Page 70 of Better Left Unsaid

I dragged my teeth on the corner of my bottom lip and drew my brows together. “Yeah, I did.” Then I cracked my knuckles and shook my head. “But I don’t really have him. I mean, he’s not mine. He’s my best friend, sure. And we have sex, but only as long as neither of us are seeing anyone.”

“Do you think either of you will get around to dating again? I almost wonder if there’s any reason to when you’re both getting what you need physically. It’s like there’s no more motivation to date, right?”

I hadn’t thought of it that way before. I mean, I still dated occasionally. I wanted to find my person. Dom definitely dated less so now that I thought about it. I wondered why that was. But back to Jade, who was currently staring me down, I answered, “Yeah. I mean, no. It could happen. One of us could meet someone. My money would be on Dom meeting someone first actually.” Not because he dated more—we already established that wasn’t true—but because he was Dom, and I was. . . a tad picky.

“Imagine if there was suddenly a Mrs. Dom Deluca, you’d never get to be with him in that way again.”

My heart sank—Mrs. Dom Deluca. But it was true. Finally, playing with my food, I acknowledged, “Exactly.” The hint of sadness in that one word was obvious even to my own ears.

Why was I sad, though? This wasn’t meant to last forever. We were supposed to scratch each other’s itches, and that was it. It was a transactional type of thing. So why did it feel like I’d come to this big realization that made me want to throw up my lunch?

Mrs. Dom Deluca.It had a nice ring to it, and I knew that whoever Dom married would be one lucky girl. Potentially the luckiest girl.

I mean, Dom was something else. Just look at the way he was with me and we were only friends. The man was a saint. He never turned his back on me. He was always there for me. He was. . . so many things.

I could only imagine how he’d treat his wife.

Would I be friends with her, too? Would he want to tell her about our arrangement? Then she definitely wouldn’t want to be friends with me. I mean, I wouldn’t love that my husband was still friends with the woman he’d slept with. Unless she was really understanding. She would be, wouldn’t she? Oh, he’d totally marry a better woman than me.

And why shouldn’t he? He deserved to. He was a great guy. And great guys like him ended up with great women like this woman I was creating this whole make-believe what-if scenario in my head about. I so didn’t come to the mall for this.

“Come on,” I said, standing up and collecting my trash. “We have to start finding that necklace.”

Jade shoveled her last bite in and stood up, collecting her stuff. “Okay, I’m ready.” She swallowed. “Maybe I’ll get one for myself, too. I don’t have one, so it could be nice. They’re good to have, right?”

I smiled. “That’s what our mom always said.” Then something dawned on me, and I snapped my fingers. “You know what we need to do? We need to have a sister sleepover and tell old stories about Mom. Would you like that?”

Jade’s eyes lit up. “I’d love that! When?”

“Tonight?” I asked before I could think, getting swept up in her excitement. Then I added, “If we can get everyone together.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Maria

So update time:it turned out Perla, Bianca, and Allie were available. Actually, I believe Allie’s exact words had been, “They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but if I’m lucky it’ll be his cock, and he’ll want to welcome me home by letting me ride it.” Don’t ask, I rarely ever knew what was going on in Allie’s head.

On the way home, I had picked up some treats so we could make our own ice cream bowls with whatever toppings we wanted, and I had just finished making mine and Isabella’s bowls when Bianca walked through the door, heaving a sigh.

“Here you go, sweetheart,” I told Isabella, handing her a bowl and watching as she walked into the living room and sat on the white, plush rug. It was a new addition to the house, and I think it added something.

Allie hopped up on the counter and grabbed a white chocolate chip from the bowl. “Mmm. I can’t believe I’m the only one who appreciates white chocolate.”

I shrugged and was just about to say something when Bianca sighed again, making her presence known as she practically dragged her feet on her way to the counter. “Hello!” she exclaimed. “I sighed.”

Jade cocked a brow and turned her head from where she was seated on the couch, scrolling through our movie options. “Good for you?” she stated in a questioning tone, as though she wasn’t sure what else to say.Join the club, Jade.I was as lost as you were.

Perla tossed her phone down on the coffee table and sat on the floor beside Isabella. “I don’t get it. Why do we care you sighed? You making your presence known is nothing new, Bibi.”

Bianca rolled her eyes and grabbed a piece of licorice, popping the tip in her mouth and taking a bite. “Cute. The sigh was because I have something to say.” Then she gagged and pushed the licorice in front of her. “Holy shit! This is black licorice.”

I nodded. “Astute observation. Didn’t you notice it when you picked it up?”

She shook her head, sticking her tongue out and gagging again. Ever the dramatic one. “No. I just grabbed it. I needed something to chew on. I’m so frustrated with this new design I’ve been working on.”

“Change the design. Go back to the drawing board,” Allie suggested, like that was the simplest answer. I supposed it was, though.

Perla looked up from braiding Isabella’s hair as her eyes were fixed on the screen. It seemed Jade found a princess movie for her. Yeah, my daughter had blocked us out and was completely homed in on her movie—smart girl. “Maybe you need inspiration,” Perla inserted.

---