Page 75 of The Billionaire's Second Chance
“I had totally forgotten about that!” she raised her hands in mock surrender.
“Pinocchio… Anyway, Avery isn’t the problem. I think I am.”
She giggled. “Explain.”
“How does it make sense that I’m madly in love with the man who breaks my heart at every turn? Or at least, I feel like he does.”
“Kevin?”
“Yes. Who else, if not him? Isn’t that considered toxic? Why can’t I seem to move on from him? I don’t want to break Avery’s heart. He’s too good to go through that.”
“A heart in love can be blind and deaf to reason. I know that feeling. I can’t tell you what to do because it wouldn’t make sense. You know what you feel, and it’s very valid, but think it over thoroughly.”
“How could I be running toward someone I should stay away from? It baffles me. It defies all logic.”
“So, what are you going to do about Avery now?” Joey always liked to explore all aspects of a situation, no matter how uncomfortable it was.
I took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “I feel compelled to call it quits with him before it gets too difficult to do so. He has been nothing but sweet, supportive, and patient all this while, but I can’t punish him by staying with him when my heart beats and longs for another.”
“Are you sure?”
“I can’t trust my judgment, but I will stick to my so-called clairvoyance.”
“Anyway, I’ll support whatever you decide.”
I smiled sadly. “As if you had a choice in the matter. How’s Enzo, though? It’s been a while since I saw him.”
“He’s good, and things are going really well between us, except for the minor bickering over preferences. You wouldn’t believe what Lorenzo thinks of mac and cheese! My God, we literally argued about the authenticity of pasta and how we’re abusing it.”
“I can picture how red you were with fury.”
“He blew my mind with how seriously he took the whole thing, even going as far as rambling in Italian.”
Just when I thought I had the craziest relationship…
“Lucky you. At least he didn’t spring a surprise child on you.”
“That’s a whole different level altogether, but I don’t think I would mind, though.”
“How about we drop by his café? I suddenly crave those amazing cupcakes.” The real intent was to tease the couple, not for the cupcakes, per se.
“I’d rather take a rain check on that. I just need to crash at your place. My feet really hurt from walking through all those stores.”
“You can do that later.” I wasn’t going to let her trick me.
Before Joey could protest further, I was already veering onto the other side of the road. Our day was far from over, and more so,I couldn’t pass up this rare opportunity to tease Lorenzo about mac and cheese.
***
I felt a wave of uncertainty as I pressed Avery’s doorbell, quietly counting down in my head. When I blurted out over the intercom that we needed to talk, I thought I had everything figured out, but it was proving much harder than I’d imagined.
Avery finally opened the door after forty-five seconds—yes, I’d been counting to distract myself. He wasn’t smiling like he usually did, but he wasn’t giving away any emotion either. It was hard to read what he was feeling.
“Come in,” he said, his tone neutral.
I considered suggesting we sit at the small shelter beside the main building to keep things more casual, but I didn’t want to make things even more awkward, so I followed him inside.
“Avery…” I began slowly, feeling the weight of the painful conversation ahead.
