IT WAS HARD TO BELIEVE she was actually filling out the application right in front of me. Did she not see how this was bothering me? How this was affecting me? I chewed slowly on my slice of pizza and narrowed my eyes at her. She moved the pen quickly with a smile on her face and I wanted to grab the application and rip it into a million pieces. I wanted to make her happy myself. She did not need a second job. It was unnecessary and it was going to make our time together even more limited. I did not want that.

"Sydney," I sighed. "You know—"

"Harry," she looked at me and her smile was long gone. "Let me do this for me, okay?"

"But—"

"Harry," her tone was suddenly cold and bitter. "You can't keep buying me things. I want to be able to buy stuff with my own money, yeah? You're too nice and I don't want to take advantage of you."

"You're not!" I snapped.

She dropped the pen and slowly met my gaze. Her lips were pursed together and I realized her left eye was twitching a little bit. I swallowed hard and when she pointed a finger at me, my heart leaped. "What are we even doing, Harry?" She looked somewhat calmed down but her eye was still twitching. "You can't be mad at me for wanting another job. You act as if this will affect your life—"

"Time," was all I said.

"Time?" she rolled her eyes. "You were just yelling at me and now you want to know the time? I swear—" I threw her a look. "Oh, right. You're afraid of time. I forgot."

"And you're afraid of rifles. I forgot."

"That isn't funny."

"You don't see me laughing."

"What happened to having a fun day?" she asked. "This day has been officially ruined!"

"It didn't start out good to begin with."

"How many times are you going to bring up the whole baseball bat thing? I swear, it's going to get old real fast if you bring it up every freaking hour."

"Come on," I stood up. "We're leaving."

"Excuse me?" she looked at me with wide eyes.

"Go wait for me in the truck," I tossed her the keys. "I'm going to pay for the pizza."

"You're kidding," she gaped. "You want me to walk back to the beach by myself?" When my expression did not change, she picked the pen up and scribbled some more words down before rising to her feet. "Fine. I'll go. But if I get kidnapped and die, it'll be your fault for making me go by myself without any kind of protection. Your keys can only do so much."

She continued to ramble as she went inside of the building. I followed her but kept a safe distance. She was socializing with Madi and my shoulders fell when she handed her the pink application. Madi said something back and disappeared in the back of the restaurant. Sydney then walked out of the front door, not once noticing me standing there. My hands balled up into fists and I marched right up to the desk, slamming down a couple twenties. Olivia's mother looked up at me and I muttered, "Keep the change."

"Oh, Harry, thank—"

I hurried after Sydney.

She was not walking very fast. In fact, she seemed to be stopping every few steps to look around. My heart was pounding against my chest and I had the sudden urge to grab her and convince her that I could take care of her. I knew she would not believe me because I had not spoken to Jillian but it was only a matter of time before that happened. I was still going to talk to her today and I just wanted Sydney to trust me.

Why was she making this so difficult?

I watched her cross the street and she waved her hand at the person who stopped their car to let them cross. I waited on the other side and I heard the waves crashing from the ocean. Sydney's movements were quick and when she approached my truck, she unlocked the doors and got inside. I waited, my eyes focused on the vehicle, and wondered what she was doing inside. Was she just sitting there? Or was she talking badly about me as if someone else was in the car with her listening? I took my chances and crossed the street. My legs moved with a quickness and when I approached the car, I noticed Sydney had her eyes closed and her forehead was pressed against the window. I got inside but she did not move at all. The key was already turned in the ignition and I backed out of the parking spot.

"You shouldn't have done that," I said after a while. "I can pay for everything you want. You know this so I don't understand. Why would you ask for the application after I told you I could help you? That wasn't right. Do you not trust me?"

She remained quiet.

"Good Lord, do you not have any faith in me? Let me help you."

She shifted in her seat but her lips stayed sealed.

"Sydney, say something."

Nothing.

"Please?"

Still, nothing.

My hands tightened around the steering wheel and I focused on the road ahead of us. If she did not want to talk, so be it. Two could play this game. I was capable of ignoring people and I was most definitely capable of ignoring her. I frowned and my heart ached. What were we doing? We were acting like a bunch of immature children. Nothing about that was attractive and I was certain we both looked ridiculous.

When we arrived at the house, Sydney was the first one out and she went to the front door, using her own key to get inside. I pulled my key out of the ignition and took my time getting inside. It was somewhat quiet but I heard her upstairs in her room. I sat my keys to the side and rushed up the stairs, going up them two at a time. Her bedroom door was opened to an ajar and I knocked on it a few times before pushing it to where I could see her. She was gathering some fresh clothes and the anger was clear on her face.

"Hey," I said.

"What?" she snapped, freezing in place but still not looking at me.

"Can we just sit down and talk about this?"

"What is there to even talk about?" her voice trembled. "It's obvious what the problem here is. You think you can buy everyone's happiness but let me tell you something, Harry. That isn't the case and it's obvious you're having trouble seeing it. Money cannot simply buy happiness. Money can only buy you things to distract you from how you're truly feeling. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get changed before cooking dinner."

"You're...still going to cook?" I was shocked. "After what just happened?"

Her body stiffened and she slowly looked at me before saying, "I'm hungry."

I took her facial expression as a warning and I backed out of her room, closing her door behind me. I went down the hall to my room and opened it before walking inside. The door was still unlocked from this morning. I stripped out of my somewhat wet clothes and put on something that was more comfortable and dry. I pulled my hair back into a low ponytail and ran my hands down my face as I walked out of my room, making sure the door was locked. The door to the guest bathroom was shut and I assumed Sydney was getting changed in there rather than her own bedroom. I placed my hand against the door and exhaled slowly.

"I'll be home soon, all right?"

Silence.

It was the worst killer.

I waited for a response but I only heard her moving around on the other side of the door. I gave up and decided to go ahead and leave so I could hurry up and come back before she was finished cooking. I jogged down the stairs and grabbed my keys on my way out of the house. I took deep breaths as I slid onto the driver's seat and I looked ahead at the house before me. There was no way she was going to forgive me unless I did something.

I had to make this right.

And I knew exactly what I had to do to make that prepossessing smile of hers reappear.

It took me a minute to get there but when I finally did, I jumped out of the car and rushed inside of the store. I was greeted once I walked through the doors and I smiled at the woman who had greeted me. The palms of my hands were sweaty and I had no idea why I was so nervous. I knew she was going to like this but I had the slightest bit of doubt floating around in my mind. I got closer to the appropriate aisle and I smiled when I saw the different cans containing what she loved most.

Black olives.

The cans were all different sizes and I grabbed four cans of the largest ones this store had. I held them close to my chest and I stood in the middle of the aisle like a lost child in a mall. Was this enough? She was right about money not being able to buy someone's happiness but I believed it helped. But were four cans enough? I had seen the woman eat and she knew how to eat. I smiled and grabbed one more can just in case four were not enough. I struggled to hold all five but I was determined not to drop them. I should have gotten a shopping cart but who needed a shopping cart when it came down to love?

Me, obviously.

I took a step forward and one of the cans slipped from underneath my arm. It hit the floor and started rolling away from me. When I bent over to pick it up, another can fell and when I tried to get that one, the others decided it was the perfect time to roll away, too. I frowned and stood up straight, cursing myself for not getting a shopping cart in the first place. I put the cans back on the shelf and went to go get a cart. I had a feeling I was going to be getting more than those black olives. I grabbed an empty cart and on my way back to the olives, I saw the flowers. I came to an immediate stop and picked up a dozen, smelling them.

They smelled nice.

But not as nice as my Sydney.

I sat them in the cart and went back to the previous aisle to retrieve the black olives I was going to buy. I grabbed different cans, hoping no one noticed me drop the other cans. A few of them had dents but I casually pushed them toward the back of the shelf. I ended up grabbing ten cans rather than five. Who knew how much she truly loved black olives? I wanted to be safe rather than sorry. I pushed the cart to the front and started to check out at the register. The man raised his eyebrows as he saw the multiple cans of black olives and he cleared his throat.

"Winter is a long way ahead of us, buddy boy."

"Huh?" I stopped what I was doing and looked at him.

"The olives," he nodded his head at them. "You gettin' a head start or somethin'?"

"Oh," I nodded my head and continued to put them on the conveyor belt.

He scanned all ten cans and the flowers before telling me the price. I swiped my credit card and thanked him as I gathered my bags. I moved the cart to the side and carried the bags out myself. There was no point in me taking the cart out of the store. I swung the bags back and forth as I approached my truck and I wanted to hurry up and get this over with. Talking to Jillian was not going to take me long and I just wanted to go back to the house.

I sat the cans on the floor and the flowers on the passenger's seat. I backed out of the parking spot and tried to imagine Sydney's face when I brought her the olives and the flowers. I imagined her smiling and tackling me to the floor with hugs and kisses.

A man sure could dream.

There was nothing wrong with that.

Jillian's house was not far from the store but I took my sweet time getting there. As much as I wanted to get back home, I had dreaded this moment since I made my choice—back when I chose Sydney to be mine. I knew Jillian was not going to take the breakup very lightly and I had to prepare myself for the worse. We had been dating for years but I was willing to throw all of that away for Sydney. My heart was telling me to do so and my brain was somehow agreeing with it. Jillian would find someone who loved her like I loved Sydney. She would be happy and she would realize our relationship was not worth keeping.

She would understand.

I would make her see.

We thought we knew the definition of love but we were too young to know much of anything. Throughout the years, we changed and our changes were not the same. We tried to make it work but now? I found someone who I got along with and she loved me for who I was—flaws and all. Jillian always pointed out what was wrong with me. Sydney pointed them out, too, but she never used my own flaws against me. Jillian had done that more than once. I frowned at the memories of her blackmailing me and I wondered why I even stayed with her in the first place.

Did I believe what we had was love?

I pulled into her driveway and got out quickly, leaving my key in the ignition. My phone was in my hand and I noticed Jillian's car parked perfectly in front of mine. Ah, so she was home. I did not let her know I was coming over and a part of me had hoped she was not home. I walked up to her front porch and rang the doorbell, waiting patiently for her to open it. I took a couple steps back and looked up at her freakishly large house. It was quite larger than mine and she was only able to afford it because her parents felt obliged to always throw money her way to keep her happy.

Maybe that was why I thought always buying Sydney things would make her happy?

What have I done?

I rang the doorbell again and her dog—Lola—barked from the inside. I pressed my ear against the door and listened for any sound of movement. The only noise I heard was Lola throwing herself against the door to try to get to me. I raised my eyebrows and looked inside through the side window. Was she even home? I pulled out my phone and dialed her number, putting the device close to my ear.

It went straight to her voicemail.

I tried again but received the same outcome.

"Come on, Jill. Where are you?"

Out of all the friends we had, Jillian was closest with Amelia and I dialed her number, knowing she would pick up on the first ring.

"Hello?"

Bingo.

"Hey," I drawled out.

"Harry?"

"In the flesh," I said, ringing the doorbell again.

"What's wrong?"

"Why does something have to be wrong?"

"Well, for one, you never call me unless you can't get a hold of Logan. He's washing the car if that's why you called. And second, your voice is shaking. What gives?"

"Have you spoken to Jill today?"

"No, not today," she said. "Why? Did she forget about a date or something?"

"No, I'm at her house and she isn't answering the door."

"Is she home?"

"Her car is here."

"Don't you have a spare key of some sort?"

Oh, right.

I was still her boyfriend until I told her how I truly felt about our relationship.

"Thanks, Amelia."

"Anytime."

I hung up and rushed back to my car, getting my key to the house from underneath the sun visor. I went to the front door and when I unlocked it, Lola ran out of the house at full speed.

"Lola!" I yelled. "Lola! Get back here! Lo—"

But she was already gone.

I sighed and stepped inside of the house, the noise of something crunching underneath my foot startling me. Lifting up my foot, I saw pieces of broken glass on the floor. What the hell? I looked up and noticed all the lights were on. Jillian always kept her lights off unless she was home; therefore, she had to be home. I kept the front door open and walked deeper into the house. Things were knocked off the walls and they were shattered on the floor. I kept my phone close and I constantly looked over my shoulder.

"Jill?" I called out.

Nothing.

I reached the staircase and slowly walked up them. I held onto the railing for support and it took everything in me not to run and hide. She had to be all right. Maybe she knocked everything down because she was frustrated about something? Yeah, I liked that idea a lot. I reached the top of the stairs and stopped when I saw red droplets on the wooden floor.

Blood?

"Jill!" I cried out.

Silence.

It was killing me.

I rushed into her bedroom and as soon as I pushed her door open, I fell onto my knees and gagged. An iron stench filled my nose and I looked around the room, fear rising within me.

Blood.

It was everywhere.

On the walls.

On the floor.

Everywhere.

"Jill," I choked and forced myself up into standing position.

A piece of paper laid perfectly on the messed up bed and the words were written with red ink. I slowly picked up the paper and frowned as I read it.

'THIS IS ONLY A WARNING.'

A warning?

For what?

I let the piece of paper fall from my hand as I saw a lock of black hair on the carpet. My entire body shook with fear and I covered my mouth with my hand to keep myself from vomiting. I moved closer to the side of the bed and my mouth opened as I let out a deranged scream filled with nothing but agonizing pain.

There she was.

Jillian.

The woman I had once called mine.