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“Maisy came back for him,” I whisper.

“Maisy what?” Courtney asks, her eyes huge.

“She came back.”

Avery looks from Courtney to me and back again. “Maybe it’s best to walk us through what happened.”

My stomach knots in dread. This is when they pick Tommy over me. Their history is too strong to balance out a friendship with me if we’re not dating.

I think of their arms holding me. About our plans to go to Courtney’s tattoo consultation coming up and Avery putting in a batch of my favorite cookies when I show up unexpectedly.

Give them a chance.

So, I walk them through what I saw. Both looking confused and ready to interject, likely on Tommy’s behalf which I understand, until I tell them he held her hand.

“He did what now?” Courtney asks.

“She took his hand and they went to the back door.” My voice sounds small, even to myself.

“And she was wearing his Stetson? And you're sure it was him?” Avery asks as if she’s trying to find an explanation to rationalize this whole situation in a way that makes sense.

“If it wasn’t him, then it was someone wearing the same outfit as him with his haircut, too. I mean, I wasn’t close, but his hat wasn’t on his head and she had a white one on that looked just like his.”

“It was definitely Maisy since you mentioned her purse,” Courtney mumbles. “What the fuck was he thinking?”

“It doesn’t add up,” Avery says. “He’s been over her for a long time.”

“And he’s crazy about you,” Courtney points out, looking at me.

I’m sure I look pathetic right now. “I thought so, too. But we were wrong.”

Tears well up in my eyes and I don’t try to hold them back. Courtney rubs my back and Avery holds one hand while keeping me stocked with fresh tissues and leaving only to get the cookies from the oven and bringing them down piping hot.

I cry for my naiveness.

I cry for everything I felt for him.

I cry for the future I saw with him.

Through all my sobbing and sniffling, Courtney and Avery stay with me.

And when my tears have dried up, we paint our nails, prep our face mask scrubs, and instead of watching a chick flick or a rom-com, we settle on an action/adventure movie with dinosaurs and no romance.

“Oh my goodness these are incredible, Avery,” I say around a mouthful of peanut butter cookie.

“Thank you. With Jackson around, I make huge batches now, especially my chocolate ones, but I love making peanut butter dough. I’ll whip up a mega batch so you can freeze the dough and bake fresh ones whenever you have a craving.”

Thankfully, the lights are low, so the little wince I made at the mention of Tommy’s oldest brother was hidden. “That sounds perfect, thank you.”

“What happens if you add chocolate chunks to the peanut butter cookies?” Courtney asks from the other side of me.

“You’d have chocolate chunk peanut butter cookies?” Avery replies as if she’s trying to figure out if Courtney was setting her up for a joke.

“Excellent. I request those for our next girls’ night.” Courtney puts her hand on my leg, giving me a soft smile.

My heart warms at the thought of more nights like this.

“Deal,” Avery says, doing the same.