Page 94 of Just Friends Forever
“It will, Mom. Because I’ll always love her.” He starts to roll down the window.
“What are you doing, Troy? I don’t think—”
“I LOVE YOU, STEVIE JACOBS!” he yells, sticking his head out of the window. He draws it back in and immediately starts to whimper. “That hurt.”
“I bet it did,” she replies.
He cradles his jaw with a hand. “It hurt a lot. But not as much as I love Stevie,” he says through sloppy tears. “I don’t think she heard me.” He presses the window button, and it starts to roll up. He jabs a button with a finger, then another button, then the lock button.
“A little help here?” Mrs. Sheppard says, turning toward Austin and catching sight of the camera. “Oh, for heaven’s sake. Have a little compassion, Austin. And roll up his window so I can lock it. I think he’s starting to bleed again.”
The video cuts off.
I stare at the phone, not sure whether to laugh or cry.
“Troy’s on board the Stevie Train, Stevie,” Austin says, taking the phone from me gently. “He didn’t hop off when you—very accurately, I might add—thought I was the bee’s knees. He didn’t hop off when you rejected him. He didn’t hop off when you got married.” He lets that sink in. “Look, I don’t know your ex-husband, but from what you’ve said, he’s a lazy idiot. Troy’s neither of those things. If anyone has proven they’re in it for the long haul and that they’ll do whatever is necessary to make things work, it’s him. He’s not hopping off this train. Ever. Okay?”
I wipe my eyes. When did I start crying?
Austin stands up and lets out a big sigh. “Man, being the wise one is hard work. You going to be okay?”
I smile and nod. “Yeah. Thank you for showing me that video.”
“At risk to life and limb,” he says. “For years, I’ve thought it was a shame you’ve never heard yourself compared to buttered toast or graham crackers.”
I laugh through my tears. “I think I get why your mom didn’t want me to come over that day.”
Austin raises his brows significantly. “Uh, yeah. The Stevie confessions continued until his precious nap.”
I pull my lips in, trying to suppress a smile. “Would you send that video to me?”
He blows a breath through his lips. “In for a penny, in for a pound, I guess. But don’t forget about my ashes, okay?”
“I won’t,” I say as my phone rings. I hurry to pick it up, hoping to see one name and one name only.
My brows pull together at the sight of Rocco’s contact icon.
“I’ll see you later,” Austin says with a quick wave.
“Thank you again, Austin.” Once the door closes behind him, I answer the call. “Hello?”
“Stephanie,” Rocco says. “Your friend left me hanging.”
I don’t respond right away because I have no idea what’s going on or what he’s talking about. “Um, I’m sorry, but what?”
“I needed to see a brand-new house here in Malibu—potential for an amazing, off-market deal—and he left me hanging.”
He’s upset. There’s no doubt about that. But I’m still not entirely sure what happened—or why he’s callingme. “Did this just happen?”
“Yep. Earlier today.”
“And he just didn’t show?” It doesn’t sound at all like Troy.
“He told me he would come—and then called me back five minutes later and said he couldn’t make it because he had to be at a showing for another client. In Huntington Park. Obviously, I had to fire him.”
Evelyn. Troy had to go to the showing for Evelyn. Rocco made him choose between them.
“Just wanted you to know so you don’t recommend your friend to anyone else—at least not if they’re looking for professionalism.”
