Page 118 of Don't Go Faking My Heart

“Amen to that,” Lou says.

"Guys are dumb sometimes,” Jane says. “If for some crazy reason you two don't work out, that doesn't mean there's something wrong with you. You are incredible. You're delightful, charming, beautiful, and you love with your whole heart."

Parker nods. "Ash, you are the brightest light in any room, remember? Rusty thrives in the light, but from the sound of it, he's spent a lot of his life in darkness."

"Maybe you need to give him time to let his eyes adjust," Lou says.

"Wow, you guys are really loving this light metaphor," I sniff wryly.

"If the lightbulb fits," Lou says.

"What? Screw it in?" I ask.

"Ew," Parker says.

"Nope," Jane agrees.

"Hard pass," Millie adds.

My heart is a little lighter from my friends' support, but it's still too heavy for my body. "What am I going to do?"

"What do you think you should do?" Lou says. They all look at me, waiting for my answer.

They’ve been supportive and reassuring, but no one has told me what to do. No one has written a list for me or given me next steps. They’re waiting for me because they trust me to figure it out.

And you know what? Straight hair and clean room aside, so do I.

“I want to go to the chamber of commerce meeting, knock it out of the freaking park, and then tell Rusty exactly how I feel so he can decide what he wants.” I breathe heavily. “And then I want to take out these contacts, because they’re driving me crazy."

Lou smiles. "One step at a time."

I puff out another breath. “One step at a time.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

ASH

Rusty's eyes look like they're about to fall out of his head when he sees me walk into the Town Hall conference room. His gaze rakes over me, taking in everything from my shoes and pencil skirt to my hair and contacts. For his part, he's wearing jeans with a gray button-up shirt rolled up at the sleeves, and his dark blond hair looks like it was styled before he ran his hands through it.

The room is still filling in when Rusty walks over to me. His gaze darkens.

"What is this?"

"I straightened my hair." My words don’t sound as cheery as I intend, but I’m done acting like I’m one stray hair shy of a breakdown.

“I’ve never seen you like this.” Rusty's eyes flit to the side and back to me, like he's acknowledging that we have an audience. He kisses the side of my cheek, but it's robotic. The warmth I've grown to crave is missing entirely. "But you’re always gorgeous.”

Does he mean it? Or is he faking?

Soon, the room fills. Bill sits at the front. When the clock strikes ten, Teddy looks at the door one last time before bringing the meeting to order.

Frustration doesn't look good on him.

"Two weeks ago, you were all presented with a plan for revitalizing Maple Street, complete with 'design guidelines' and 'storefront standards' for the town."

"And it was the best two weeks of my career!" Jorge says. "I have orders for my fudge stretching through Christmas. I've had to hire new employees to keep up!"

A handful of people nod and share similar experiences.

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