Infinite Harmony by Tammy Blackwell

into her lungs was ragged and shallow, “maybe we should both start doing our own things from here on out.”
    “Doing our own things? Are you… Are you breaking up with me?”
    She hadn’t planned on it, but she suddenly felt like someone took away the millstone she hadn’t realized Marsden slipped around her neck ages ago. How long had she wanted to do this without admitting it? At least a year, maybe longer. Maybe she’d never really wanted to be with him in the first place. He was her parents’ choice, not hers. If she had her choice, she would pick someone with a bit less piousness and a lot more actual personality. Someone who let her be herself and not the ideal everyone expected her to be. Someone who made her laugh.
    Someone like Joshua the Immortal.
    She shook off that unwanted thought and focused on the task at hand.
    “Don’t be ridiculous, Marsden,” her mother said. “Ada didn’t mean it like that at all.”
    “Actually, I did.” Her father open his mouth and she realized this was going to be next to impossible if she didn’t figure out a way to pull a Jesus card, and quick. “Don’t you see? Our relationship with each other is damaging our relationship with God.” Oh, yeah. That was good. “We need some time apart from each other to find our way back to Him.”
    “Are you sure?” her father asked, probably already grieving the loss of the son he’d always wanted. “Is this really what God has put on your heart?”
    “Yes.” Maybe God hadn’t put it there, but her heart was feeling it all the same. Maybe it would start cracking apart later when she realized her relationship with Mardsen was really and truly over, but she didn’t think so.
    “Ada, you’re tired. It’s been a long couple of days with everything going on. I mean, you were the hospital at this time last night,” Marsden said, reaching for her hand, which she promptly snatched away. If she let him touch her, if she let him remind her how his hands were always warm and comforting against her always frozen fingers, she might lose her resolve. She shoved her hands in her pocket, silently telling her fingers they could get warm by marking “break up with someone” off her list. “Is this because of what happened last night?”
    For a second, Ada thought he’d been talking about meeting Joshua. Luckily, she realized what he was really asking before she replied.
    “No.” Well, maybe. Getting shot at definitely helped with her newfound courage, but it had nothing to do with her desire to finally detach herself from Marsden after years of them using each other to simply have something to do. “This has to do with what is right for me. And this,” she motioned between the two of them, “isn’t it anymore. Is it really working for you? I mean, seriously? Are you happy with me?”
    Marsden was rarely at a loss for words, he could talk for days about himself, his former acting career, and how God had changed his life, but he had no reply to Ada’s questions. He sat there with his mouth partially open, like he was going to say something, but no words came out.
    Ada could see a fresh argument forming in her father’s eyes, and her mother looked ready to jump in. Faced with the battle ahead, Ada’s body finally decided to let her feel the full impact of everything that had happened over the past two days. She was tired, too tired to deal, and so she took the coward’s way out. Giving into the whirl of emotions swirling inside, she let tears that were only part crocodile run down her face.
    “I’m sorry,” she said, meaning it. She wasn’t sorry she was doing what needed to be done, but she was sorry for how it all went down. “I’m sorry, but it’s over.” And then she ran from the room, wishing she could run so long and so far she could leave her life behind.

Chapter 8
     
    Joshua felt as if God had abandoned him. How else would he have ended up at The Strip on the first Saturday in June along with every other