Page 89 of Just the Tipsy
“The long-distance thing is surmountable,” Jada says. “It’s not like he’s living on Mars.”
“It is harder, though,” Rose adds. “But yeah, not impossible. And even if it doesn’t work, you can at least try.”
“Exactly,” Jada says.
I murmur in agreement. They’re making sense, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m moving and he hasn’t said anything.
“I’m not going to be telling you to forgive him, as much as I love Waylon,” Jada adds when I stay silent. “He has to earn you back. You’re more than enough.”
“You are,” Rose echoes.
“Thank you.” I swallow the lump in my throat.
I’m going to miss them so much more than I ever thought I would. I’m used to getting support from Kaitlyn and my parents, but having Rose and Jada on my side, even though Waylon is their friend too, hits different.
“Sorry, I’m still bringing down the energy. Weren’t we going to watch a movie?”
“Yes!” Jada pops up and grabs some Blu-ray boxes from a stack next to her TV. “We have some options.”
“I still can’t believe you own the physical copies instead of just streaming everything.” Rose grabs one of the boxes.
“Hey, I actually own these. Streaming can snatch my faves away at any point.” Jada spreads a few more Blu-rays on the table for us to choose from. “I have more where that came from.”
We rifle through her extensive collection and finally choose a dumb romcom that only Jada has seen. It’s light and funny enough to distract me, at least for the most part. But instead of thoughts of Waylon distracting me, the things Jada said ring in my head – that I’m enough as I am and that Waylon will have to do more than throw a few gifts at me or send a text to win me back.
THIRTY
WAYLON
Like Ash suggested,I give Mom space. And even more space. And then some.
It’s killing me, but I don’t want to mess things up by talking to her too soon. I think I’ve already fucked it up with Bianca again. She left for New York before I could go talk to her, and she hasn’t responded to any of my texts.
Jada refuses to give me any hints as to how to crack her code, but that’s fair. I need to figure this out on my own.
Whenever I get a text these days, I nearly jump out of my skin. Usually it’s Wes or work or some spam. But this morning, it’s Mom.
Mom: Let’s get lunch today.
I’ll take it. I reply with a yes and wait for a break in my appointments. My stomach turns in knots the moment I’m done seeing a puppy who’d eaten (and thankfully passed) a whole toy. This is my mom. I know she loves me, but I don’t know how I’ll be able to face her disappointment again. At least I’ve had time to process it and accept how deeply I messed up.
I walk down to the café that Mom picked out, which we rarely ever go to. Maybe it feels like more neutral ground to her.
She’s sitting outside with Lady again, and waves to me when she spots me. Her expression is hard to read, a far cry from the usual smile she has when greeting me. Lady’s thrilled that I’m there, of course. She’ll always be happy to see me.
“Hi, Mom,” I say, sitting down with a sigh. “I’m sorry. For everything.”
“I can tell you are.” She crosses one leg over the other and looks at the menu on the table in front of her instead of at me.
“I really am,” I add. “I shouldn’t have lied to you about anything, much less put on a whole ruse to trick you. It was a dumb idea, and I should have just dealt with the issue head on.”
Mom’s eyes finally soften and relief floods me.
“I know, sweetheart,” she says. “And I’m glad you gave me time to cool off.”
“Ash told me that would be a good idea.” I down half the cup of water that was at the table when I arrived.
“Ash would know.” She chuckles. “My only question is why? You’ve never done anything like this before.”
