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father's choice for me. What mattered was that Angelina was gone. The bitch was gone. She had better never come back.
    "If you speak to her, let her know that if she steps foot in Rosemary again I will have her arrested. I have witnesses and I will press charges. I don't give a fuck who her daddy is."
    I didn't wait for my mother to respond. I turned and left the house, slamming the door behind me.
     

Della
     
    I stared down at my phone after I hung up with Woods. He had called me four times today already to check on me. It had been this way all week. Since Angelina had attacked me he had been afraid to leave me. He had a country club to run but he kept calling me. I mentioned getting a job again and he panicked and begged me not to. He said he couldn't focus on work if he was worrying about me.
    We were at a standstill. This wasn't healthy. He needed to be able to live without worrying over me. I needed to be able to live. His protective nature was starting to smother me and I loved him too much to hurt him by saying something about it. I was going to have bad moments. I was going to slip into my head sometimes and he couldn't always be there for me. I just didn't know how to get him to understand this and accept it. How could we make this work? This couldn't be forever.
    I wanted this forever but Woods deserved so much more. I was holding him back. This relationship would destroy him. I would destroy him. I felt sick to my stomach. I did this. I let this happen. I let myself fall so helplessly in love with him. I let myself believe he could fix me. That we could fix me. But it isn't happening.
    My phone rang and I looked down to see Tripp's number. He hadn't called in two weeks. I thought about telling Woods that Tripp checked in with me a couple times a month, but I hadn't found the right words to explain that. Woods seemed jealous of Tripp. He had no reason to be, but he was. I didn't want to give him something else to worry over.
    "Hello," I said as I stretched my legs in front of me on the sandy beach.
    "How are things?"
    "Good, I guess," I replied.
    "You guess? That don't sound good."
    "Angelina beat me up and Blaire Finlay pulled a gun on her and scared her off. Woods is now more overprotective than ever and he's always worried about me."
    Tripp was quiet for a moment. I let him digest my words.
    "Holy shit. Blaire has a gun?"
    I laughed. That was his response to what I'd just told him?
    "Sorry. I don't think that was the point. But damn, I can't picture that hot little blonde with a gun."
    "Yeah, it was a shock," I replied, smiling out at the water crashing against the shore.
    "Jace said she was from Alabama. Maybe I've been looking for a woman in the wrong states. I need to try out good ole Alabama next."
    Tripp always managed to make me laugh, and he made me forget for a moment that my chest was about to explode from pain.
    "Thanks," I said.
    "For what?"
    "Making me laugh," I replied.
    "Anytime."
    We sat there again for a few moments in silence.
    "Where are you at now?" I asked, knowing he was on a road trip.
    "I'm in South Carolina at a place called Myrtle Beach. I like it here."
    "You like those beaches, don't you?" I replied.
    "Makes me feel like I'm home, in a way."
    "Will you ever come back here to stay?"
    He didn't respond right away. It made me wonder what kept him away. There were secrets that he wouldn't share with me.
    "Doubt it," he finally said.
    "I don't think I can stay," I said aloud for the first time.
    "Why?"
    "Because this isn't working. I'm holding him back. I'm not getting better. This isn't going away and he deserves more. He needs more. Someone strong to stand beside him."
    "He wants you, Della."
    "Sometimes what we want isn't what's best for us," I replied.
    "Yeah . . . I know that," he said quietly. "But if you leave him it will break him."
    It would shatter me. But I loved him too much to ruin his future. "He will heal and then the woman who can be all he needs will walk into his life