Page 63 of Scandalous Secrets

I unlocked the door, which took a while with all of the locks I had installed, and eventually opened the door to reveal my best friend standing there with a box of pizza in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other.

“What are you doing here?” I asked as she pushed her way inside.

“I’m saving you from yourself,” she said, setting the pizza and wine on the white countertop.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, closing the door behind me.

“I haven’t seen you in weeks. You always have some sort of excuse, but I know it’s because you’re holing yourself up in here and drowning in your sadness over Mr. Billionaire.”

I rolled my eyes, even though she had read me like a book.

“Not true.”

“It is,” she said, pulling plates from my cabinets.

“At least start with the glasses.” I sighed as I reached for the bottle of wine and began uncorking it.

“That’s my girl.” She laughed.

I noticed she was in pajamas, too. Much nicer ones than my green and black plaid ones.

“You’re in pajamas…”

“Yes,” she said, as if it were an obvious choice to cross town in.

“How did you get here?” I asked.

“Armand, of course.”

“Are you planning on—”

“Sleeping over? Yes. We haven’t had a sleepover in years.”

“What about Bridgette?”

“She’s with Daniel. She’s become a real daddy’s girl lately. It’s kind of pissing me off.” She laughed as she poured a generous serving of wine into each glass.

“You didn’t have to do this.”

“I wanted to. That’s what best friends are for.” She clinked her glass against mine and took a sip.

We both served ourselves a few slices of pepperoni jalapeno pizza and took our plates and wine to the couch. Just having Heart here made me realize how lonely I had been the past few weeks without Troy, but I had done it to myself. I had shut myself off from the world, not wanting to drown anyone with my own unhappiness. But here was my best friend, here to wallow with me. I needed her.

“So, how is work?” she asked, taking a bite of pizza.

I pushed my pizza around on the plate as I thought about how best to answer without sounding so miserable. But the truth was, I had been miserable. It was hell on earth spending so much time with Troy and trying to forget that we were ever anything more than two people who worked together. It was like someone had flipped a switch, just like that, and now I was scrambling in the dark. I couldn’t catch my bearings. I couldn’t stop thinking about him, even though he was right in front of me. It was like I missed him more when I was next to him than I did when we were apart.

“It’s…fine,” I said.

Heart narrowed her gaze. “Come on, Monica. You can tell me. Get it all out there.”

I felt my eyes welling up with tears. Tears I had refused to let fall for at least a week now, after I had told myself to toughen up. But I wasn’t tough. I was a wreck. I felt the tears stream down my cheeks.

“Oh, honey.” Heart wrapped me in a tight hug.

“I feel like such a fool,” I said into her shoulder.

She pushed me back and looked at me sternly. “Youare not a fool. You followed your heart and you’re never at fault for that.”

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