Page 72 of Wedding Bet

>>Landry: Proof that I do, indeed, have a tulip garden. No Sprinkle in sight right now, but he always comes around in the mornings. You’ll meet him someday.

>>Jamie: Maybe I will.

>>Landry: Call me when you find out your schedule for this week, okay? I can come to visit on your day off.

>>Jamie: I’ll let you know. Thank you for making me feel like I’m someone again, Landry.

His comment caught me off guard, hitting me like a sock to the chest.

He’d put it into words better than I could have. That was the gift he’d given me during our stay in the snowy mountains.

Jamie made me feel like I was someone again. And I never wanted to give that up.

When Jamie didn’t contact me the following day, I figured he must have gotten busy after his flights. He worked harder than I ever had, from what it sounded like, and on top of taking care ofhis mom, I was sure his life was full and probably stressful after a vacation.

But then another day passed. And then another.

And soon it was four days since we’d both been in California, and I hadn’t so much as gotten a text from him.

I could feel some cobwebs shifting into place, my heart hardening and shielding itself from inevitable pain. I could just as easily call him, but the ball was in his court, and I knew some part of me was waiting for him to reach out first.

To prove that hewantedto. To show me that I wasn’t stupid or crazy to have had the feelings I did for him, in our short time together.

I’d hung the photobooth strip of the two of us on my fridge—the only thing I had on my fridge, now, proudly displayed. Each time I walked by it, hope sparked in me again, only to flare out by the time night came again with no contact from him.

Old fear sparked inside me like kindling under a flame.

Parker had gone silent on me, too, right before our relationship blew up in my face.

I realized something was broken inside me when I was trying to work at my desk one morning, and for three straight hours, I hadn’t even finished reading pageoneof a business plan.

“Screw it,” I said, reaching for my phone and navigating to my text thread with Jamie.

I’d wanted him to reach out to me. But if I had to be the one to make first contact now that we were back in California again, so be it.

>>Landry: Jamie, how have you been? Can we meet up sometime this week?

I set the phone down like it was a ticking time bomb. Half of me expected him to ghost me completely, never hearing from him again.

But the phone buzzed just a minute later, sending adrenaline jolting through my system. I picked up the phone quick as lightning, my eyes glued to the screen.

>>Jamie: I don’t think it’s going to work, Landry. I meant what I said, though. Thank you. Thank you for being in a snowglobe with me. It meant everything.

My stomach dropped like an anvil. It was strange that someone I’d known for a week had the ability to make me feel more hollow than anyone had before.

Somehow worse than when Parker admitted he cheated on me; worse than when he refused my proposal.

He didn’t want more. He didn’t wantme.

It felt familiar to be unwanted. And that was the worst part.

19

JAMIE

My hands shook as I held the thin paper in my hands, the torn envelope fluttering toward the kitchen counter.

OUTSTANDING BILL: $8,792

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