Page 67 of Falling Madly
Her gaze pierced me, and I stopped breathing altogether. I wasn’t trying to keep secrets between us. I didn’t even believe there were any. But saying it out loud felt like an invisible barrier I didn’t know how to cross. What if I made things worse again?
“Pretending?” Bess shot an alarmed look at Teresa, who straightened her spine.
“You both know we slept together,” she said, pausing for a moment until they nodded. “And you know it’s complicated and we don’t know what we are to each other.”
My chest squeezed, but I couldn’t dispute her words.
“We’ll figure it out,” she continued. “And it won’t affect us working together, I promise.”
“No, it won’t,” I echoed.
I wouldn’t let it. I would never again be the reason her career went sideways. I’d sacrifice mine a hundred times over before I let that happen.
We stood still, eyeing each other. The silence felt loud. Finally, Charlie threw his arm around me and grinned at Teresa.“If you want to get with my man, you’re gonna need to do better than that. He’s the best thing to ever come out of Scotland.”
I swallowed hard but plastered on a smile. “Better than whiskey.”
“Or Braveheart,” Charlie chorused. “I’d trust him with my life. This guy always comes through. You don’t even know what he’s done for?—”
“Okay. No more beer for you!” I cut him off, sensing this would not play out well.
I gave Teresa an apologetic smile, but to my surprise, she looked close to tears.
“I know,” she said, meeting Charlie’s eyes. “I know.”
Seemingly satisfied with her response, Charlie let me go and turned his attention to our cardboard car. I noticed Bess giving him a concerned glance, but she held her tongue.
We covered the spare room floor with a tarp and got to work painting our funky cardboard car. After a few minutes, Bess looked like she was about to either throw up or fall asleep, so we sent her back into the living room.
“Are you okay here if I go with her?” Charlie asked, casting a worried look over his shoulder. “I have a feeling she’s not happy with me… for whatever reason, and I need to make amends.”
“Go!” Teresa urged, closing the door behind him.
The spare room felt like an ice box, with two windows creating a cross breeze, and odd snowflakes floating inside, melting against the floor. We painted quickly, dressed in our winter coats, fingers stiff from the cold.
“I’m dreaming of that bathtub of yours,” Teresa confessed as she set down her paintbrush to blow into her hands. “I could spend the night there if we’re divvying up rooms.”
“In a hot bath that cools down within twenty minutes or an empty tub?” I teased.
“In a hot bath that stays hot because… right now, in my imagination, there’s no room for that kind of negativity.”
“Okay. Just keep in mind that it’s right next to the newlyweds. Apparently, pregnancy makes you extra horny.”
She gave me a warning look. “Dude!”
“What? It’s true. Charlie said?—”
“Stop it!” she hissed, threatening me with a dirty paintbrush.
I wasn’t going to say anything, but winding up Teresa was now my favorite thing. I loved seeing her relax and look at me a little differently. Like I was her disgusting friend, not just the poor sod desperately in love with her. Both could be true, after all.
“Sometimes, I look at them and I can’t believe Charlie is married,” I said.
“And about to become a dad,” Teresa added, matching my bewildered tone. “He never seemed the type.”
“But they’re so…”
“Perfect together?” she finished, now looking at me straight in the eye.
