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“I’ve got triplets, for one. No man wants that kind of baggage, and even if he did, I have personal experience with getting burned. You don’t.”
Marti opened her mouth to protest, but Mel barreled over her. “I know what your dad did to your mom sucked, and I know he hurt you when he cut you out of his life, but I don’t really think all guys are bad.”
Marti arched a brow. “I know you don’t believe that. You loathe men.”
Mel sighed. “No. I put up a good front, but it’s just more complicated for me. I’ve got kids. I have more people to consider than just myself. With you, it’s different. You don’t need to worry about four hearts breaking. Only your own.”
“Well, that’s comforting,” Marti grumbled.
“Maybe if it were just me, I would try again,” Mel said, ignoring her.
“You’re trying to tell me that you’d date again if you didn’t have kids?” Marti asked in disbelief. Since when? How did the world around her suddenly make zero sense?
Mel bit her lip, her expression thoughtful. “I don’t know because it’s hard to picture my life without them. But it’s not like Craig was the first guy to hurt me. I’d been hurt before him, too, and I still gave him a chance.”
“Exactly!” Marti waved frantically, on the verge of losing her marbles all over the freshly polished floor. “And look how that turned out.” If having your husband ditch you after giving birth to triplets didn’t turn you off relationships for life, Marti didn’t know what did.
Caroline growled and stood, pointing at Marti. “Women can do the hurting too, you know. Love isn’t a one-sided thing. I’ve dumped plenty of guys.” She moved to the vanity with the makeup display and began angrily sorting the lipsticks as she spoke. “And before you say anything, because I know what you’re about to say.” She shot Marti a look of disapproval. “They weren’t all jerks. Some guys I ditched just because.”
“True.” Mel riffled through the secret stash of chocolate they kept hidden in a Lou Bouton shoebox from three seasons ago. Tearing open a chocolate bar, she snapped off a piece and handed it to Marti. “Remember that guy you dumped just because he had weird eyebrows?”
Caroline pointed a tube of lipstick at Mel. “Yasss,” she said, then applied the rosy pink shade to her lips. “He had brows like caterpillars. I couldn’t do it.”
Marti scrubbed her hands over her face and groaned.
It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours and she missed Logan already.
Marti swallowed, squeezing her eyes closed as she replayed the words that spun circles around her heart. ...It was lips, and breath, and skin, and touch. It was soft murmurs and sighs and unspoken promises . . . It was everything.
She told him she couldn’t fall. And she meant it.
Longing wrenched in her gut.
This wasn’t love. Was it? And if it was, why did it hurt so bad?
“After my father left, my mother told me something, and I’ll never forget it.” She didn’t know what to do. All she knew was her heart hurt.
“What was it?” Caroline asked, her voice soft.
“Love is nothing more than a lie you tell yourself.”
“Yikes,” Caroline muttered.
Marti’s throat ached with emotion. She grew up, clinging to those words. She had believed them whole-heartedly.
The question was whether she still believed them now.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
MARTI
SNOW FELL TO
THE GROUND in fluffy white tufts. Normally, she’d be thrilled, but she couldn’t find it in her to care. Not when every little thing made her think of Logan.
She wondered what he was doing at that very moment. Was he staring out at the same scene, watching the powdery white blanket the city?
With a sigh, Marti picked up her phone and glanced at the missed calls from Blue. Soon, she’d have to face her. Calling off sick worked the last few days, but come Monday, she’d have to face reality. No more avoiding Blue and the breakup article she couldn’t bring herself to write.
