Kiss and Break Up (Magnolia Cove, #1)(84)

“Including you,” I said. “So if you don’t make any more, that’s fine too. You have us.”

Daphne nodded. “You’ll always have us.”

After a few minutes, we returned to our work, and Willa settled, taking a sip of her drink. “So,” she said, putting it down, “what have I missed with Dash?”

“Such good things.” Daphne folded a sheet of paper in half, then began cutting along the creased line. “He’s upped his game, but does little Miss Peggy Sue fold? No.” She shook her head, laughing. “No, she has not.”

I rolled my eyes as Willa got Daphne to explain all he’d done at school. I stared at the photograph of us on the table, wondering what he was doing, and longed, even if it was for just a second, for him to be in my room after the girls had left.

I missed him.

I’d missed him for far too long, and I had to wonder if missing him was the worst mistake I could make when to be with him would be as easy as inhaling my next breath. If only I could just forget what’d happened. “Maybe I don’t need to forget,” I said.

“Huh?” Willa said.

Daphne frowned. “You talking about what Dash did?”

I sighed. “Maybe I’ll never forget, but does that mean I can’t forgive him?”

Daphne started humming. “You know where I stand on this. He didn’t knock someone up, so as far as I’m concerned, knock yourself out.”

Willa slid her finger around the rim of her glass, then licked it. “It’s going to hurt no matter what you do. But it might hurt less if you’re happy instead of holding on to every reason not to be.”

“Wow.” I blinked. “That’s kind of deep.”

Daphne laughed. “But it’s true.”

I pondered that as she and Willa discussed the color scheme for her page.

And looking at Willa, who was doing her best to remain hopeful in a situation that would be crushing every drop of hope she collected, I decided Dash was right.

I was being foolish.

I just didn’t know how to admit that to someone with an ego bigger than my house.





Mom hadn’t divulged anything about her sudden reconnection with May.

That night, as she was lying on the couch searching through the channels while Phil cooked dinner, I decided to step outside my own problems and ask her about it.

“How’d you and May make up?”

Mom dropped the remote, rolling her head to face where I’d perched on the arm of the couch. “After she came here looking for Dash, I called her a few days later to see if there’d been any news.”

“You did?” I couldn’t mask my surprise.

She made an irritated sound. “I practically helped raise that boy, so of course, I wanted to know if he was okay. And well, I guess we just started talking instead of screaming and getting angry.”

“Huh,” I puffed out.

She nudged me with her slipper. “This about Dash? Or did you actually want to know.”

“I actually did just want to know. But yeah.” I inhaled deeply, my lips billowing as I set it free, and admitted, “Now I’m wondering about him too.” It felt nice to be completely honest with her again.

Her smile said she agreed. “You guys still haven’t made up?”

I shook my head, plucking at a loose thread in my gold and gray polka dotted pajama pants. “No.”

“Because making up this time would mean things aren’t exactly in friendship land anymore.”

My eyes shot to her knowing ones. “Pretty much.”

She kicked her legs up, moving over and patting the couch for me to sit down. “You’re scared?” she asked when I’d taken a seat.

“Yes.” I pulled my legs up to rest my chin on my knee. “I mean, it’s already changed so much that I don’t even know why I am, or how to take the next step.”

Her fingers toyed with my curls. “It doesn’t always need a big discussion or an elaborate gesture. Sometimes, you simply just take the step, and then another one, and another, until it feels right.”

I stewed over that as we ate dinner, and then I dawdled back to my room and switched on the Xbox.

Dash wasn’t online, but I waited, playing with Raven until I saw his username pop up.



PegSue12: If you can kill me, you can come over.



There was a pause before he responded.



F*ckoffandie666: Does that mean …?



PegSue12: I suppose you’ll have to try to win to find out.



He didn’t respond, but he played a mean game. I laughed as a bomb landed on my house and cursed him for destroying something that cost me thirty dollars to build.

I’d just escaped and was racing across the street to sneak into a building when he shot out of nowhere. I retaliated, bullets spraying and my axe flying, and then my stomach sank.

He was dead.

We both said nothing for the longest time, and as my heart threatened to explode with every beat, I typed out another message.



PegSue12: Come over anyway.



He logged off a second later, and I began flitting around my room. Nerves shot through me from head to toe, and I flapped my hands around my face, trying to think clearly.