Page 18 of Between Now & Heartbreak

She shoves me, this time playfully, lovingly and I feel a surge of relief too.

“IknewI saw something between you two!You better tell me every single freaking word.”She shrieks and practically bounces out of her seat.

“It was so random. And unexpected,” I say with as much of a nonchalant shrug as I can.

And just right.

I thought he was the one.

I can still feel his kiss.

“When? How could you not tellme?” She howls like she’s in pain. Her eyes are comically wide with wonder and her grin…well, I can only describe it as hungry.

I swallow the ball of nerves that’s formed in my throat and push past my instinct to clam up and just spill.

“I don’t know… it was perfect. And God, D…he’s so gorgeous. He—” my breath hitches around the memory and I close my eyes briefly.

“Oh my God. Liz…you should see your face.”

My eyes pop open.

“Why, what’s wrong with it?”

“You look how I feel when I get to eat a slice of that frozen banana pie on my cheat day.”

I know that face. It’s one of pure satisfaction and bliss.

“That’s how it felt. He’s… Oh, God. I don’t know.” I frown miserably.

She groans and sags in her seat, in an exaggerated swoon. “You don’t even have to tell me…it was amazing, right?”

I sigh in relief at being able to talk about this with someone. “Yes. Yes it was. And so was he…it was just the best few days of my life.” I look at her, my eyes heavy with sadness. She covers my hand with hers and squeezes it.

“So…what happened? How did you end with Duke?“ she asks after a minute of us both being lost in our thoughts. I blink away.

“Life. He went back to his life. James died. And everything changed.”

“Well I’m tempted if you’re not. He’s hot.”

“You’re married.”

“I’m still a woman. Plus, he’s like mega-talented. His whole family’s a big deal. And his brother is hot, too. In a different way than Carter--- he’s got this whole asshole who’s unattainable thing going…ugh.” She bites her lip and throws her head back.

“You watch his show?”

“Of course, but I watch reality TV as part of my job and at least once a day, I rub one out to his brother’s IG workout when I’m alone in my office.” She adds conspiratorially.

I grimace, and wrinkle my nose. “I could have lived my whole life without knowing that and never felt like I missed a thing.”

She laughs and waggles her eyebrows. “But clearly I’ve been lusting after the wrong brother. He’s smoking hot – so male and sexy and brooding and fuckable.”

I ignore the pang of possessive annoyance I feel at her words. I have no right to that feeling.

“I wonder why he’s back,” I say.

“Oh he’s been in all sorts of trouble lately. Drinking and shit. Made a spectacle of himself on his brother’s show. Stormed off, quit everything and disappeared. He picked the perfect place. I bet no one here knows who he is.”

I look down at my lap and recall the look in his eyes when he saw me that day. And how he looked just now. “His dad died, Dina. People should cut him some slack.”

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