Page 159 of Back in the Saddle

“Do you think we haven’t?” I asked.

She spread her hands out in front of her in supplication, something that was both sweet, coming from a mega-famous person, and weird, considering our conversation didn’t seem to warrant it.

“Eric is a member of my family,” she declared. “And he told me that he told you we had a history. I just wanted you to know that it was, um…historyand?—”

Ah.

Right.

I held up my hand, and she stopped talking.

I did this because this was about Savannah.

And it made me even more pissed at the bitch because I could see Stella was uncomfortable, which meant Savannah made her feel that way.

I dropped my hand. “I appreciate you coming in. But like you said, it’s history. And that’s the end of that.”

Her shoulders slumped with relief.

“God, was she that bad?” I asked.

“Eric’s told you about her?” Stella asked back.

“Yes,” I answered. “Including the fact she wasn’t a fan of this history.”

“She really wasn’t.” This was uttered in a way I knew it was a vast understatement.

And yep.

I got more pissed.

“What a pill,” I bitched.

“You don’t have to worry,” Stella informed me. “She’ll forget he exists. As shocking as it is with the man he is, she’s good at that. This whole thing with demanding a second chance is about her being unable to admit she failed. The more she pursues him, the longer he resists, in her head, she can say she tried, and he refused to try with her, so the end of the marriage was all his fault.”

“This woman is a fuckin’ trip,” I mumbled irately.

“He deserved a Rock Chick,” she stated.

My attention laser focused on her.

She kept talking.

“He also needed one. He needs a woman who will understand his commitment to his work and the team, who won’t be worried about it and make him feel guilty for doing it. One who’ll understand his training and experience and the men who he does it with means they know what they’re doing. A woman who’ll complement his life, is his partner in it, the way he’ll give the same to her because she has a life of her own, and they fit together that way. And a woman he can’t steamroll, though he’d sniff that out right away and he’d never go there, because that really isn’t his thing.”

She took a breath.

Then finished it.

“But mostly, since he’ll be all about her, she needs to be all about him too. And he needs to know that, be shown it, be told it, and then be allowed to live it.” Her voice lowered when she concluded, “There weren’t any Rock Chicks left. But I’m seeing an Angel will do perfectly.”

Oh my God!

What a nice thing to say!

“I don’t want to overshare,” I told her. “But it hasn’t even been a week, and I’m a little freaked how into him I am.”

“I’m going to repeat something I never thought I’d say in the first place. You need to read those books.”

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