Page 24

“So, as I just said, Alden came by this morning. He told me he made a mistake and how he misses me, et cetera.”

“I see,” I reply in a low voice, already not liking where this is going. The guy sounds like a wishy-washy fool, and I hate that he’s trying to reinsert himself into her life.

“He said he thinks he loves me.”

I pivot to catch her expression as she says that. “Hethinks?”

“Right?!” She notes my incredulous tone and runs with it, panning her hand toward me. “Thank you.”

I laugh. “Was that your question?”

“No. Yes! Argh. I don’t know. I’m a bit of a hot mess.”

“Do you want to get back together with him?” Somehow, I find myself holding my breath, though for the life of me I can’t gather why. It shouldn’t matter to me who Keegan dates or doesn’t. Who she loves or doesn’t. I don’t want her that way. She’s a friend and nothing more.

“I don’t want to want to. If he didn’t love me back, fine, that happens, but he could have said,I just need more timeorbear with me. Instead, it was likeI’ll never love you and won’t try to. With that, he pulled back and wanted it to be like we were causally seeing each other, which to me you do with guys you just met and hardly know. He hurt me pretty badly, and now he’s saying he regrets it and wants a second chance. But… I’m not sure how much I can believe that. I told the guy I loved him, and a week later, after he had plenty of time to think it through, he ran. Story of my life there. I fall fast and hard, and they… don’t.”

I go to question that when she presses on.

“Anyway, I was thinking about getting away for a while. Away from work and away from men named Alden, so I’m not temptedto get back together with him. Maybe somewhere warm and sunny. My mom told me this morning that my uncle Kaplan has a house near or on Key West. Or maybe it’s on an island?” she questions as she tilts her head and thinks it through. “I don’t remember. Whatever. I was thinking of asking him if I could use it for a week or two.”

“That sounds like heaven.”

She throws me a coy smirk. “You wanna come?”

I blink at her. “I can’t tell if you’re serious or not.”

She blinks back at me. “I don’t know if I was either. I guess I expected you to laugh or say no or that you can’t because you’ve got a kid and have to deal with the public or any excuse not to be forced to spend a week with me.”

“Wow, way to be honest there. And why wouldn’t I want to spend a week with you?”

She gives a self-deprecating shrug. “Sorry.” Her head bobs the other way. “Wait, were you honestly thinking about it?”

Was I? I don’t know. It sounds amazing, and I love spending time with Keegan, as does Fen. But I already think about her too much, and being away with her, somewhere warm where she’ll inevitably wear a swimming costume, and we’ll spend so much time together alone…

“No. It’s probably not a good idea?” And yes, it comes out as a question.

“Probably not,” she agrees. “I shouldn’t have offered. Sorry. It’s just that going somewhere alone sounds daunting. I’ve never been alone. Not ever. I’m a twin, for Christ’s sake. I’ve never challenged myself like that. But maybe that’s a good thing for me to do.”

“You’re likely right with that. And sort of like my marriage proposal, it’s a ridiculous idea if Fen and I join you. Who wants a tiny toddler running around them when they’re trying to find their mental clarity?”

Only now, I’m starting to wish she had been serious. It’d be nice to get out of Boston for a bit and hide out somewhere easier. It’d be nice for Fen to be outside more, and if I wasn’t in Boston, I could tell the studio and my attorney and go from there. It’d give me space to work it all out with them without having them breathe down my neck and battle the fear that comes with that.

She stares at me and stares at me and stares at me. To the point where I grow a bit edgy because I can’t quite read her, which is a first for me with this woman.

“I’m getting over a bad breakup while actively trying not to get back with the guy who just broke my heart.”

“Yes,” I say slowly, unsure where she’s going with this.

“You’re trying to gently announce to the world that you have a son.”

“Right.”

She licks her lips and inches a bit closer to me, and I find myself staring at her lips. Her cherry-red lips that match the way she smells.

“So it was a bad idea?”

I lick my lips in return as I study her, tucking a piece of hair that’s come loose from her braid behind her tiny ears studded with large diamonds, and I feel her body shudder ever so slightly at my touch. It happened the other day too, and much like then, my heart oddly hammers out a quick-stepped tune, and my head dips ever so slightly toward her as if I’m magnetized.