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“You’ve been texting with her for two days and bought her so many presents it’s going to put whatever her dad gets her for Christmas to shame.”

“She and Bron like to dress alike and share clothes.”

The store clerk returns, and I pay for the purchases.

As we walk in silence down the cobble path, we stop at other stores. I pick up sweatshirts for CJ, Justin, and Felix. I even find the cutest dress for Avelyn.

We send a messenger to drop off our bags to the house and continue the walk, heading for a night festival at the beach.

We get a table at a seaside bar.

“You know I’m a straight talker, right?”

I chuckle and look at her. “I do know that about you.”

“I wasn’t trying to make you uncomfortable, but you are buying lots of presents for Ayla.”

“And Bron. They’re stylish girls. Ayla looks like a model, and I just love her. I want to stay in her life.”

She nods, her eyes so warm I have to look away from her. She’s pitying me.

She touches my hand. “There’s nothing wrong with that. I just wonder if you can really do that and get over him.”

My eyes fill so fast. All day today, Oliver has been in my head. I keep imagining him across from me instead of Maeven. I can’t seem to zap him out of my mind. The best way is to concentrate on making the moment memorable for Instagram, or thinking of how I can replace the decor at home so I don’t think about him when I see everything. I keep thinking about him and Ayla, and I keep including Bron in everything I get for her to justify it.

I dab at the corners of my eyes. “It’s too recent. I’ll get over it.”

“You don’t have to, you know? He wants to get back together.”

I blink away the tears. “He didn’t trust me. He dumped me like I didn’t matter.”

She sips her wine. “He handled it wrong. You did something that, at the time, he considered unforgivable.”

The memory of that day hits me hard. My stomach turns. “I did, but he didn’t really give me the chance to explain or atone.”

“It’s better that he broke up with you and not continue and have it become toxic. You know how destructive a toxic relationship is. I’m not on his side. I just want you to consider everything.” Her empathy is so vibrant.

“I know. He’s a great guy who hurt me as much as the asshole I used to date before him. For different reasons, I know, but I’m back at the place where I have no peace. Where I see him in every corner of my house because he had a hand in everything there. I miss him like I’ve had him all my life when it was only a few months.”

“I think that’s what love is. You get used to someone so fast and can’t remember a time when you didn’t have him.”

I stare at her. “Have you loved someone like that?”

She shakes her head. “It was a conversation I had with one of my best friends. He met someone for whom he risked everything, and when that person betrayed him, his world began to fall apart.”

“Oh. That’s awful. Where is he now?”

The way her eyes well and she looks out to the sea tells me everything I need to know. Her friend is gone.

“Do you want to talk about him?”

She blinks the tears away and shakes her head. She takes a sip of her wine. “Someday. Not today. We’re talking about you and your love.”

The word sends a flash of cold through me.

“I don’t ever want to be that vulnerable again.”

“You love him, and that already makes you vulnerable.” Her words are soft, almost a whisper. It reminds me of the way I would talk to the horse when I took riding lessons.