Page 130 of Bewitched By the Sea Monster
“I should have told you earlier. About the clothes. But I…When you d-d-disappeared…When hepulledyou. You were gone. And people were speaking…saying…someone was s-s-s-sick. And…I worried.” This was all said in a stuttering rush and accompanied by a residual sprinkle of fear.
Stars, he wassosweet.
I really, really,reallyliked him.
Too much.
“You’re sure he didn’t…hurt? He looked…ru-ro-rough,” Alistair continued.
“I’m okay. Really.” And, thankfully, my pulsating jaw was only a little red. The bone was definitely bruised, but the purple blotching hadn’t spread to my skin. With the way Alistair grumbled disbelievingly, he never would’ve bought my“no”if I’d said it while sporting a shiner.
“Honestly,” I insisted. “I’m fine.”
“He seemed a-angry.”
“He was. A little.”
“That was your boyfriend?”
“Was. Yeah. Good choice of word, Alistair.Was.Although technically he might still be? It’s a long story.”
“Would you like to tell me?”
And I did.
Alistair took me to the other side of the inlet, where I sat on the cliffs, safely away from the sea, and he kept his head out of the water, resting it near me.
And I told him everything.
The fights. Plural.Fights.
The breakup.
The aggravation. The frustration. The sorrow. The heartbreak. All of it.
I didn’t cry—pretty sure that well was bone dry—and the sound of my own voice as I spoke was eerie.I was too calm. Too detached.
But the anguish was there, circling my heart like a shark, waiting until I let my guard down before it swept in and consumed me.
“I’m so very sorry, Pippi.” Alistair blew out, letting his warm, fish-scented breath stroke my body.
I was shaking.
And I hadn’t even realized it.
I scooted over, pressing my hip into the side of his nose, wanting,needing,the contact.
He whiffled and nuzzled against me, giving what he could. “Is there anything I can do?”
I ran my hand over the coarse scales above his nostrils. “You could tell me that I made the right call, and I didn’t just demolish my life on a whim. Even if it’s a lie and you’re really sitting there thinking I messed everything up. Tell me…” My fingers trembled. “Tell me I did the right thing.”
“I think you did. And that’s not a l-lie, Pippi.”
“It just…we weren’tworking.Together.”
“It doesn’t sound like it.”
“And I gave up so much of myself for Jackson. But it never felt like he was giving for me. And I was tiredof our relationship being like that,all hollow and one-sided.Stars, what a selfish thing to say.”
