Page 68 of Isabelle & Jason
Isabelle couldn’t help but offer one in return.
“And when you’re ready, we’re going to go out,” Charlie added.
Anxiety flared to life, but Charlie patted her hand. “Not dancing or anything big. Let’s start with coffee. Or a run to the bookstore. Maybe we can head to Sal’s for some pie with ice cream.”
All of that actually sounded really good.
“Could we?” Isabelle whispered.
Charlie wasn’t capable of hiding her surprise. “Like right now?”
Nodding, Isabelle clambered to her feet. “I’ll change into something else and run a brush through my hair. Maybe if I get out of here for an hour or two, my overbearing brothers will leave me alone tomorrow.”
Charlie snickered. “I doubt that. But sure. We can give it a try.”
When they left, Jason was just leaving the cafeteria building. Their eyes locked for mere moments before Charlie pushed her forward and glared openly at Isabelle’s ex.
Isabelle still felt terrible, but the fresh air was doing wonders. A sliver of peace was attempting to break through the stone of disquiet that had taken up space in her chest for far too long.
25
Jason
That first day that Jason had seen a glimpse of Isabelle had royally wrecked him. It had made the foundation of his soul quake. He’d nearly dropped everything to close the distance between them and pull her into his arms.
The memory of that moment still hurt more than he was willing to admit. If the half-moon indents from his fingernails into his palms were any indication of his self-control, he didn’t know what was.
It had been a couple of weeks since that day. He’d caught glimpses of Isabelle coming and going from her home, but she’d stopped coming around the kitchen where he worked. She also appeared to prefer avoiding him when he was working with the other wranglers, not that it was difficult since she knew his schedule.
She was looking better, and that was the only thing that brought him a degree of peace.
Every single day without her was torture. He hadn’t managed to get back onto a regular sleeping schedule, and the handful of times he’d ventured out of his room to see if he’d catch her going for a run produced no results.
Either Isabelle wasn’t going for early morning runs anymore, or she’d changed that part of her schedule, too.
Jason dove into his work to forget the fact that Isabelle hadn’t sought him out. He tried to bury the disappointment of that fact. She needed space. He couldn’t be her crutch. Isabelle needed to heal, to find herself, to love herself before she could accept his love.
At least that was what he continued to tell himself whenever he got the idea in his head to go looking for her.
“You okay?”
Jason tensed at Mark’s question. While he couldn’t deny that his friend had been right to point out a specific course of action, there was still tension between them. It was more on Jason’s side, and he couldn’t bring himself to let it go.
His strained relationship with his friend and the ache of seeing Isabelle moving on were enough to put him in a dismal headspace.
“Fine,” he said as he set to work chopping onions for the meatloaf that evening.
“Sure about that?”
“Yes,” he gritted out. “I’m good.”
Mark went quiet as he remained at his station. Nikki glanced at the two of them a couple times, but she didn’t speak either.
The hollow feeling in his chest continued to grow. It wasn’t like this was his first failed relationship. He’d been through his fair share over the years. But this was the first relationship that Jason had ended in hopes that the individual involved would be better off for it. His heart couldn’t reconcile losing Isabelle.
“I don’t know if I can keep working here,” he finally voiced his thoughts.
Mark’s chopping stalled. Nikki seemed to turn to stone. The air in the kitchen went as cold as the Arctic. “Why not?” Mark asked.
