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“Wear this color.”
“Can you be normal for a bit?”
It was alwaysme.
“Reed proposed,” I muttered. “It was a surprise.”
“And I’m guessing you said no?”
“I didn’t say anything. I ran.”
“Bold answer.”
“And here I am in the ugliest dress I’ve ever seen, and now I’m single on the weekend before Christmas. Do you know how sad this is?”
“It’s pretty sad. Especially the dress. You look like you got the life sucked out of you.”
“Thanks for your comfort, Nick.” I shook my head. My eyes were watering. Old me would have either gone back up there to give him a piece of my mind or found a nearby bar to wash away my sorrows in.
“Do you want to stay with me?” he asked. “My guest room is open.”
“Yes,” I breathed out. “Thank you for coming to get me.”
“I’ll always take care of you,” he said. “Especially when you finally break up with your boyfriend.”
“Finally? You wanted this to happen?”
He shrugged. “He was weird at the holiday party last year, and you seemed so ... quiet. It’s not like you.”
I let out a long sigh and added Nick to the people who saw that Reed was wrong for me before I had truly accepted it. Winnie had been the first to raise the red flag after the guffaw incident. Our grandmother, who we lovingly called Amma, never bothered to remember his name in the first place.
“I should have dumped him sooner.”
“Sometimes it takes us all a while to see reason. You’ll find someone better.”
“Will I? It feels like I’ve only had duds ever since high school.”
Nick rubbed the back of his neck. “There’s definitely at least one man who can handle you.”
“Is that supposed to be comforting?”
“I’m trying,” he said. “But I feel a little weird giving my sister advice on guys.”
“I don’t need advice,” I grumbled. “I think I’m done with them for a bit.”
“You are?”
“Yes,” I said, standing. “Now, can we get out of here? I’m freezing.”
“Get in the car and wait,” he instructed. “I’ll need your keys.”
“I didn’t grab them on my way out.” I paused. “Wait, why do you need them? You’re not about to go up there and yell at Reed, are you?”
“You need a bag, don’t you?”
My cheeks heated, the only warmth I could find in this cold weather. “You can go up there. The door shouldn’t be locked. But be careful. The Wicked Witch of the West is in there.”
“I’ll survive.”