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“Bye Rebel-bug,” Harley called, arm waving as though she was sending Rebel off on a trip around the world and might never see her again.
Tori’s chest ached for a whole other reason now.
How had she allowed herself to get so distracted that she hadn’t thought about the friendship growing between the two girls. She had noticed it, and she had loved it. But not once did she think about what would happen if things didn’t work out with Miranda. Is that what Miranda saw, a similarity between Tori and Tierney? After all, she had put her focus on Miranda being her soulmate above the possible damage to her daughter.
“Come on, Harley.” Tori led Harley over to collect her items, the bubble in her chest rising painfully, threatening to burst and spill over in gasping, heaving sobs.
Was Miranda right?
Tori followed a skipping, singing Harley out of her room and down the corridor of the center. The colored artwork that had always looked so uplifting suddenly felt garish against her black mood. She wanted to crawl into a pit and sort out the internal drama in her heart before even beginning to attempt to reconcile with Miranda again. She needed her head on straight for that conversation.
“Aili,” Harley squealed as she ran into Aili’s open arms.
Tori hadn’t even seen Aili standing outside her office.
“You, in here, now.” Aili jerked her head toward the office and waited for Tori to obey before following her. She closed the door behind her with a definitive click and set Harley up in the kids’ corner.
“Sit.”
Tori did as commanded. That old sensation of being sent to the principal’s office washed over her, and the tears she had held back threatened to burst through again. She was miserable.
“What’s going on?” Aili, direct and to the point, never disappointed.
The first tears slid down Tori’s cheek, and without taking her eyes off of Tori, Aili reached behind her and snatched up a box of tissues, offering it along with a pitiful expression.
“I don’t know.” Tori grabbed a tissue and swiped roughly at her face. “Just me having a breakdown, or a midlife crisis.”
“Pfft.” Aili scoffed. “You’re not even thirty.”
“But I’m close, too close. And I don’t know what to do. Am I just wasting my time?”
“Ah.” Aili leaned back in her chair, the shoe seeming to have dropped. “Miranda?”
“Yes, Miranda.”
“And the soulmate thing?”
Tori rolled her eyes, at Aili or herself she wasn’t entirely sure. “Yes, the soulmate thing.”
“Is she?” Aili asked.
“Is she what?” The tears stopped as Tori blinked, trying to follow the jump of questions from Aili.
“Is Miranda your soulmate?”
Tori opened her mouth and shut it again. She looked over at Harley who lay down on her side, comfortable on the carpet of Aili’s office, making an elephant stomp back and forth in front of her.
“I don’t know,” Tori whispered, and wondered what had happened to her this week. She felt as though hope and sunshine had been drained from her. She had just gone through the motions, but from the start she and Miranda had different ideas of what they wanted from their relationship—friendship. Damn it, Tori had to remember. They’d never actually said they were dating. In fact, Miranda had told her that wasn’t what she was looking for. Tori had messed this up royally by putting expectations on them that she shouldn’t have.
“Then maybe it’s time you find out for sure.” Aili raised those eyebrows again and looked at Tori with all the power of a woman in charge.
“Now why didn’t I think of that?” Tori asked, sarcasm dripping from her lips.
“Seriously, Tori.” Aili laughed, shaking her head. “This woman has you all twisted up. It’s been years since I’ve seen you conflicted. And when you came back from your dinner the other night, something was…off.”
Tori nodded. Aili was right. She hadn’t let anything or anyone get her down like this for years. She only had a couple months left until she turned thirty, and she wasn’t going to waste any more time wondering.
“Thanks, Aili.” She stood, strength returning to her limbs. It felt good to make a decision.
