Page 102 of Hotter in the Hamptons

Besides, it wasn’t like Aly was trying to have empathy forher.

Lola took a breath. “Aly, I know you are triggered by Justin showing up, and I want to honor that, but I promise you that nothing happened. I’m not Raina. I would really like for us to be able to process what it means that I’ve been outed. That we’ve been outed as a couple.”

She felt proud of herself for stating her needs so clearly. She wondered if she’d ever had such clarity before.

Though it didn’t matter how well she expressed herself if Aly was shut down.

“But we’re not a couple,” Aly said.

“Are we not?” Lola’s heart thundered painfully in her chest. If they weren’t a couple, then she didn’t know which end was up. Sure, they hadn’t used the wordgirlfriend, but they spent all their time together, and they weren’t seeing other people. Wasn’t that what being in a couple was?

“I think you should go,” Aly said.

“Really?”

Aly nodded. “Please, Lola, just get the fuck out of my yard.”

Lola wasn’t ready to give up yet. “Do you still want me to be your girlfriend?”

Aly’s eyes widened. “How can you ask me that right now?”

“I need to know if I’m fighting for us or if you’ve already made up your mind.”

Aly threw her arms up into the air. “Lola,I’mthe one who hasbeenfighting for us. You’re the one who just spent the night with your ex-boyfriend.”

Lola was reaching the end of her patience. She could hear her own volume raising. “Justin and I were together for five years. This was the first time we’ve seen each other since we broke up. I owed him a conversation. What was I supposed to do, kick him to the curb? That’s not how I treat people I’ve loved. I would hope that you don’t either.”

“That’s fine,” Aly said, though by the way she said it, it seemed anything but. “I understand. It’s whatever. And maybe this would feel different if you’d committed to me. But you haven’t. You’re still thinking about whether you want to actually do this for real. And honestly, Lola, I’m tired. I’m tired of chasing you around. There are plenty of girls who would love to be my girlfriend.”

That stung.

“I’m sure there are,” Lola said, imagining an invisible line of beautiful women just waiting for the chance to get with ARC.

Was she still one of them?

She wasn’t sure. Aly’s cruelty was clouding everything.

“Let me know what you decide,” Aly said. “You can’t have us both.”

Lola sighed dramatically. This was like having a conversation with a wall. Nothing she said was getting through.

“Okay,” she said, giving up, “I guess I’ll let you know what I decide, then.”

Before she left Aly’s backyard, she took one last look at the girl who had turned her whole life upside down. It suddenly occurred to her that she didn’t know when she’d see her again.

Aly stood in dappled sunlight, leaning against the side of her house, her arms folded across her chest, her face was drawn.

“For what it’s worth, I do really care about you,” Lola said.

Aly didn’t say anything at all.

***

Back at Giancarlo’s, Ryan was waiting for her in the kitchen.

He read the look on her face and then pulled her into a hug. “Tell me what you need,” he said.

As they held each other, she looked over his shoulder at Giancarlo’s flawless, cream-colored house. Sunlight streamed through the bay windows. She listened for the sound of the waves outside. It was stunning here. But it wasn’t her home.

---