EXCERPT

I felt used and humiliated--he’d lied to me, and I was stupid enough to believe him...

Waiters at the next hotel bustled around in the sand, setting up tables where guests would dine along the ocean. They plunged iron poles into the ground and draped diaphanous curtains, creating huts over tables set for two. I pulled back the curtain on one and peeked inside. Tea light candles rested on a glass mirror in the center of the white-linen-covered table. A vision of Avi, sitting in the linen-covered chair, the warm glow of the candles reflecting off his face, was obliterated by a pang of jealousy aimed toward the couple who would be enjoying a romantic seaside dinner. I shut the curtains and continued walking barefoot in the soft sand, ignoring a mouthwatering scent wafting from the hotel kitchen.

Farther along, two waiters argued over some construction problem with the second hut they were in the process of building. Waiter number one stomped off toward the hotel and left waiter number two standing alone with an armful of gauzy curtains. I approached him and asked if I could sit in one of the few remaining lounge chairs near the surf. He gave me a distracted, “Yes.”

The beach faced east, so there was no sunset to enjoy, but within a half hour, a full moon lit the coastline. I swallowed a chunk of guava and wondered if this was how it felt to be kissed by one of the Dementors, in the Harry Potter books--overwhelming sadness, cloaking a hollow void where my heart once rested. If someone thumped my belly, like the Tinman’s, it would echo.

There were no more tears left to cry for Jack or Avi. More than anything, I wanted to go home.