Page 20

“To the best friend a love-drunk fool like me could have. Am I forgiven?” I plead.
“For missing the concert?” Eliana asks.
“I'm so sorry,” I whisper.
“Don't you worry, babe. You're free now. You have your life back and we're going to celebrate!”
We both drain our glasses dry before Eliana refills them.
“Did Bianca have fun at the concert?” I ask. But Eliana has turned the music on, and is blasting The Mayflies. We start dancing, moving around the room, jumping up and down.
She's recreating the concert I missed.
I love this girl so much.
We dance until we're sweating, refilling our glasses until the bottle is finished. Eliana pulls out a bottle of sparkling white wine from her handy stash in the fridge.
We dance and drink, and lose ourselves in the moment. For me, this is the best release from all the frustration that has become a part of my body. It’s bad, and that’s why I feel so free. I’m leaving all that unrequited lust and the simmering tensions behind. At least, I will in one month’s time.
I fall back onto the sofa and think about my future. Plans start to form in my mind. Things that were seeded during the awful times at the hospital with my mom.
Eliana plops down beside me, her energy buzzing in contrast to my stillness. She doesn’t know how far away I feel right now.
“Aunt Scarlett called,” she says, referring to her as if she’s her own aunt.
“Oh, shoot. She called me too, but I didn't realize until I got back in the office.”
My heart fills with warmth. Aunt Scarlett, my mom’s younger sister, with her cute little pixie cut hairstyle, her tattoos and carefree life, always checking in from an adventure somewhere around the world. She’s only a few years older than Jett. She’s had a bit of a checkered history when it comes to relationships, which is why she never settled down. But now she’s happy going around the world on her motorbike with her new young stud.
“That's why she called me. She was worried about you.”
“Is she okay?”
“She's fine. She was checking up on you.”
I love her so much. I love the women in my life. Aunt Scarlett, Eliana, Bianca.
“She says she might come by soon and wanted to know if you were here.”
I roll my eyes. “Where else am I going to be?”
“You can be anywhere you want to be, hon. The sky is your limit. The world is your oyster.” Eliana turns to me on the couch, tucking a leg under her. Holding her glass of sparkling wine. “Why so solemn, Car?” She picks up on something I can’t name. A feeling of sadness lingering in the edges of my heart. “I know you’ve got it bad for your boss, but it’s affecting you too much and your head hasn’t been in the right place for a while.”
I flinch. It’s true. My life has been stuck in limbo. First my mom, then Jett. Rory, my ex-boyfriend, doesn’t even figure into the equation. So much for being my longest relationship.
“I’m looking forward to the future.” The thought of my resignation letter on Jett’s desk where he will be sure to find it, has given me wings.
I just wish I could be a fly on the wall when he reads it.
Chapter 9
JETT
As far as dinners with Alicia go, this one was definitely the most unexpected. Instead of going home for some hot sex, we are no longer together.
Of course, this all happens right after my disaster of a dinner with her—the one where I was supposed to give her the earrings. The ones I had Cari pick up for me.
I don’t even know why I bought them. A desperate attempt to feel something, to pretend we were fine. Especially after my father told me about his batshit idea to marry the daughter of a Brazilian heiress for the sake of increasing our wealth.