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Reese takes a step back, then another, until she’s sitting on the edge of her desk. “I never knew you wanted a family, Eli.”

“It’s all Ieverwanted,” I say, my voice cracking. “I did everything to try to make it happen, and it wasn’t enough. So there we are. Now you know.”

She pinches her lips together, her eyes on me. I’m not sure if it’s pity in her expression or something else, but it doesn’t matter. The truth is out there now and it’s pathetic as hell.

“I’ll tell them, okay? I’ll go to dinner tonight and I’ll tell them myse—”

“No.”

My stomach flips. I’m not sure I heard her right. “What?”

“No. You won’t. I’ll go with you.”

I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “Why would you do that?” I can’t help being slightly incredulous. “After everything I’ve done—”

She holds a hand up. “Don’t. I covered for you out there because I didn’t like the way she was talking to you. And I’m agreeing to pretend we’re together now because…” She rubs her arms, looking up at the ceiling. “Because they’re only here filming for six weeks. And after the show, I’ll be handing in my notice.”

My stomach drops at the sudden whiplash of emotions. She said yes. She’s actually going to do this. But that seems less important than the other bomb she just dropped.

“You’re leaving?”

She nods. “Yup.” She won’t meet my eyes. She adjusts the little potted cactus on her desk. “I need to see what else is out there for me. Even if it’s not…” She trails off. Then she looks at me, her gaze almost like a challenge. “Anyway. That doesn’t matter right now. Do you want my help or not?”

It’s me, I realize then. I know working in restaurants was never really what she wanted. I remember that from when we didn’t hate each other. But maybe it would be different if it wasn’t my place.

But she’s still offering to help me. And she could pull back that offer at any time.

“Yes,” I say quickly, once I come to my senses. “Yes, Reese. Thank you.”

We’re really going to do this. For the first time, my heart actually lifts.

“But Reese, it can’t be one-sided. What can I do for you?”

“Nothing.”

“No. That’s not fair.”

She laughs, but there’s no humor in it. “I don’t know, Eli. Make my dreams come true.”

She’s being facetious, I know. But I’m going to take her perfectly seriously.

CHAPTER4

Reese

TRACK:Joni Mitchell, “Both Sides Now”

“Remind me again what I was thinking?”

Nora stands behind me in the mirror in the tiny bedroom of my tiny apartment, pulling the elastic out of my hair. She’s at my place helping me get ready for this double date I’m panicking over. Rufus has settled in my lap, sensing my nerves as always.

“You were being kind.”

Normally I find Nora’s soft, quiet voice calming, an antidote to the shouts and clatter of my work. But right now I want her to shout at me what a terrible idea this is. To stop me from not only going out with the man who broke my heart, but pretend he never did.

I lean back in my chair, stroking Rufus’s ear before giving up and gripping the armrest. “No, I think I lost my mind!”

Nora smiles, but there’s something suspicious about it. “It’s not like you’re getting back together with him.” She tucks her long, straight red hair behind her ears and pushes her glasses up her nose. “You seem all there to me.”