THIRTY-THREE

Frankie

My chest heaved with another sob as Bev wrapped me in her arms.

“Oh, dear, don’t cry,” she said, patting my back.

“Thank you for everything,” I said. “For the kind advice. And for giving me a job even though I have no business being a bartender.”

Bev chuckled and pulled away from me. She had stopped by the house to say goodbye to me. We were standing in the driveway along with Giles and Mattie.

“I’m going to miss you. Marie’s was better off with you working there. I don’t care how many incorrect drinks you made.”

“That’s nice of you to say, but I think the customers would disagree,” Mattie said.

“Hey.” I glared at my sister. “Be nice to me. This is an emotional goodbye.”

Mattie’s face was red too. We’d already had a nice little cry session as we’d packed my suitcases into her car. Being physically close to my sister during this time had been such a gift. I hadn’t realized how badly I missed her until I was in her orbit.

“You guys will visit, right?” I asked, stepping over to Giles and giving him a short embrace.

“Definitely,” he said. “Just let us know when you get settled.” He gave me a few short pats on the back. “And you get back here too. Seriously, whenever you want, even if it’s just for the weekend.”

“Wow, you aren’t sick of me?” I joked, stepping away from him.

He shrugged, smirking. “I mean, I didn’t say come back for another extended visit, but…”

“I promise I have no plans to live in your basement again any time soon,” I assured him.

With my last goodbyes being said, I had no choice but to climb into the passenger seat of Mattie’s car. Part of me wished it was Oliver’s car, but the intense ache in my chest assured me that I had made the right call not letting him drive me. I could barely think about him without completely breaking down.

Mattie got into the car and pulled away from the house. I watched it dreamily through the window, giving one last wave to Giles and Bev, who remained in the driveway.

“This is so much harder than I thought it’d be,” I said, as she pulled away from her street and onto the main road.

“It doesn’t have to be.” Mattie glanced over at me. “You don’t have to go.”

Her simple sentence set me off once again. Waterworks flowed from my eyes. I opened the glovebox in search of a tissue only to find a crumpled brown napkin. I took it and blew my nose into the rough material.

“Why would you say that right now?” I wailed.

To Mattie’s credit, she didn’t back down. “Because it doesn’t have to be like this. I know not every decision in life is going to be the easy one, but don’t you think chasing your dream shouldn’t be this hard?”

“It’s hard because of him,” I said, knowing she’d know what I meant.