Page 28 of Just Friends Forever
“I’m sorry if Lyla’s been a little… much. She’s just excited to meet you. She doesn’t usually talk this much. I think she’s nervous.”
“She’s great, Troy. I’m glad I’ve been able to spend some time with her.” She nudges me with her elbow. “Things couldn’t move forward without my official stamp of approval.”
I wrinkle my brow, pretending to have an epiphany. “Sothat’swhy none of my other relationships have worked out. It all makes sense now.”
If you ask my sisters, Siena and Tori, the reason none of my other relationships worked outisStevie. According to them, I never got over her enough to give anyone else a real chance. They’re wrong. Stevie got married. You couldn’t possibly ask for better closure than that. It’s locking the door and throwing away the key.
She’s not married anymore, says Tori’s sing-song voice in my head.
I clench my jaw. I can’t think like that—for so many reasons.
“I should get back to Lyla,” I say.
“Yeah.” Stevie punches me halfheartedly in the arm. “Go get ’em, tiger.”
9
TROY
Stevie’s phonehas been buzzing all day. Whenever it does, she meets my eye, and I give her a stern but teasing look. The only time she’s answered so far is for her lawyer. When she gets off the phone with him, she looks… tired. She’s holding it together really well, but I’m sure it’s not as easy as she makes it look.
She may think she’s become cynical, but she’s wrong. She’s still got that kind light in her eyes—the one I know will see her through this.
Lyla’s been a chatterbox. I’m equal parts impressed and exhausted by it. This is the most time we’ve spent together in one go, and I’m thinking this wasn’t the right day to do it.
Stevie’s getting a glazed look in her eyes. She probably needs a nap. Or some time by herself.
I shoot her a text.
Troy
Need some alone time? A nap, maybe?
Her phone buzzes, and she shoots a passing glance at it like she’s done three-dozen times in the past couple hours. She does a double-take, and her eyes flit to me.
Stevie
Is that your way of asking me to give you two some alone time? *wink emoji*
It’s really not.
Stevie
In that case, I could really use a nap *sleep emoji*
I’m the one who suggested it, but somehow I’m disappointed. I should want alone time with Lyla, but it’s Stevie I want to be with. That’s normal after spending years apart, though.
I glance at Lyla and smile when I find her looking at me. It has nothing to do with her. It would be silly to expect our three weeks of dinner-and-a-movie dates to measure up to a friendship decades in the making.
“Want to go grab some dinner?” I ask Lyla.
“Sure,” she says. “I can drive. Just need to clean out my back seat.”
I clamp my mouth shut and glance at Stevie. I can’t really be the one to say she’s not coming without betraying that we were texting.
“Oh, that’s so nice of you,” she says to Lyla, “but I think I’ll stick around here. Catch up on my laundry. Give you two some time without a third wheel.” She winks.
Suddenly, I’m feeling extra hesitant about leaving Stevie alone. Will she be glued to her phone, reading all the stupid headlines about her love affair with a monkey?
