Page 71 of Legal Desire
“Eat,” Bette urged her as she gestured at Allison’s nearly full plate. “You’re too skinny.”
“What are you? Her mother?” Muriel teased her friend.
Allison wished. Of course, it wasn’t possible since Bette was younger than she was. And nicer...
So much nicer than Allison’s mother had ever been. “I wasn’t asking why you brought lunch,” she told them. “I was asking why you’re here. Why you both brought me your business? Why you care?”
“We’re your friends,” Muriel said as if that answered everything.
“But why?” Allison persisted. “I haven’t done anything to earn your friendship. Hell, I’ve done just the opposite.”
“You were just doing your job.” Muriel reminded Allison of what she’d told her when the supermodel had confronted her months ago.
“I was a bitch,” Allison said.
Muriel bumped her shoulder against Bette’s. “Some of my best friends are bitches.”
“Hey!” Bette protested.
“Honest, loyal bitches,” Muriel said with a smile as if she was delivering high praise. And it actually was. “That’s how you’ve handled yourself with this whole mess. You didn’t make it but you cleaned it up with class and integrity.”
Allison expelled a shaky breath. She hadn’t been certain that she had. She’d tried. But until now she hadn’t had confirmation of her success. Now she knew—and these new friends were the proof—that she was becoming the person she wanted to be.
Nothing like her mother...
“Thank you,” she said, and her voice cracked with emotion. Ordinarily, that would have bothered her, that she’d betrayed any emotion. But she wasn’t pretending to be the ice queen anymore. She didn’t want anyone to think she was cold and unapproachable anymore.
Not even Trevor.
But apparently, she had convinced him too well. She’d been so emotionally raw from Edward’s betrayal, from her mother’s and from what she had considered Trevor’s betrayal that she had refused to take his calls and had blocked his every attempt to contact her.
But then he’d stopped trying.
And instead of being relieved that he was leaving her alone, she’d been devastated. If he’d really cared about her, he wouldn’t have let her go so easily.
But he had...
So it was good that they were over; they’d never had anything real but sex.
How she missed the sex...
She pushed her plate toward Muriel. “You finish it.”
“I’ve tried that,” Bette said. “Giving her my food to fatten her up. But it doesn’t matter what she eats. She never gets any bigger.”
Muriel laughed and cursed her best friend. But she shoved the food into her mouth.
“You should be eating that,” Bette said with concern. “I worry about you.”
Allison’s heart shifted and warmed in her chest. Nobody had ever worried about her.
But Trevor had that night he’d been so upset that she’d gotten rained on. He’d also been so concerned that someone was trying to hurt her.
But he’d hurt her far more than her mother and Edward had. But she was strong. She was resilient. And thanks to these women, she was feeling better.
“Thank you,” she told them.
“It’s just lunch,” Muriel said.
