Page 101 of Play of Love
“Good luck, sweet girl.”
As soon as I hung up, I rushed down the stairs. I ran straight past Gabriella and Riley and out into the street.
The night air hit me, clearing my head even more as I ran.
I ran home.
* * *
Josh
* * *
I stared at the phone in my hands and set it on the kitchen counter. Once again there was no answer. It was clear that Amy wasn’t coming back, but I didn’t know if I could give up and accept that. I didn’t know if I could accept that she was gone from my life and never coming back.
I thought I’d played all my cards when I told her I loved her. But I still had one more to play. One more to play that might not be worth it but I had to try. Maybe my persistence would make her see the truth.
I picked the phone up again and called Corey. Corey had been a massive strength to me when these sorts of things happened.
“Hey man,” Corey answered after the second ring. I noticed that since this recent saga with Amy, Corey was within my grasp the minute I needed him. Probably because he was worried I would turn back to alcohol. I had no intention of falling back into old bad habits. “You okay?”
Okay? No, I was so far from it. “I’m hanging in there.”
“Do you want me to come around? Or we could go shoot some pool at the bar.”
“Yeah, maybe. I was thinking I’d go to Gabriella’s and try my luck.” I knew Amy was staying there. It was Hilda who told me.
“I won’t say no. All you can do is try.”
“I just wish she would talk to me and that I could convince her that I’m telling the truth, but she doesn’t trust me.” I wished that Allegra hadn’t come to my house and destroyed my relationship. I leaned against the counter and gazed through the window at the palm trees blowing out against the wind. “Corey, if this is it and I’ve lost her, then I really would have lost everything.”
My voice shook and took on a frail edge I didn’t recognize.
“Just keep trying. That’s all you can do. I’m sure once she cools off she’ll start listening.”
Cools off?Five days had already passed and Amy was still mad at me. Add her distrust to the equation and I didn’t really see any hope. But…I would try. I’d try forever if I needed to.
“I’ll keep trying.”
“Let me know what happens,” Corey said. At least he sounded like I had hope.
I clicked the phone off and continued to gaze through the window. It was seven o’clock. I was hoping it wouldn’t be too late to go to Gabriella’s. I didn’t want to impose and look like the crazy boyfriend trying to win my girl back. Even though technically I was heading that way fast.
I just wished it never happened. And while I had no fault in this occurrence, I was to blame. That was what happened when you were with women like Allegra. At the time when I hooked up with her I never imagined that I’d meet Amy, or more significantly that I would ever feel this way about anyone. Like my life would have no meaning if they weren’t around.
Well, here goes. Another attempt for forgiveness.
I turned around to go but stopped when I saw her. Right there, standing before me in the kitchen looking like she’d been plucked from my mind.
It occurred to me that this could have been one of those times when my brain conjured her up and made me see what it wanted to help me get by. But this was no hallucination, this was the real Amy. I could always tell the difference between the real and fantasy Amy.
I looked at her, dressed in a pink t-shirt and denim shorts. I loved when she wore anything like that. The pink against her bronze skin and light blonde hair always made me want to stare. And her long, sculpted legs on show in those shorts was any man’s idea of a dream.
She looked back at me with intensity and I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Then an awful feeling of dread filled me as I realized why she was here.
It was to get her things. She came to get her things. I brought my hand up to my face and winced.
“Amy.” Emotion weighed so heavily on me that I didn’t know what to say first. So I started with the most pressing thing. “Please no, don’t tell me you’re here to get your things. You have to believe that I would never do anything to hurt you.”
