Broken Strings

C H A P T E R N I N E T E E N

And she didn't. Sprinkles were too happy. They were too bright and colorful.

And Anisha, Anisha was dull and gray. She didn't need that splash of color in her life.

And she noticed the slight plea in his eyes. But she shook her head and looked away.

This time if he told her he loved her, she wouldn't believe him. And this time, if he asked her to stay, she wasn't going to.

He had finally ruined her. And he had finally shattered any bit of hope she had left.

And it had all been nothing but empty promises.

Empty promises that created false hope. And false hope that had destroyed her heart.

Because Anisha Hayes had really believed he had loved her. And she knew he had. Once, long ago, they had been in love.

And now, she bit her lip as fresh tears gathered, clouding her vision. Because he had fallen out of love. He had stopped loving her.

"You have ice cream on your lip."

She quickly blinked a few times, trying to hide the fact that she was close to crying. And she froze as Andrew gently reached out, wiping the melted ice cream off the corner of her lips, letting his hand softly brush against her lips.

And she was slowly aware of Mira's soft laugh and Ryan's wide smile as they both looked between their parents.

This was it. She had given her children some last happy moments.

They would remember. Remember that their mother had smiled, laughed, talked alongside them. And that their mother had loved them.

And she had loved Andrew. She really had.

Because he had shown her what it had been like to feel wanted, to feel loved, to feel happy. And they had been happy, once, long ago.

Before they became focused on trying to hurt one another.

And everything dulled around her. She wanted nothing more than to sit against the door outside the ice cream shop and cry.

She wanted to cry and cry. Cry for every broken piece of her heart. Cry for every bit of shattered hope she held.

Because Anisha had been happy. She had been loved once. But she wasn't anything special. It hadn't been enough.

Falling in love was one thing. Sure it was nice. But staying in love. Staying in love, forever and forever. That was fucking beautiful.

That was what she had really wanted. And it was at the small ice cream shop that she had really thought that it had happened.

She had really thought it was her happy ending.

But now, she was nothing more than a sad woman. A sad and pathetic woman. Who had been obsessed with some perfect fairytale ending.

She looked down at her hands as small but heavy teardrops rushed down her face.

Memories she didn't want to think about. Promises he had made to always love her.

Just a bunch of his many lies. All a part of his game.

A small ice cream shop. When she had just been a young college girl. Going on a date with her boyfriend.

And somewhere between the bright lights and windy breeze and strawberry sprinkles, she had fallen in love.

And that's what was painful.

Because she had really thought this was her happy ending.

The ice cream shop had handed her promises of happiness, hope of joy and words of love.