Page 100 of Lovestrung

Would it be better to sever all ties to the man

I’d always loved?

Should I learn to love another man?

All these questions, and I didn’t have an answer to a single one of them.

26

Excuses, excuses

“Pippa, you have to eat something. Don’t let a guy take away your fondness for my baking, damn it.”

I looked at the chocolate muffin on the plate in front of me, but I had no appetite. When I’d found Ethan had gone and taken the dogs with him, I’d run to Ella’s place. I couldn’t go home to Gramps, and my parents were too far away. Besides, her home always seemed so warm and welcoming. When I’d knocked on her door and practically collapsed into her arms, she gave me what I needed: a shoulder to cry on without filling the silence with senseless words that we both knew wouldn’t help. She’d taken my things and told me in her no-nonsense, mothering tone of voice that I could stay with her for as long as I wanted. Then she’d sat me down at her bar in the kitchen and started to make tea.

She’d make one hell of a mom one day, my Ella.

“I’m sorry, doll.” I raised my head, and when I saw my friend’s compassionate eyes staring back at me, the tears welled up in my own. “I can’t seem to stop crying.”

She took my hand and squeezed it. “Pfft. Don’t worry about it. Was I wrong to tell you what I’d found?”

I shook my head. “No, it was the right thing to do. I only wish I’d been alone.”

Her lips lifted in a crooked smile. “You and Ethan have been joined at the hip since you got together, so that probably wouldn’t have been possible.”

I sighed and started to tear the muffin apart. “Did I overreact? Should I have stayed with him, let him explain?”

She started nibbling on her lips, causing me to frown. “I don’t know, babe. I really don’t.” Her eyes took on a faraway look as she seemed to mull it over. “I kinda wish I wasn’t so good with computers. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have found out that my on-and-off again boyfriend had been keeping this other, almost secret life for me.”

“Crap. I’ve been so selfish, only thinking about myself since I got here.” I hunched my shoulders. “You seem surprisingly calm, given everything that’s happened this morning.”

“Well, if you’d been a fly on a wall, you’d have seen me acting far from calm. I threw a lamp at him.”

I blinked. “You did what?”

She picked up her cup of tea, all the while smiling wide. “You heard me.”

A flabbergasted laugh escaped my mouth. “Go, Ella.”

She cringed. “Actually, I wish I hadn’t lost my temper like I did, but it’s too late to rewind the events. Fucking men.”

Her cell started to vibrate on the table between us, and I couldn’t help but see the name Luke flashing on the screen before she swiped the red button.

“He’s been calling every thirty minutes since I left,” she muttered.

I bit my lip. “Are you going to forgive him?”

“I haven’t decided yet. Ugh.” She rubbed her eyes. “I still have to write that stupid article, you know.”

I shuddered. “Ugh.”

“Yeah. Anyway,” she sighed, “I have to, otherwise I’ll be out of a job. Plus, my boss has promised to let me run with my own leads if I write this exposé. I have to think of my career.”

I nodded, though it didn’t sit right with me. “Do you think Luke will try to talk you out of it?”

She snorted. “Uh, yeah. That’s the only reason he’s calling.”

“How do you know that?”