I rolled my eyes and considered calling security. Instead, I grabbed the half-empty bottle of Jack out of Holden’s fingers. He wasn’t a drinker. If he woke up and finished that fifth, there was a good chance he’d choke to death on his own vomit, or walk in front of a moving bus. Couldn’t have that on my conscience. “Sleep it off, you big lug,” I whispered, then turned around, headed back downstairs, and spent the night on my best friend’s couch.
“You actually joined that gym?” I grabbed the pink bakery box out of Lacey’s hand and closed the door behind her, inhaling the sinful chocolate aroma.
Mom butchered the lyrics to “Gooba” from the laundry room. I rolled my eyes. Lacey laughed.
She still wore her workout clothes, but somehow looked fresh as a daisy, hair piled on her head in a perfect messy knot, red lipstick, eyes bright. “Of course, I did.”
Lacey James. Hopeless romantic. Nobody deserved an epic love affair more than my bestie. At age ten, she lost her mother to a tragic train accident. Her father fell ill shortly after. Lacey, the most selfless person I’d ever met, had spent her late teens and all her college years taking care of her ailing father. Mr. James had done his best to raise Lacey right. He’d never remarried and spoke of his wife daily. The doctors had never been able to diagnose his illness, but as the years passed, he withdrew more and more until eventually he died of what I believed to be a broken heart.
“Good for you. Did you meet Blondie yet?”
She followed me into the kitchen. “No. But he’s there every day. I’ve caught him staring at me, and he’s smiled at me three times.”
“So, go talk to him.”
“I’ve tried.” She huffed, dropping her keys on the counter. “I just don’t know how to do this.” Lacey rarely dated. First her father, and now her job as an HR Assistant took most of her time.
“Just do you. You are the most compassionate, funny, gracious person I know. Be yourself, and you’ll be swatting men away like flies.”
“You should come with me. I’m always braver when you’re by my side.” She threw an arm around my shoulders, giving me a hip bump. “Come. Just once. There are hotties everywhere.”
“I’m on a hottie hiatus,” I reminded her, before kissing her cheek and ducking free of her hug. “But I do need to get back into the gym.”
I’d avoided my daily workouts for one reason and one reason only—Holden.
Two weeks had passed since our breakup. Twice he’d shown up at the bank, and I had pretended to be in a meeting. After day three, I’d blocked his number and changed the security code to my apartment building.
I considered accepting Lacey’s offer to join CFC, but Mr. Dark and Dangerous used that gym, and I wasn’t sure I would survive another encounter with his smolder.
Ugh. My body tingled in all the wrong places just thinking about that stranger.
No, I would not join CFC and further humiliate myself. And even if the guy was interested, my plate was full. I had a corporate ladder to climb. I was currently a junior associate, the best at crunching numbers, and had a sharp eye when it came to assessing risk management, but what I wanted and where I thrived was landing the clients, sealing the deals on corporate accounts. Not an easy feat considering I was a young female in the banking industry. Work was my priority.
Avoiding any commitment to the gym, I changed the subject. “You’re late.” I glanced at the clock. “You’re never late.”
Sunday dinner with my parents was a longstanding tradition. Lacey had only missed one dinner in four years, and only because she’d had a bad flu.
“Yeah. Sorry.” Her doe eyes widened. “You’ll never guess who I ran into.”
Mom came around the corner, carrying a bottle of wine, then stopped short when she spied Lacey. “Who’d you run into?” She pulled both of us into a hug. “Do tell.”
Dad called from the dining room, “Gossip after grace. I’m hungry.”
We joined Dad at the table. We prayed. Before my knife hit the steak, Mom said, “The suspense is killing me. Who’d you run into?”
“Victoria Ford,” Lacey blurted.
Dad cleared his throat. Mom choked on her merlot.
“Oh.” Last name I’d expected to hear. My gut twisted into painful knots. “I thought she moved across the country.” My fork suddenly weighed a thousand pounds, and I lowered it to my plate.
“Get this.” Lacy wiggled in her chair and leaned closer to me. “She’s engaged to some uber rich guy, an heir to some real estate or retail fortune or something like that. She couldn’t stop flashing her ring.”
The room darkened and my stomach sank, but I blinked my best friend back into focus. Victoria Ford. Beautiful, sociopathic bully. The girl who had tormented me for years. Grade school through graduation. Memories pelted my psyche, a cold chill prickling my skin. She could only continue to taunt if I gave her the power. I would not concede my power ever again.
“Well. Good for Victoria. Hope she gets all the happiness she deserves.” I studied my steak, the crust of caramelized spices, the juices dripping down the sides.
One deep breath. Release the negative energy in a slow exhale.
Time to steer the conversation elsewhere. “Tell Mom and Dad about your new love interest.”
Mom jumped all over the subject change. “Who? What? What? What? Did you have a date?”
Lacey gave Mom the lowdown on her gym crush. I chewed my sirloin with gusto. Dad eyed me warily but kept his mouth shut. Good man.
Lacey drove me home since I’d helped Mom polish off the second bottle of wine. At my door, she said, “Are you okay? I’m sorry I brought up She Who Shall Not Be Named.”
That made me laugh. “It’s okay. I just haven’t thought about Victoria for a long time.” I tried, and failed, to get
