Page 100 of Finding My Charming

I rubbed my hand over my face. This was harder than I thought. Telling Ari when we were kids had been easy. But the older and more jaded people got, the more difficult it was for them to accept the unexplainable.

“The women in my family — Grandma, my mom, Beth, April, and as many female cousins that I know of — have a special… gift, a magic power.”

He narrowed his eyes and stayed quiet.

My hand went to my necklace. “This charm is a family heirloom. It’s been passed down through the women in our family for hundreds of years. It lets us know when we’ve met our first…” I dropped my gaze so I didn’t have to see his reaction. “…our soul mates.”

When he didn’t say anything, I finally met his eyes. He cocked his head but still didn’t look ready to run.

“Dallin, I’m sorry if this is too much to take in. I just want you to know and understand my family. You’re important to me, and I hope that you can be as into us as I am.”

He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He shook his head once and stared at me. “I do care about you, and I want us to have a future. I appreciate you wanting to let me into your life, but do you really expect me to believe all of that?” He paused and took a deep breath. “It’s almost like you’re telling me that your family is a bunch of witches or something.”

He was officially looking at me like I was insane.

I reached for his hand, but he shot back and was on his feet before I could register the rejection.

I sat frozen for several seconds. His sigh broke me from my daze, and I slowly trailed my eyes up his body to his face. He ran his hands over his eyes and through his hair. I could tell he wanted to say something, but I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that I didn’t want to hear it.

I began shaking my head before he opened his mouth. This was it. My worst nightmare was coming true.

“I’ve got to go. I can’t—” He let out another huff. “—I can’t do this.” He took slow steps in reverse. His eyes begged me to take it all back, to shout that I was kidding, and this was all a joke, but I couldn’t. This was my family, and he needed to accept them just as much as he accepted me.

He finally turned his back to me. I watched him go to the side of the house and let himself out through the fence. When it swung shut, blocking him from sight, I finally broke.

Tears streamed from my eyes faster than I could wipe them away. The agony was so excruciating in my chest all I could do was gasp. No air was in my lungs. My heart was tearing from the inside out. The love of my life was gone. I knew it. I could feel it. He was the one, and he was gone.

I couldn’t do anything. If I went after him, my only option was to deny my family, and I couldn’t do that. As much as the pain killed me now, I would never survive without my parents, my sisters — even Grandma — in my life.

I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping it would stop the flow, but it didn’t. Nothing could help right now. Dallin had my heart. He’d had it at the party, when he fought with me the first time, and when he forced me to do something so terrifying I was convinced I was going to die. Through all of the anxiety and pain of the past few weeks, he’d always been the one on my mind.

And now he was gone.

Chapter 30

it had been three days since Dallin left, and I hadn’t heard from him. He hadn’t replied to my text making sure he got home safely and hadn’t answered when I called him yesterday. The full moon was two days away.

Despite my family’s reassurances that he would come to his senses and apologize, I had my doubts. I had dumped a lot on him that night with zero warning, and if roles had been reversed, I probably would have run away, too.

Dad had given me this week off to begin packing and organizing my things, so I’d know what I’d need for school. I knew he hadn’t forgotten that I’d already purchased almost everything with Grandma, so he’d either felt sorry for me or didn’t want me to scare away clients.

The last time I saw myself was two days ago when I washed my face at the sink. The girl I saw in the mirror now had purple circles around her eyes, puffy and red from crying, making me look ill. I hadn’t changed clothes since putting on pajamas after the barbeque. I was a walking disaster.

Luckily, I was home alone for a few more hours. Mom had told me to try to at least shower today, but I couldn’t summon the amount of energy that would take. I’d been perched against my headboard staring out the window and listening to depressing music for over sixty hours straight. Sleep wouldn’t come. I didn’t have the temporary relief from this pain that dreaming would provide. Even though I could feel it still pumping in my chest, I knew my heart was gone. Dallin had taken it with him, leaving me hollow. Completely empty and lost.

I just wanted to feel numb. I wanted to be over it all. But I didn’t want to move on. Moving on would mean letting go of him, and I didn’t think I would ever be able to.

Maybe that’s a part of the deal. I find out who my true love is, and if it doesn’t work out, I’m left with the knowledge that I missed my chance.

I had no hope. I’d met my soul mate, and he’d given me the most precious weeks of my life. That was all I had left.

A car pulled into the driveway, and I watched Ari step out of the driver’s side. She glanced up at my window and froze. The frown on her face matched my own. That’s the thing. Best friends felt each other’s pain and joy. I could tell by that one look that she knew what I was feeling. For the first time since I watched Dallin walk out of my life, I felt hope. If anyone could help me through this, it was Ari.

Less than a minute later, she was scooting me over so she could sit next to me. She pulled a pillow onto her lap and gently tugged me until I was lying with my head on her lap. Without speaking, she began running her fingers through my hair, tugging out tangles and twisting it into long cords. I let her play while I thought of how to start talking. She wasn’t going to force anything out of me, but she had a way of making me feel better about things.

Every test, audition, election, debate, fight, or date that caused even a drop of anxiety she’d been there for, and she had a way of calming me down. Not even my own parents could help me the way she could. She didn’t make me reveal the things that were stressing me out like my mom and dad did. Ari knew how I worked. I needed to be distracted until I felt in control again. She usually had several tricks up her sleeves to take my mind off things — she’d even had to slap me once — but my favorite was when she played with my hair. It made me feel like a little girl in some ways, but it mostly worked because it was soothing and repetitive. I could focus on the patterns and counted strokes until I knew I could let my brain go back to the problem.

Time had become irrelevant to me, so I couldn’t tell if it had been minutes or hours until I spoke, but I finally got to the point of being able to share.