Page 108 of Bound To Be Mine

“How was New York?”

“Good. Really good.”

“You sound sad.”

I sighed. “I’m fine.”

“Let’s meet for coffee,” she said.

I considered what I needed to accomplish and then said fuck it.

“I’ll be there,” I said.

I didn’t have to say where. It was the same place we always got coffee.

When I walked into the very busy coffee shop, I spotted Cleo with her big dark sunglasses on. In LA, everyone wore their sunglasses inside. I was pretty sure they were all hoping people would mistake them for celebrities.

“Okay, spill,” she said when I sat down with my iced mocha. “What happened?”

“I think I’m in love with him,” I said. The words tumbled out before I could stop them. “With Briggs. I think I’m actually in love with him.”

Cleo’s face broke into a huge smile. “That’s a good thing, right? I mean, he’s your husband.”

“Is it?” I sipped my drink and mulled over the thoughts plaguing me. “We live on opposite sides of the country. He has his life in New York, I have mine here. This whole thing was supposed to be temporary. A business arrangement that got a little out of hand.”

“But it’s not temporary anymore.”

“Isn’t it?” I felt tears pricking at my eyes again. “What are we supposed to do? I can’t move to New York. My entire business is here. My clients, my vendors, my reputation—it’s all built on being the LA wedding planner. And I can’t ask him to leave New York. His family is there, the company headquarters, his entire life.”

Cleo was quiet for a moment, studying me. “Have you talked to him about this?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m scared.” I pulled off my sunglasses and rubbed my eyes. “What if he doesn’t feel the same way? What if this was just a fun few weeks for him and I’m over here falling apart because I had to leave him for one day?”

“Mandy.” Cleo grabbed my hands, forcing me to look at her. “I’ve known you for years. I’ve seen you date. I’ve never, ever seen you look at someone the way you look at him. And more importantly, I’ve never seen anyone look at you the way he looks at you.”

“How does he look at me?”

“Like you hung the moon and the stars and he can’t quite believe you’re real.”

I couldn’t stop the smile.

“But what if the distance is too much?” I asked quietly. “What if we can’t make it work?”

“What if you can?” Cleo squeezed my hands. “Look, I’m not going to lie and say long distance is easy. It sucks. But you know what sucks more? Not trying. Giving up on something real because you’re scared of the logistics.”

“Logistics are huge,” I said. “Not going to lie, I like having sex with him and I just don’t think phone sex is going to do it for me.”

She laughed. “Way too much information.”

“Sorry, but you know what I mean. How are we supposed to go weeks or months without seeing each other?”

“Give it time,” Cleo said. “You’ll figure it out. And in the meantime, you’ll see each other. It’s not like you’re never going to be in the same place again. People with spouses in the military do it all the time. You just have to learn how to make it work.”

“I know.” I wiped at my eyes. “It just hurt more than I expected, leaving him this morning.”