Page 45 of Finally Loved

“Sitting in my car.”

“Great. You’re safe. Where are you in your car?”

“My apartment. I haven’t driven anywhere.”

“Okay. I’m coming. I’ll be like…” She trailed off and there was noise in the background of the call but Neve couldn’t place it. All she wanted was Alba’s comforting voice back.

“You don’t need to do that.”

“No. I’m coming. Just give me twenty minutes. Sorry, that’s ages, but I’m coming.”

“You don’t have to keep showing up when I’m crying, you know?” Neve said, attempting something humorous and valiant.

“What kind of knight in shining armor would I be then?” Alba asked, managing a lightly comedic tone better than Neve could.

“I’m sorry for messing up your evening.”

“You’re not. I’ll be there soon.”

Chapter 14

“We’ve gotta go,” Alba said, glancing at Zainab before looking back at their server. “Sorry. Can we also get a grilled veggie quesadilla with extra avocado salsa, and then get the whole order to go?”

He nodded before running off in the direction of the kitchen.

“Is Neve okay?” Zainab asked, clearly worried.

“No.”

“What happened?”

“Charlie, of course.” Alba shook her head, her gaze flicking towards the kitchen. She probably should have told Neve she’d be longer than twenty minutes, but twenty minutes already sounded like a long time when you were alone and hurting. “Neve tried to talk to her tonight about… Well, I don’t know all the details, but definitely about how she’s been acting about me.”

Zainab raised her eyebrows, something between knowing and accusing. “I’m guessing it didn’t go down well.”

“Doesn’t seem like it.”

“Do you want to tell me why she’s friends with Charlie?”

Alba blew out a breath. There were moments where she’d wondered the same thing. “Not sure of the details, but they’ve been friends a long time, they live together… Sounds like there’s a lot of history there.”

“But not enough history for her not to act like a dick about Neve’s friends?”

“Guess not.”

Zainab downed the rest of her water. “I don’t think this is a time for me telling you so, but I did warn you Charlie was picking up on something.”

“What, like me wanting to be friends with Neve?”

She rolled her eyes. “No, like you wanting to be something more than friends with Neve.”

Alba sighed. “Look, for… various reasons that is a non-issue. And, even if it were on the table, I don’t think that’s reason enough to leave your supposed best friend sobbing, all alone, in her car because she tried to talk to you about it.”

Zainab’s expression tightened. “Yeah, that’s fair.”

“You give me a hard time about it constantly, but not in a way that I feel attacked or controlled.”

“Is that how Neve’s been feeling?”

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