Page 16 of Temporarily in Love

He put his glasses on and looked at his computer, promptly dismissing me.

I took the sticky note he slid over to me, but I didn’t want to leave yet. My heart was doing somersaults looking at him. This was why I never wanted to come home after we broke up. I may have crushed his heart, but I also crushed my own.

“Congratulations, by the way,” he muttered, but he wasn’t looking at me.

“On what?”

“Aren’t you getting married?”

A sob bubbled up in my throat, but I pushed it down. “No,” I choked out.

“Lila?”

“He cheated on me. With his secretary,” I hissed out.

A dark shadow cast across Declan’s face, and I didn’t miss the way his hands curled into fists. “I’m sorry. He sounds like an asshole.”

I nodded. “I better go. Thanks, Dec. I really appreciate everything you’ve done for my family.”

“I know how much the bar means to your dad. It would be a shame if it closed down.”

He turned back to his computer, dismissing me and telling me exactly how he felt about me.

I walked out of his office without another word. The brewery was hopping, and as much as I wanted a drink, I needed to get out of there. This town was making all the feelings I didn’t want to deal with come back to the surface.

I still loved Declan.

Oh god, after all these years, I still loved him, but we were so different now. I didn’t know how to feel about him helping my parents after all the heartbreak I put him through. After tossing his heart into a blender and throwing our lifelong friendship away.

Instead of walking back to the bar, I got into my rental car and drove to my sister’s house. Kelsey would be home from work by now and getting the kids’ dinner together, and I needed to talk to her.

I knocked on the door, and she gave me a sympathetic look when she opened it moments later. “Oh, honey, come in.”

Then I burst into tears. “Crap, I’m sorry.”

She gestured for me to come inside. “The kids just ate. You want something?”

“A beer.”

I followed her into the kitchen and made a face when she gave me a Drake Pumpkin Ale. I took it anyway and got mad at how good it was.

Kelsey laughed at me. “Are you gonna tell me what’s going on with you now?”

I sighed and slumped into her kitchen chair. She went to the stove and started fixing me a grilled cheese, because my sister was nothing if not a caregiver.

“Chad cheated on me.”

“Dick!” she exclaimed as she flipped my sandwich.

“Yup.”

“Is that why you came running when Mom called?”

I took another sip of my beer. “Yeah. You know what’s the worst part?”

She continued cooking, flipping the grilled cheese again and holding the spatula in her hand. “What’s that?”

“We haven’t had sex in like five months.”