Page 87 of The Crush Next Door

She swallowed down her food hastily. "Okay. So here's the thing. Please don't take this the wrong way."

"Okay?"

"But I don't think you and Devon were ever right for each other."

"What? Really?" Honestly, that kind of hurt. Yeah, obviously, now I knew we weren't right for each other. But before?

"Yeah. I don't think you were truly yourself with him."

Okay, well, that shocked me. "For real?"

She nodded her head slowly. "Yep. I think you loved the idea of him, of being with him. He's super handsome, super successful, and a nice guy. Well, mostly. Not the screwing the wedding planner part. And definitely not the correcting your grammar thing."

Oh, I'd forgotten about that whole grammar thing when we'd first started dating, correcting my adverbs, adding the -ly to them so I would speak correctly. Shit. Maybe she had a point there.

But we had truly loved each other. Or so I thought.

She squeezed some ketchup onto her plate before continuing. "But I think the thing you liked most was his success, his career drive. Maybe some kind of subconscious thing because of your mom, attaching yourself to someone like that."

"Oh, my God. Do you think I'm turning into my mom?" I asked.

She laughed quietly. "No. Not at all. You're not the least bit judgy. I more mean that's why you were attracted to him, why you overlooked some things. Plus, I think you've been really down on yourself about your dad, maybe had some self-worth issues that you didn't use to have before."

"Wow, that's a lot to think about." I stared at her. "And you thought this the whole time we were together?"

Anaya gave me a sheepish nod, then grimaced. "Yeah?" she said in a low voice.

"So why didn't you ever say anything?"

A loud sigh escaped her lips. "Because... because that can backfire big-time. Don't you remember Brian Luge from freshman year of high school?"

"Oh, yeah."

I smiled, remembering how Anaya had warned me that the hot junior was just trying to get in my pants when he suddenly asked me out on a date. But I hadn't listened to her, instead getting mad at her. And sure enough, Anaya had been right. That's all he'd wanted.

"Okay, wise one," I teased her. "There's something else I haven't told you about last night."

Her eyes went wide. "There's more?"

Maybe it wasn't the smartest thing to tell her what went down with Josh, but I really needed some advice. And I needed someone to tell me I wasn't crazy.

So then I spilled all about Josh, even telling her about the kiss and how he had stopped things from going further. And as I spoke, her eyes grew larger and larger once again, and I knew I was truly shocking her.

"Well? Do you think I'm totally crazy now?" I asked when I had finished.

Staring off into the distance, she thought for a moment while I inhaled the rest of my fries before she could get to them.

"No. Of course, I don't think you're crazy."

"Geez. You had to think about that for a minute, didn't you?"

She laughed. "Not about the crazy part, you goof. Just what to say about the Josh part."

"Well, clearly, you have an opinion. So just tell me. Why are you being all Miss Think About What You're Going To Say Before You Say It?"

Her cheeks flushed pink before she said softly, "Andre."

I nearly spit out my ice water. "What does Dr. Hot have to do with it?" I just couldn't call him Andre. After all, he was still my boss and things were hella awkward between us since he'd started boinking my best friend. I desperately needed to quit my job. But I couldn't... yet.

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