before jerking his thumb over his finger. “Don’t forget your shoes when you go.”
Brynn’s hands fell to her side as he hoisted himself into the truck and began scooting boxes toward the back. Watery eyes fell on the shoe lying discarded on the lawn. She didn’t even know where the other one was.
The stupid boring pump represented everything she hated about herself.
Everything that had driven Will away.
“Keep the shoes!” she hollered as she opened her car door. “I’ve got a boyfriend to win back.”
* * *
“What do you mean you shouldn’t say?” Brynn said, clutching her cell phone and pacing her living room. “I’m your sister. You can’t even tell me where he is?”
“He’s my best friend,” Sophie said softly. “You hurt him.”
Brynn knew that. Had known from the look on his face when she hadn’t said she’d loved him back that it had cut him deeply. But hearing it out loud felt like someone was squeezing her heart.
“I know,” Brynn said quietly. “It’s why I want to make it right.”
Her sister was silent for several seconds on the other line. “I don’t know, Brynny. He seemed really…done, you know?”
Brynn swallowed painfully, her gaze locked on Will’s deserted house. “Done, how?”
Done with me?
Sophie’s continued silence confirmed her worst fears, and Brynn felt the urge to throw up. How could he be done? He’d said he’d loved her forever. He’d waited so long. That kind of love didn’t fade in one evening, did it?
Except…she’d behaved horribly.
Really, truly, awfully horribly.