Page 18 of Dream a Little Dream

“Did you have a nice evening?” the doorman asked as I approached the entrance to the hotel.

“Not really,” I said flatly. “But I hope you did.”

I stayed that night, checked out the next morning, and drove straight home.

My parents had lied to me. I had no idea who my biological father was. And I’d just wasted a year of my life on a woman who didn’t even have the decency to tell me it was over in person. I felt betrayed on so many levels that I didn’t quite know how to move through the world as myself. The one-two punch had done a number on me, and when I looked in the mirror I saw someone looking back at me who was apparently very easy to let down.

Chapter Seven

Turning the Page

“I just never imagined I’d feel so many different things for someone.” Maya sat across from me at the circular table in the break room. “When Jason walks in a room, the temperature changes and the planets hug each other or something. Like, the planets are just as in love as we are. It’s like they’re these beings with hearts.”

“Wow. Planets with hearts.” I nodded along, as much support as I could manufacture, which wasn’t an impressive amount.

Maya didn’t seem to mind the complete lack of enthusiasm in my voice. Hell, she didn’t even seem to need me here for this conversation. She plowed forward like a homesick horse that saw the barn in the distance. “My skin gets sensitive in the best way, and I just want to stop whatever I’m doing and stare into his dreamy hazel eyes until the world goes away forever. Has that ever happened to you?” She laughed.

I didn’t. I blinked and set down my half-consumed carton of blueberry yogurt. “No.”

She waited for more. There wasn’t any. I was a failure at romantic cheerleading these days.

“No? Savanna, that breaks my heart. You more than anyone else are deserving of the most wonderful love on Earth.” Maya had been noticeably different since she and Jason had become an item. Starry eyes and overly talkative, just positive that romance was the be-all and end-all. She threw herself back in the chair and let it roll a few feet. She was hardcore in love with Jason and convinced everyone should join her in the land of the gaga.

I hated it.

Yep. That’s who I’d become in the last few months, the foundingmember of Dreamer’s Bay’s very own Love Can Kick Rocks Club. Boo to hearts. Screw attraction. Forget romantic meet-ups on bridges and doctors who snapped your hope in half like a twig. I couldn’t exactly say that to lovestruck Maya, however, so instead I slipped into smile mode and shrugged. “That’s me, deserving of wonderful, happy love during my time on this planet.” I made a show of catching the time. “Oh, look. I better take a lap around the floor. After that, I’ll be in my office for the next fifty years if anyone needs me.”

“I know you’re probably still upset about the woman from Charleston, but there are plenty of awesome women out there.”

“Yep. Just everywhere.” I didn’t feel the need to correct her.

On the way to my office, I made a mental note to change aisle seven at the store into the Lonely Hearts aisle. It would feature Kleenex bulk packs, lots of chocolate, and wine. I predicted it would be the most popular aisle in the store inside of a week. Not that I needed any more help in that department, personally. I was well over Rejection on the Bridge, as I liked to call it. It had taken a couple of months for me to wallow in my sadness and absorb the lost future I’d sold myself on, not to mention recover from the blow to my ego. But I was there now, and happily jaded. And maybe jaded was so much better than sad. I was a realist these days, no longer romanticizing a concept that didn’t deserve the boost. Let the Hallmark TV movies brainwashotherpeople for a while. Life was too short to get caught up in fantasy. I actually preferred the new enlightened me.

“I don’t like this Bitter Betty version of you,” Jonathan said over drinks that evening at Ronnie Roo’s. Martinis were on special for five dollars, and I wasn’t about to miss.

“Why exactly are you jaded now?” Elizabeth asked with a curious squint. She didn’t relish martinis and opted for a Blue Moon. As much as I loved Elizabeth Draper and valued her friendship, she was a forever optimist who was, of course, in a wonderful relationship. Thereby, her outlook couldn’t be trusted.

I shrugged. “I just think that true love is a high bar that only a few attain. I’m not opposed to finding it, but I’m also just fine with it never happening, the more likely scenario. It feels so much better to just accept that. Sex? Sure. Love? No longer needed, thanks. I’m good.”

Jonathan hooked a thumb. “See? Bitter. The worst. And all because that doctor in Charleston ghosted her. We hate her.”

“No, we don’t,” I said, placing a hand on his wrist. “She had her reasons and I have to respect them. Whatever they are.”

Elizabeth watched us, her gaze moving from Jonathan to me as if piecing together the puzzle. “I don’t know this story. I’m woefully behind.”

“It was a whole thing that happened. I don’t broadcast it,” I said. “Who wants to tell people they were stood up in dramatic fashion?”

“It was dramatic?” Her eyes were wide as she leaned in. “Oh, no. I’m so sorry. Now I need details.”

Jonathan took the reins. “Highlight reel. Savanna met Dr. Kyle, a gorgeous brunette, in Charleston. They spent a hot and heavy weekend together in the big city. There was lust. There were feelings flying like witches on broomsticks.” I tried not to roll my eyes as he pressed on. Or worse, allow myself to remember the details of that weekend too vividly. “They wanted more of each other. But the timing was extra bad, so the fancy doctor suggested they meet on the suspension bridge in,” he held up a finger, “wait for it. One year’s time.”

“No,” Elizabeth said, wide eyed.

“Oh, yes.”

“You anticipated this for a year?” Elizabeth’s brow creased with worry. “And Dr. Kyle didn’t show up?”

“She did not,” I said, and stirred my second martini. Going for two was maybe not the best idea on a weeknight, but here we sat.

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