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“It’s good to know what you really think of me,” Eva said in a cool, even voice that masked her feelings perfectly.
I turned around, ready to explain that I was two drinks past tipsy and talking out of my ass, but she was already gone.
I had a feeling she was gone for good, and that was when I realized that Liam was right. I was falling.
And I was terrified. But he’d forgotten one important thing, I was also stupid. Really fucking stupid.EvaI wasn’t angry. I wasn’t. I was… furious. It wasn’t so much what I’d heard Oliver say as it was how he’d said it. His words had been so cold and callous, not at all like the man I’d gotten to know.
And that only made me more furious. Sure, I’d spent the first twenty-four hours feeling sad and hurt over his words, over the feelings I’d refused to admit I had until his statement had made a mockery of those feelings. Despite that, I wasn’t mad at Oliver for being himself, and I wasn’t mad at my friends and partners for encouraging me to give him a shot. Nope, I was angry at my damn self. What was I thinking, going and doing something as silly as trusting and then falling for Oliver March?
The simple answer was that I wasn’t thinking, at least not with the brain that was allegedly inside my head. And that was why I was holed up in my office at Time For Love. Fuming.
Big-time fuming, and it was no one’s fault but my own.
It was a problem created by my own bravado and exacerbated by the same thing, which meant I needed to take stock of my motivations and do better. I needed to do more than try, I needed to be better.
And I would. Starting right this moment.
“Hey, Eva.” Olive’s tentative greeting grated. I didn’t want to be treated with kid gloves, like I was some fragile flower. I wasn’t. I was strong, unbroken by heartbreak once again. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine, Olive. You can come in. Sophie, too.” Olive flashed a sheepish smile as she stepped in, Sophie entered a moment behind her and closed us all in the confines of my office. “I’m fine, ladies. Absolutely fine.”
Olive shook her head and took a seat right beside my mousepad. “You are not fine, Eva, and that’s okay. You liked Oliver, and he was a jerk. A first-class, massive jerk face. It’s all right to be sad or angry, or however you feel about that. Just don’t deny it.”
“I’m not denying anything, Olive. You’re right, I did like him and it sucks, but I’m mostly just angry. At myself.” There was no way they would understand unless I told them, so I did. “I knew it was wrong to get involved with him, even as it was happening, I knew. I just couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t seem to stop myself, even though I knew it, we, couldn’t go anywhere. So, you see, it’s my own damn fault and you don’t have to worry. It’s my fault. Not Oliver’s.”
“Not to get to nitpicky,” Sophie began, arms folded over her chest, blond brows dipped into a low vee, “but Oliver is absolutely at fault here, too. Don’t absolve him because you made a mistake. Like Olive said, he was a dick.”
“I said jerk,” Olive added unnecessarily.
“I knew what you meant,” Sophie added with a devious smile.
“I lost the bet fair and square. It’s fine.” I had no choice but for it to be fine. This was a small town and gossip ran rampant; I had to keep my head up and a smile on my face.
“It’s not fine,” Sophie growled. “I want to make him hurt. Make him cry.”
I laughed at the venom in sweet little Sophie Worthington’s voice. “Thanks for that. Truly, it means the world to me.”
She flashed a sympathetic grin that reminded me that she was more than my friend and business partner; Sophie and Olive were practically the sisters I never had. “It’ll be all right, Eva. Heartbreak sucks, we all know it because we have all been there. Ride it out and we’ll be here to help you. Promise.”
I felt tears stinging behind my eyes and I shook my head to will them away. “No more matchmaking for me?”
“For a while,” Olive agreed with a cheeky grin and a giggle.
I groaned and agreed, standing to wrap them both in a hug. “Fine, I promise to let you know if I need to have a mental breakdown. Deal?”
“Deal,” they said at the same time.
“I love you girls.” It was a good thing my mama had brought me up to believe that a woman’s friends were her lifeline, her support system. Because these girls were my family. My heart. “So damn much.”
