Tear Stained Beaches by Giardina Courtney

Author:Giardina, Courtney [Giardina, Courtney]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Take Two Publishing
Published: 2013-02-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

The next morning I had trouble getting out of bed. My head was spinning, and when I lifted it from the pillow it seemed to weigh a hundred pounds. I was never a fan of the consequences of a night of drinking, and it was even more pathetic that it was a night of drinking alone. As I’d learned from the few nights in college that I had partied too hard, the best cure for me was to sweat it out. After procrastinating for a half hour, I dragged myself out of bed, dressed in my running gear, and hit the beach.

It was the most painful workout I had endured in a long time. Not because I had worked myself past my comfort zone, but because it took everything I had not to stop and throw up. I kept telling myself it’d be better once all the toxins were sweated out of me, so I continued to run. I was far into my run, and was about to turn around, when I saw Meghan waving at me from what must have been her beach bungalow. I jogged up to her, hoping she wouldn’t notice the fragile state I was in, but no such luck.

“You look like shit.”

“Ha! Gee, thanks.”

“A little too much partying last night?”

“You know it. Me, a big blue chair on the deck, and a bottle of wine.”

“Pity party for one, huh?”

I nodded. She placed her hand on my shoulder, and then disappeared inside for a minute. She returned with a bottle of water and handed it to me. After guzzling almost the entire bottle in one breath, I sat down on the wood bench on her deck, as she leaned against the railing staring out towards the water.

“I’ve been there you know.”

“Been where?”

“Where you are right now. I mean, I was never married, never had a ring on my finger, but I was expecting one at any minute.”

“Do tell.”

“I started dating this guy, Rick, in high school. Four years after graduation we were still together. I thought he was the one. My family did too. Everyone talked about us getting married all the time. The two of us included. Just a few months before we finished college we were talking about the best time of year for a wedding. He even took me to look for engagement rings. Told me he didn’t want to put something on my finger for the rest of my life without me having some sort of say in it.” Her eyes looked to the ground.

“Sounds like it was pretty serious.”

“Leading up to Christmas of that year that’s all my mom could talk about. She even took me to the nail salon a few days before Christmas Eve just to make sure my nails were prepped and ready to show off the ring.” We both laughed at how crazy that sounded. “Christmas came and went, and still no ring. He cancelled our plans for New Year’s and a few days later asked me to meet him in town.

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