Page 98 of The Last Goodbye

“Agreed,” Tatum said. “What is up with sulky Bass? The man never shows emotion. He dated Celine for years, and he wasn’t even upset after they broke up. But our girl rolls into town, and he’s all over the place emotionally.”

She shook her head and pointed to the cheesecake and told us both we needed to try it.

“Something is definitely going on between you two,” Gracie said after she’d tried a bite, a wide smile spreading across her face.

I’d grown close to Gracie and Tatum. It was nice to have friendships where I felt safe about confiding in them.

I hadn’t realized how much I’d closed myself off after losing my mother and grandmother, and how much I’d actually missed this kind of connection.

I sighed. “I was with him last night,” I admitted. “I think I really like him.”

“I thought your plan was to avoid him?” Tatum chuckled. “You were being so insistent about only being here for three months, so you didn’t want to consider it.”

“Yes, but he made some good points, and we’re going to try his plan instead.”

“And what is that plan?” Gracie rubbed her hands as if this was the most exciting thing she’d ever heard.

“His plan is that we both have terrible track records with dating, and we tend to aggravate one another easily, so we’ll most likely hate each other in a few weeks—so why not just enjoy it right now, while we still like each other?”

“That’s the plan?” Tatum said over a fit of laughter. “Damn, that’s actually brilliant. It takes all the pressure off. No one thinks it’s going to last, so you can just enjoy it in the moment.”

“I kind of love it.” Gracie broke a piece off an oatmeal cookie and popped it in her mouth. “And you both seemed kind of down when you were avoiding him.”

“That’s the thing,” I said with a shrug. “I was unhappy with plan A, so I’m shifting to plan B. I’m just going to hope that when my time here is done, he and I will have gotten whatever this is out of our systems, and it won’t be sad.”

“I’m sorry you’ve had so much loss, Briar,” Gracie said, squeezing my hand. I’d filled them in on my reasons for being apprehensive about investing in someone I knew I had no future with. “But you’re young, and you have so much life yet to live. You can’t let fear stop you from living.”

“Grieving is a real bitch,” Tatum said over a mouthful of scone.

I nodded. “It really is.”

“I mean, my situation is definitely different.” She looked at each of us. “I would say I’ve dealt more with abandonment, but that’ll make a girl cautious about trusting anyone, too.”

“Trust me, abandonment is a tough thing to overcome as well,” I said.

“Did you have any luck finding Raelyn on Facebook?” Gracie asked.

Tatum had shared with us that her mom had gone through divorce number four with a guy whom Tatum was not a fan of; however, she and his daughter, Raelyn, had been very close in their teenage years, while their parents were married. But Raelyn had stopped replying to Tatum a few years ago, and she was determined to find her.

“Nope. And her phone number was disconnected years ago, which is why we lost touch. We used to text every single day, and then she literally fell off the planet.”

“That’s awful. And you haven’t spoken in years?” I asked.

“No. And apparently, Raelyn has no social media at all. Maybe she’ll just reach out to me someday.” She took a sip of her iced tea. “I mean, look at you—you found your brother and your father when you were an adult. It’s never too late.”

“That’s very true,” Gracie said. “I’m sure she’ll find you and reach out. You said she was younger than you, so maybe she’s just off traveling the world or having a good time in college.”

Tatum nodded, but I could see the doubt there, and I squeezed her hand. “If there’s anything I can do to help, you just let me know.”

“Thank you. When you told me about the way you found your brother and your father, it made me think about finding Raelyn all over again.” She shrugged. “But I won’t quit that easily. I mean, obviously I’m not a quitter if I can tolerate the craziness at my job.”

Tatum was the activities director at Blue Sky Senior Living, and she kept us very entertained with her work stories.

“This is a good point,” Gracie said. “But let’s get back to the juicy stuff. Tell us all about your night with your new man.”

Tatum clapped her hands together. “Yes, please. We want all the details.”

I loved that I’d made such amazing friends here in Blue Sky Bay.