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Yes, I’d crushed on Beau something awful. That was a little girl’s dream. Now, having met him, lived with him, and heard how he wanted to protect me—I was head over heels in love with him.
Double crap.
“Beau? Do me a favor?”
“Of course. Anything, you name it.”
Triple crap. Him saying that was not helping matters. “Don’t. We agreed to go through with this. It’s only been a matter of days. I know I’m not the easiest person to get along with—”
He interrupted me, “You actually are the easiest person to get along with.”
I repeated myself, “I know I’m not the easiest person to get along with. I’ve never lived with anyone other than my mother—never spent time having to live with anyone else besides a teammate or three. And that was temporary. We said we’d give it our best shot.
“I don’t know about you, but I didn’t think it would be smooth sailing. We committed to this. I don’t feel comfortable quitting after only putting in days of effort. Marcel and Angelique have done so much for me. I owe them this and so much more. I can never repay them for the kindness and generosity they’ve shown me over the years.”
“To me, this is one small thing they asked of me—of us. Who knows? Maybe we can’t keep it up for the whole year. At this point, I really don’t think we’ve given it enough of a try.”
There was silence for a minute or so. I even checked my phone twice to make sure it hadn’t dropped his call.
“I’m still talking to them. You’re too young to have known what you were getting into. I’m pissed at myself and I’m also pissed at them for putting you in this situation. It was wrong of them and I’m going to call them out on it.”
Oh damn.
My heart grew fuller and a tingling sensation floated through my body. I wasn’t sure I could even feel my arms. “Beau, please don’t. It’ll be fine. I promise. I am fine. Just come home. I hate that you’re out there all alone and angry.”
“I have something to do first. Then I’ll be back.”
We said our goodbyes and I clicked my phone off.
I dropped my hand to my heart, making sure it was still beating.
I was not going to survive this.
Beau
It was late.Everyone’s apartments were dark, including ours. I stepped up the stairs as quietly as I could, hoping I wouldn’t wake anyone. Slipping my key into the lock, I opened the door slowly. The puppies were in the playpen, wrapped up in each other, fast asleep.
A light was shining from down the hall. G must still be awake, burning the midnight oil. Probably studying or doing homework.
I walked carefully down the hall, not wanting to scare her. That’s when I heard her. It sounded like she was on the phone.
“Mom, I’m not kidding. For the hundredth time, we aren’t together.”
Was she talking about us?
“I know very well what it looked like. But trust me, as soon as he closed the door, he spent hours helping me study.”
She breathed out an exasperated sigh. “No, that’s not code for sex. God, Mom. Really? Do you honestly think Beau Moreau would even be interested in me? Oh whatever, you have to say that because you’re my mom. In the real world, though, Mom? Beau has movie stars and royalty to choose from. He’s not going to choose some chick from the prairies.”
Christ, her self-esteem was crap.
“Mom. Listen to me. You read the news and gossip rags more than I do. He’s a player. He’s got a new, gorgeous woman on his arm every week. This week it’s me, but it’s also fake. There’s nothing going on between us and there never will be.”
There was silence on her end for a good, solid minute. “He’s not even my type. You know that. I’d never be into the love ‘em and leave ‘em kind of guy. I mean, has he ever had a girlfriend for longer than a few days?”
I’d had people say shitty things about me. Actually, a lot of people have said shitty things about me. Most of them were true. I didn’t give one fuck what people said.
But the way Gigi’s words scored their wounds on my heart, surprised even me. To know what she truly felt about me hurt me incredibly deep. I found it difficult to take my next breath.
“You know me, Mom. There’s zero chance of me going out with a guy like that. I like myself too much to put up with that particular brand of crap. And anyway, I don’t feel that way toward him.”
After our conversation on the phone, I thought we’d come to a new understanding. I wanted to talk with her in person. Tell her how I really felt. And now, after hearing what she’d said to her mom, all I wanted to do was leave.
And that’s exactly what I did.
