Page 77 of Right With You
“Elise,” I tried again right as she stepped out into the cool spring evening.
Arms crossed and tucked close to her body, she shook her head. Without looking at me, she said, “I’m sorry. I can’t do this right now.”
Then a car pulled up and she got in without another word.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-SEVEN
Elise
Dove pulled up in front of my apartment ten minutes after I did. Thank goodness for the ride share being available or Luc probably would’ve convinced me to talk to him.
No idea what I would’ve said. I couldn’t even identify what I thought except that something delicate and tentatively brave had crumbled inside me when Luc’s grandfather revealed what Luc had done.
I swung the door open to find her sweet face wrinkled with worry, hair up in a ponytail and wearing… sweats. I rarely saw her in anything other than scrubs and her favored pretty dresses, the presence of something else stole my attention.
“What’s wrong? What did he do?” Dove asked, hands clasped together and nearly white-knuckling herself into submission so she wouldn’t reach for me until I raised my arms for a hug.
She launched into them, holding me tight. Even while I felt crushed, attacking me with her affection made me nearly glow with love for her.
When we pulled back, I still felt locked up. Like I couldn’t make sense of it.
“Elise, you’ve got to tell me. Do I need to call the police? Did he hurt you? Should I call Nikki and have her get Bruce? What?”
“He didn’t touch me. You don’t need to call anyone.” My face crumpled right along with my heart. “But he lied to me.”
The sob that came out was filled with so much grief, it should’ve been ridiculous. Could I even explain why I felt so upset?
But Dove didn’t demand that. She held me close and let me sob into her sweatshirt. She petted the back of my head and practically cradled me until I came up for air, my face undoubtedly a blotchy mess of sadness.
“You go get out of this beautiful dress and take a minute, and then we’ll talk.” Her bright blue eyes were wet and she made no attempt to hide she’d been crying sympathy tears. My sweet, tender-hearted friend was just precious.
“Thank you.”
A few minutes later, I returned to find her nestled into a spot on my tiny couch with a mug of tea steaming in her hand, and one for me sitting on the coffee table. She had a sleeve of cookies and a bag of popcorn, too.
“Where did you find snacks?” I had no memory of bringing them, and since I hadn’t been home in days, I didn’t think I had much in the cabinets anyway.
“I brought them. Emergencies always require snacks.” She picked up the mug. “Take your tea and start talking. Or… you know, sit in silence, too. We can do whatever you want.”
I suspected that if I sat here in silence, she’d internally combust. She was a verbal processor, and she loved so deeply, this whole situation would be ripping her heart out. That was part of why I’d reached for her—because she wouldn’t let me spiral into an awful state and let my mind take over with my worst fears.
And a big part of me desperately wanted her to talk me out of feeling so hurt.
I needed her to tell me this wasn’t real. Because hearing Gérard Devereaux tell me the truth, when a man I’d felt safe with—someone I’d trusted more and more—had so blatantly chosen not to be honest, signaled the end of a fantasy.
And silly me, I hadn’t realized it was one I’d been spinning since that first day he talked to me about something more than donuts.
With a long sigh as I cupped the mug of tea in my hands and absorbed its warmth, I started talking. “My ex invested in the business. It was about forty-five percent. I had a small business loan, but a few things happened in the beginning and the store needed repairs I hadn’t budgeted for. In the end, Callum gave me the money as an investment.”
Dove’s eyes were big, but she nodded. I almost wished she’d interrupt, but she didn’t give me the excuse to clam up again.
“About six months ago, Callum started talking about wanting his money back. I told him we could work out a payment plan but that I wasn’t sure I could get him the full amount within the year.” I closed my eyes against the onslaught of self-recrimination coming. “I hate that I ever took money from him and believed he’d be reasonable about it. I hate even more that I didn’t have paperwork in place to define repayment or what any of this would look like past him just giving me the money and making it seem like…” I shook my head.
“Hey. None of that. I’m fully aware that guy was a jerk and you still have to grapple with how some of it happened. But you’re not going to sink into that right now. You made the best decision you could at the time, and I have no doubt you’ve attempted to deal with it as best you could considering the human garbage on the other end of the deal.”
Dove’s fierce words unearthed a watery chuckle from me. “Thank you.”
She sipped her tea, waiting a moment before she said, “So how does this connect with Luc?”
