Page 67 of Love, Morgan

Yes.I didn’t even need to think about it. I wouldn’t care how much it would hurt. I wouldn’t care if it felt like opening a wound over and over again. At least she would be there.

Thalia placed a massive bowl of ice cream and a mug of hot chocolate with whipped cream in front of me and sat me on a stool. “Here. This will help.”

I looked at her, knowing exactly how pitiful I must look. “It’s going to give me a sugar crash.”

She shrugged, eating her own ice cream. “Maybe that’s what you need right now.”

I sipped the drink. It was hot and sweet and probably helpful. “You’re not going to tell meI told you so?”

She frowned. “No. That’s not what friends do.”

“Sometimes it is. Sometimes they’re probably the only ones who can.”

“Friends tell you the things you need to hear, when you need to hear them. And they’re there to support you when life feels like shit. You don’t need me telling you all the things I’m sure you’re already telling yourself. What you need is to know you’re not alone, and that, as your friend, I respect your decision and trust you made it for the right reasons.”

Tears streamed down my face again. My whole life I’d never had anyone in it like Morgan or Thalia. How was it that I got both of them at the same time, in the same place, only for them to be gone after two weeks?

“It doesn’t feel like the right decision right now,” I muttered around a spoonful of ice cream.

She nodded. “That’s okay too. It’s okay if it feels like shit forever, I’m still proud of you for doing it.”

“For crying over ice cream?”

“No.” She rolled her eyes affectionately and exasperatedly. “For putting yourself out there, for doing something that wasn’t easy and that hurts, just so you didn’t miss out on everything life was offering you.”

I gulped and nodded. It sounded nicer when she said it that way.

Bo walked over, having finished the preparations they were doing for breakfast in the morning, and helped themself to the ice cream too.

There was a time when I’d have clammed up, when I wouldn’t have been able to handle Thalia seeing me like this, let alone Bo—someone I barely knew and had spoken to only once. But I found I didn’t really mind. They knew what this was like. Maybe this week had changed more than just my experiences falling for someone.

“To the ones who break our hearts,” they said, holding a spoonful of ice cream up in the air.

Thalia shook her head but joined in, and I followed suit. It was tragic and weird, maybe, but it felt right. It felt like… having friends, having a support system. Like I’d really let life, and the people in it, in for once, and it hurt and it ached, but I wasn’t alone, and I’d be stronger for it.

I hoped Morgan wasn’t alone in it, either. Surely, she’d have phoned Ripley the second she was in the car. Hopefully, Alicia and Harlow would be there too. Hopefully, the airport had something greasy and bad for her that she could eat in an attempt to fill the hole in her heart that matched the one in mine. I knew nothing ever would, but junk food and friendship was a really good effort.

“To the ones who break our hearts,” I said eventually. Our ice cream was melting, but they both waited for me like they had all the time in the world.

This place was something really special.

I looked at Bo. “Don’t let it pass you by, if there’s a chance,” I said, and saw the recognition in their eyes. “If there’s a chance, if you haven’t tried, don’t leave it to waste. Even if it ends, it will be worth it.”

“Is it worth this?” they asked, gesturing to me.

I nodded, not a doubt in my mind. “She’s worth it all, yes.”

They gulped and looked down, leaving us all to eat in silence for a few minutes before softer, gentler conversation took over. If I had to spend my last night here without Morgan, I couldn’t have asked for better company.

“Come on,” Thalia said eventually. “I’ll walk you back to your bungalow.”

I nodded, cleaning up and wishing Bo a good night. I hoped we hadn’t kept them up too late. They’d be back in pretty early in the morning. But, if one late night gave them the push they needed, it would be worth it.

Walking down the walkway with Thalia felt wrong. I was glad she was there, but I missed Morgan so badly it felt like I couldn’t breathe.

“Huh,” she said when we were a few feet away from my door and I was pointedly looking out over the water to avoid seeing Morgan’s empty bungalow.

I looked at her questioningly.

---