I smile with genuine joy. “She’s doing great. She’s keeping active, walking every day. I haven’t told you yet, but she and Katie talked me into getting a dog a couple of days ago.”
“What?” Eve gapes. “Oh, let me guess. Something adorable, right? A cute little lap warmer that you can carry in your purse?”
I laugh and shake my head. “Actually, that’s what they both wanted, but when we got to the shelter we all fell in love with a sweet pit bull mix named Sadie who’d been surrendered when her owner passed away. She’s a bit big and rambunctious for our small house, but we’re making it work. Between the daily walks to the park and the tail-wagging affection, Sadie’s already doing wonders for Mom’s heart.”
“How’s your heart holding up?”
I sigh. “Not so good. I’m trying to keep myself busy so I don’t think about him. I miss Jared something terrible, Eve.”
“You’re still in love with him,” she gently points out.
“Will this awful ache ever go away?”
My friend’s smile is tender with sympathy. “I’m the wrong person to ask. I’d never been in love until Gabe. Since we met, my feelings for him have only gotten stronger. I don’t think I could turn it off even if we weren’t together.”
I groan, miserable to consider this may be my new normal. I’ve wanted to call Jared so many times. I’ve yearned to see him, but I’m afraid of getting hurt again. I’m terrified to think this pain could go any deeper.
“I can’t excuse what he did,” I murmur. “But there’s a part of me that can’t hate him for it, because if he hadn’t exposed Daniel, how long would it have taken me to unravel Daniel’s lies and secrets on my own?”
Eve nods, her expression grim. “I’m not sure it even occurred to Daniel that his gambling problems and the debts he racked up in Las Vegas could’ve put you in jeopardy, too.”
“I’m not sure he cared about that,” I admit. “Daniel’s top priority is himself.”
“Any sign of that loser since his drunken spectacle at Muse?”
I shake my head and glance up at my friend. “I went by his apartment in Midtown the day I interviewed for the accounting job. His landlady was on her way out of the building as I arrived. She asked me if I’d heard from him recently, said his rent was overdue and she had no way of reaching him since he’d left for Europe a few weeks ago to look after his sick mother.”
Eve snorts. “His mother who’s been dead for more than a decade?”
I nod. “He’s long gone and never coming back.”
“Good riddance,” Eve says, her tone effectively closing the chapter on Daniel Hathaway. She stares at me for a long moment, a look of question in her pale green eyes. “Aren’t you going to ask me about Jared? Gabe and I have invitations to his exhibit later tonight at Dominion. It’s the talk of the town.”
I’m well aware of Jared’s heralded return to the art world stage. I’m genuinely happy for him, too. The city has been buzzing all week with excitement for his new show, anticipation at a stratospheric level for him to reveal his first paintings in two years.
His career reboot is guaranteed to be even more successful than he’d been originally. It’s been in the headlines everywhere that Jared Rush is painting with a renewed passion for his work, creating in his Hamptons studio like there’s no tomorrow.
There’s been no public mention of the disease that’s got its hooks in him. Evidently, it’s a secret he intends to keep. I’ve honored the faith he showed me in telling me what he was going through. No matter what else has happened between us, I’ll never be the one to betray his trust.
After all this time, I’m not certain he feels likewise when it comes to me. I can’t help thinking about the erotic painting he made of me that day in his studio. While our agreement forbade him from revealing my identity in his finished work, that contract was no longer in play when I gave him all of me, both on his canvas and in his arms.
He’s under no obligation to honor any of our terms now, not even the compensation, so I have no choice but to wait like the rest of the public for word on what the master reveals at his exhibit tonight.
As much as I dread he might take out some measure of revenge on me by putting my body on full display at Dominic Baine’s gallery, I’m even more loath to imagine Jared in his studio with any other woman.
“You should join us, Mel.” Eve smiles up at the server as he leaves our bill on the edge of the table. “Gabe’s got extra tickets. I think you should come.”
“No.” I push my empty plate away, panic beating in my breast. “No way. I can’t see him again.”
As much as I might hope to see him again someday, I’m not ready yet. I don’t want to be swayed when I’m still picking up the pieces of my broken heart.
“Gabe and Nick both say he’s miserable without you.” She stares at me as if considering how much to divulge. “Did you know he sold Muse?”
I shake my head. “When?”
“The day after you and he broke up. He sold all of his clubs, Melanie. The Lenox Hill mansion is up for sale, too. He’s moving to the Hamptons permanently next week.”
I draw in a breath. Why does hearing he’ll be moving out of the city make me feel as if my heart is being ripped out all over again?
Because I know if he leaves, the chances of bumping into each other one day when it might not hurt so bad will be next to nil.
I should be relieved by this news. Instead I feel as if I’m mourning the
