“So, the breakup was easy then?” Shelly asked.

Via laughed in a pained way. “No. No, it was not. It took about three days up at his parents’ house in New Paltz and it was a dramatic cry-fest the entire time. And then when it was over, even though I was relieved, I came home and the cry-fest started all over again.”

Grace frowned at her. “Just so you know, you’ve got a perfectly good kitchen table to cry at right here.” She pointed at her kitchen. “You need to cry, call me and Shell and we’ll throw you a whole cry-party. A cry-parade. We’ll all cry together. It’ll be a bonanza. Your foster sister can bring the popcorn.”

Via laughed and to her surprise, actually felt tears rise in her throat. How sweet was that? How sweet was all of this? She let herself relax even further.

The evening ended up being quite nice, though it wasn’t until Via locked the door to her house behind her that she finally allowed herself a long, soothing breath. She let the gravity of what had happened in the staff meeting wash over her.

Well, it was done. It was over. Sebastian finally knew that she’d broken up with Evan. God, Via had been stressing out over how to tell him for weeks. Or if she even should tell him. No matter how she’d sliced that particular piece of pie, every single way she’d tried to tell him ended up seeming desperate and obvious. The subtext is strong with this one.

Seb, just so you know, Evan and I broke up. Because I have feelings for you.

Hey, Seb, I’m fine, just going through a breakup. That you caused because you’re handsome and sweet and such a m.a.n.

Just so you know, I’m single now.

Yeah. That one was EXCLUSIVELY subtext.

She’d been too scared to tell Seb because then he’d know about the dense little grain of sand between her lungs that she’d been carrying around for him ever since that night on his couch.

And if she was honest, it wasn’t a grain of sand anymore. It was growing, ravenous, devouring the world. She felt like her feelings for Seb were the size of a soccer ball, lodged between her lungs and trying to suck everything right in. She could barely believe she’d been able to hide those feelings from Grace and Shelly tonight.

Her feelings for Seb were made of gravity; nothing was safe. She watched a movie on TV after work, cried, thought of Seb, and just like that, Maid in Manhattan was sucked into the ball in her chest. She made lasagna that she thought Matty would like: bam! Sucked into her feelings for Seb. She saw a dog on the street that walked the way Crabby did: bang! The hungry ball of feeling was fed, always demanding more.

She’d greedily absorbed every moment with him over the last month. She’d even stopped by the lunchroom every now and then to watch him with all the kids. Laughing with one group over a joke inside a fortune cookie. Helping one kid heat up his leftovers in the microwave. Splitting up a scuffle between fifth graders. He waded through the kids like a papa bear surrounded by cubs. It made the breath catch in her throat and her hand press over her heart.