I’ve always been a girl’s girl, and I know all of this is just as much—if not way more—Aaron’s fault. ButCarais the one who let her boyfriend go on a national show to promote himself and, ultimately, her jewelry line.Caraclearly didn’t care what the ramifications of that would be—so long as it might help her out in the process. And now Cara ishere. In my house.AndI’mthe one who’s supposed to welcome her with open arms?
“Do you think your life was really ruined?” Willow asks softly.
Yes, I want to say, but don’t. “Itcouldhave been. It very nearly was.” It took me so long not just to move on from what she and Aaron did to me, but also to recover my reputation and career. To even begin to be taken seriously again. “Ugh, why is this happening now that my life is finallyworkingagain? I mean if this gets out, and blows up, which no doubt it will, I could lose the FitGirl partnership.” The team at the subscription service had made it clear thatthey were eager to partner with me because of the success of my athleisure line—nottheLovedByconnection. If anything, they seemed to want me to downplay that aspect of my past, saying it didn’t really “resonate with their wellness-focused clientele.” I let out another sigh. “This really could mess things up for me in a big way. It’s just so… so selfish of them. Like, mylord, Coop, just pick another girl. Literally any other girl on the planet!”
I heave a breath, then push on. “And another thing—Cooper is basically a child. He’s not even old enough to know he’s in love!”
“I was,” Willow responds. And it’s true—she met the love of her life when she was only fifteen, in one of the most gut-wrenching, romantic sagas I’ve ever known, outside of a Nicholas Sparks novel. “I’m not saying Cooper has what I have,” Willow says, “but he might?”
There’s silence as the girls seem to consider this possibility. That Cooper mightactuallybe in love with Cara. Which is ludicrous. But apparently being coupled-up themselves—all three are now married or engaged—has made my friends soft.
“Guys, come on. You know Cooper. He’s never been serious about a girl before, and now, all of the sudden, he’s engaged toher? It doesn’t make sense. Something weird is clearly going on.”
“It isveryweird,” Emma concedes. “What are the chances of this even happening?”
“Exactly,” I say. “It’s suspicious, right?”
“What does your family think?” Willow asks.
“They are fine with it! My mom wasweepingwhen Cooper announced their engagement.”
“Seriously?” Sybil asks. “They know she’s Aaron’s ex, right?”
“Of course they do! And my mother literally thinks we’re going to share a room?” I bark out a sarcastic laugh. “That’snot going to happen,” I tell them, already deciding to take my still-unpackedsuitcase right back out the door with me. “I mean she could murder me while I’m asleep for all I know! This whole thing is already soSingle White Female–coded.”
Willow’s tone is placating. “Nikki… I don’t—”
“I think we should consider it a small but definite risk,” Emma interrupts.
“Thank you!” At least someone else on this call is thinking rationally.
“Do you have any pepper spray?” she asks, but before I can answer, there’s a knock on my door, and Cooper pops his head in.
“Gotta go, y’all. I’ll keep you posted.”
“If she murders you,” Emma says by way of goodbye, “I promise to avenge you.”
“You are the sweetest.” This time, I say it with no fakeness at all.
I disconnect the call and meet Cooper’s look of wry disappointment.
“She’s not going to murder you.” He sits on the bed across from me.
“So you say. You barely even know her.” I uncurl from the fetal position and sit up to face him. “How could y’all spring this on me like this? I feel like I’m back onLovedBy.” The kind of environment where shocks and surprises are thrown at you on purpose just to see how insanely you’ll react.
That seems to pull Cooper up short. “Mom and Dad were supposed to tell you when you got here.”
“Youshould have told mebeforeI got here,” I correct.
“We were worried you might not come.”
He’s right. I wouldn’t have come. I wouldn’t have given up my apartment in LA yet, or I would have secured a new one, or hell, I would have flown to Timbuktu before knowingly putting myself in the same room as Cara Lancolm.
“If it makes you feel any better, Cara feels awful.” It does. Slightly. “I told her you were cool with us.”
Of course he did. “You lied to her?”
“I just… skipped ahead a little.”
