Page 68 of Vitamin Sea
Liam took care of the awkward moment by reaching out for a hug.
“Just a hug, Chlo,” he said. “I’m going to respect your space and boundaries until you make up your mind.”
Her heart fluttered and she gave him a genteel hug that was just short of affectionate. Her Uber pulled up seconds later and she got in without a backwards glance to her ex- boyfriend.
Chapter 20: A Pinch of Salt
She had been contemplating what her ex-boyfriend had said; his words roiled around in her head the whole week. Jack, cognizant of what a tailspin Chloe must be experiencing, had tried hard to give her some space.
Space, however, wasn’t what Chloe wanted.
She had told Jack that Liam had asked her to go for dinner in the spirit of transparency. Transparency, she had learned a long time ago, was key to any kind of relationship. And a lack of it was what led to issues. And although she didn’t know where things with Jack were headed, she was committed to being honest with him about everything.
He hadn’t asked what she and Liam had discussed during dinner and Chloe hadn’t found it in herself to tell him. She knew if the shoe was on the other foot, the last thing she would want was for someone to leave her hanging while they figured out their feelings.
And figuring out her feelings was exactly what she was trying to do.
It was quite the conundrum. One week ago, she would have said with 100 percent, absolute certainty that she would never be interested in her ex-boyfriend again. That nothing could orwould ever make her want him back. That ship, she was certain, had sailed.
But that had been before Liam had done his apparent about-face and thrown her feelings into turmoil.
It was agonizing.
Of course, her group chat with Lala, Opal, and Alejandra had exploded when she texted to tell them about Liam’s unexpected appearance. Their opinions had been just as different as themselves.
Lala suggested she go to dinner at Nobu, order the most expensive things off the menu, including wine, and then tell him to go fuck himself at the end of the night.
Alejandra was in favour of not giving him the opportunity to even talk.I don’t know, Chlo, she had written.He dumped you without warning, without the opportunity to even talk about things to try and fix whatever the problem was, and he moved on with his coworker so quickly that it’s insulting. I’ll support you with whatever you choose to do, but if it was me, I wouldn’t give him the time of day.
Opal, on the other hand, encouraged her to meet up with him for dinner and hear him out. Sure, how he had treated her was dastardly, but people do make mistakes and sometimes they come to regret and rectify those mistakes.
When she had told her mom that Liam had reached out to her, her mom had talked her through her feelings and let her know that she was there for her no matter what.
In the end, Opal’s advice won out. And while there was a certain feeling of satisfaction she derived from hearing Liam apologize and beg her to get back together, there was also a twinge of regret.
If she hadn’t given him the time of day like Alejandra had suggested, she wouldn’t be in this predicament now. She wouldbe blissfully unaware and happy with Jack and the way that things were progressing.
If she had shut Liam’s request down, would there ever have come a time where curiosity would have gotten the better of her and she would have wondered what it was that he had wanted to talk to her about?
She supposed the answer to that had been yes, which was why she had ultimately decided to meet him. And now that she had, she was more confused than ever.
He had checked in with her a couple of times that week like she had said he could. It was nothing heavy—all light conversation, supportive, and memes.
It was jarring when she found herself laughing out loud at work after opening up a meme he had sent her that was so dad-joke bad it was funny.
The realization that she could potentially fall back into things with Liam so easily scared her. And she knew that what she was doing wasn’t fair to Jack.
???
“I don’t want to tell you what to do, Chlo,” Lala said seriously. “But holy hell, what a fucking predicament.”
It was six days after her dinner with Liam and her besties had assembled at her place to go over the latest development in her love life.
She had texted the group chat after her and Liam’s dinner, but she hadn’t gone into detail. She had just sent them anS.O.S.message. And then, realizing that they might interpret it as her being in danger, she followed it up with a short note letting them know she was in a major, but not life-threatening, predicament—that Liam had asked her to get back together.
She had sent it after 10 p.m., but their group chat exploded and a flurry of messages populated the chat well into the next day.
That bastard!Alejandra had written.Just when you’ve moved on, you were over him, and you’re happy, he comes crawling back into your life!
