Page 28 of Leah

“Carter.”

“I can’t hear you! Speak up!”

“Car-ter!” I said slowly and a little more loudly.

She went quiet on the other end for a moment. Then, “Go fuck yourself.”

I shook my head, even though she couldn’t freaking see that. “I’m being serious! I’m hiding out in the bathroom right now. Totally blindsided by this, Mel.”

“Is Rome there too?”

“Yes, and he’s brought his girlfriend with him. Oh my God, Melanie, she’s—”

“My look-alike, I know,” she cut in impassively, the damn mind reader that she was. “I’m already aware of that douchebag settling with a less than perfect twin of me. I’m actually tempted to go there right now and have a look—”

“No!” I almost yelled. “No, you cannot do that! You’ll ruin his parents’ anniversary, you selfish witch. Marlena’s so happy right now. Donotsabotage it!”

She cursed. “Well, what do you want then?”

“I don’t know what to do! I’m terrified. He’s in the next room and he keeps glaring at me.”

“Glaringat you?”

“Yes, glaring! Like he hates me. And he’s with his freaking girlfriend to boot—”

“Molly Anderson is at that house right now?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, my God.”

“I know!”

“Well, shit.”

“Should I come home? I’ll say it’s an emergency, like you got hit by a car or something. We can pretend you have a broken leg.Didn’t you say your sister was good with her hands? I’ll get her to do a cast and—”

“Hell no!” she interrupted, suddenly getting riled up. “You go in there and you show him how alright you are! Show him you’ve moved on, and you’re happy. Be confident. Rub it in that him tearing your heart open and squeezing every last drop of love from it hasn’t ruined you. In fact, it’s made you a cold-hearted man-hater, and you’re one step away from joining the feminist movement.”

I froze. What did she just say? “What did you just say?”

“You heard me!”

“I’m not a man-hater.”

“Yes, you are.”

“I love men!”

“You always complain about them.”

I frowned. “When was the last time I complained about one?”

“You said your boss was a dick.”

“Because heisa dick! If he was a woman, I’d call her a dick too.”

“You wanted the world run by women just the other night!”

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