Twisted Perfection

quick peek at her before looking back at the road. She was biting her bottom lip nervously. She didn’t say anything right away. I waited for her to say something. Anything. But she remained quiet. I tried not to think about it and that was proving impossible. I was never going to get the image of her face out of my head.
    “I have to learn to live on my own. Live without help. That’s why I’m on this road trip. I need to find myself and make a life for me…” she trailed off before finishing.
    Who told her she needed to figure out how to handle this by herself and what the fuck had happened to her to make her like this?
    I reached over and grabbed her hand with mine. “Call me. Anytime. If you need someone, call me.”
    She nodded. Her hand flipped over in mine and she squeezed it. “Thank you.”
    I pulled in front of Tripp’s condo wishing I’d taken a longer route. Della slipped her hand from mine and opened the door.
“I had fun dancing,” she said before stepping out of my truck and closing the door behind her. I waited until I saw her safely inside the condo before pulling away.

    ***

    My mother had called me three times already this morning. I had promised to come to their beach house for a Sunday lunch with the Greystones and apparently she didn’t trust me to show up. When my cell phone started ringing in my pocket I intended to ignore it. I was on my fucking way to their beach house. She needed to back the hell off.
    The fact it could be Della had me caving in and pulling out my phone. Jace’s name lit up the screen.
    “Hello.”
    “Where are you?”
    “Going to my parents’ beach house for lunch. Why?”
    “Because I came by your office and you weren’t there. I thought maybe you were playing a round of golf.”
    “No. Not today.”
    Jace cleared his throat and I knew there was something more he wanted to say. This wasn’t just about me playing golf.
    “I, uh, I just talked to Tripp. He’s on his way home. I think it’s because of her.”
    Her being Della. Shit.
    “Okay,” I replied not sure what he wanted me to say.
    “They’ll both be staying in his condo.”
    I hadn’t thought about that. Della sharing a condo with Tripp? Hell no.
    “I don’t think I’m okay with that,” I said through clenched teeth.
    Jace sighed heavily. “Come on. Man. You’re engaged. You can’t have her. If Tripp wants her you know he’d take good care of her. Just back off and let him have his chance. This may bring him home.”
    Images of Della’s perfect naked body splayed out on a bed for Tripp made me want to go grab him and slam him up against the wall. She was mine. No, she wasn’t. Dammit all to hell!
    “I need to go,” I growled before hanging up and chunking my phone against the car door while I let out a frustrated roar.

Della

    The lunch shift was brutal on Sundays. I thought that only in Macon, Georgia did everyone with a pulse attend church. I was wrong. This was a southern thing. At exactly12:05pm, the floodgates opened and every table in the dining room had become full with a wait at the door.
    I had wondered why I hadn’t been put on the lunch shift for Sunday before now. This explained it. This was ‘pros only’. I leaned against the wall in the kitchen and pushed the fallen hair out of my face. Somehow we’d survived. The last table was just finishing up and paying their tab.
    “The only good thing about Sundays is the tips. I swear I’m gonna quit every week when it’s over. Then I count my money,” Jimmy said with a wink and pulled out the roll of money he had tucked in his pocket.
    “That was crazy,” I agreed.
    Jimmy chuckled. “Yep. Good thing is, it’s over. You can go home.”
Home. Tripp’s condo wasn’t my home. And today I wasn’t sure I was staying there any longer. I hoped my tips were really good because I might need to pack up and hit the road. Tripp had called last night to let me know he was headed home to visit. I didn’t know if that meant he wanted me to move on out now. Or if he was expecting us to share the condo.
    I had bad dreams and many nights I woke myself up screaming. Sharing the condo with Tripp didn’t sound like the best idea. But leaving Rosemary didn’t sound appealing either. I liked it here. I liked Bethy and Jimmy and I liked… Woods.
    “Girl stop frowning. It’s quitting time,” Jimmy said in a teasing voice as he walked by me and tossed his apron into the dirty basket.
    I managed a smile and nodded. “I