Thirty-One Letters

Twenty-Six

How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard—Winnie the Pooh

They called a counselling session at The Waffle House.

Hadley didn't know how they had all gotten there so quickly.  Yet before she'd even had the time to fully process all that she had heard and the fact that she left the party, and Ty, she found herself sitting in a large corner booth surrounded by her fellow attendees of the Good Mourning Group.

Adam and Braden had called in the reinforcements.  Clara and Tommy arrived minutes apart and a black Jeep dropped Dion off in the parking lot.  Christine seemingly appeared out of nowhere, flying in and jumping into the conversation as if she'd been there the entire time.  The only people missing were Old Jack and Phil but Hadley doubted either of them would have come anyways.

There was a large waffle sitting on the table in front of her.  Half eaten, next to a not-quite cold cup of black coffee.  The food was excellent, better than she had expected, but the knots in her stomach prevented her from finishing it.  She felt as if she were moments away from throwing up.

"That bitch," Christine snarled as Hadley finished recounting what had happened.  "She doesn't know anything about you.  Honestly, if I ever see her, I'm going to punch her in the face."

Clara was shaking her head, clearly angry but more level-headed than Christine.  "Did Ty call you yet?"

Hadley nodded.  "Yeah.  He phoned while we were driving here."

It had been a short phone call, lasting hardly more than thirty seconds.  She had answered on the first ring, seated in the back of Braden's car.

"Hey," she'd said as Ty's name flashed across the screen.

"I am so sorry," he'd said immediately.  "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine.  I just...I had to get out of there.  Sorry I couldn't say 'bye'."

From the tone of his voice, she'd known that he was shaking his head.  "Where are you?  I'll come meet you."

"No," Hadley had said quickly.  A little too quickly.  "I'm with some of the people from my therapy group.  We're getting waffles or something.  I don't know.  Meet me after?  There are some things we should talk about."

Things that made her heart pound and made her feel sick.  But necessary to talk about. 

Ty had paused on the other end of the line, just briefly, but she'd heard the moment of silence.  "Okay...I'll meet you at your house, then.  Unless you need a ride.  Let me know."

"I will."  He didn't say anything else and after a moment Hadley had ended the call.

"What are you going to do?" Clara asked, bringing Hadley back to the present.  "You can't avoid his shitty mother forever but she's definitely not someone you should be around.  It's not healthy."

Hadley sighed and picked up her coffee.  She didn't drink from it, just stared into the three-quarter empty cup.  It gave her somewhere to look other than Clara's searching eyes.  "I know."

If Hadley was being honest with herself, it wasn't just what Darcy had said that had made her feel unsettled.  She'd known that she was the focus of gossip, knew that people had regarded Tanner as the better twin, though knowing it and hearing it confirmed were two entirely different things.  Though as Darcy's words and the knowledge that she would never be good enough sunk in, there was a second dark thought creeping up into her mind.  It stemmed from the realization that Darcy had given her and Ty a timeline.