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“Do you know how many text messages and phone calls I have gotten about you in the last twenty minutes?” Lea’s full lips pulled tight into a smile, but concern flooded her pale blue eyes.
Jewel snorted the snot back that threatened to expel from her nose and brushed her hands over her eyes. “No, but I imagine quite a lot. I wasn’t exactly quiet.”
“You got that right.” Lea held her hand out for Jewel to take. “Come on. We’re going inside.”
Jewel canted her head to the side, tears starting fresh at the compassion she found in her best friend’s voice. She really couldn’t have found a better person for her. Lea was so strong and even-keeled where she was hot-tempered and spoke without thinking more often than not.
Lea saw her pain and bent down, her knees brushing against the edge of the door. There wasn’t much space for her to move, but she made sure to catch Jewel’s full attention. “Come on. I promise, you can rant and rave all you want once we’re inside.”
Jewel nodded, but she still didn’t move to get out of the car. Lea pressed her palm to Jewel’s thigh, and Jewel shuddered. Now that all her anger had been dispersed, all she felt was the pain and hurt. Words backed up in her throat, making it impossible to speak. She was miserable. Lea squeezed her thigh.
“Come inside, J.”
“He told me I was too much.”
The pity in Lea’s eyes was too much. Jewel couldn’t look at her. Her heart rapped hard as a new wave of pain took over her. She was such a fool. Not only had she stayed with Brady way longer than she should have, but she’d insisted on making a scene and Lea had been called in to do cleanup before even an hour had passed.
“I’m sorry,” Jewel whispered.
“Sorry for what?”
Turning to face her friend, Jewel rolled her eyes. “That you’re stuck dealing with me.”
Lea gave her a soft, gentle smile. “It’s nothing we haven’t dealt with before.”
“You’re right about that.” It did make her feel a little better. She’d survived all her breakups before, but at some point she had begun to think Brady might be the one.
“Let’s get inside,” Lea tried again.
This time, Jewel managed to get out of her car. She hadn’t even noticed Lea’s Suburban pulled up behind her, which she really should have. Lea had parked no more than six inches from her bumper. Jewel stepped out of the carport, following Lea, who led the way to the front door. She opened it and walked inside as if the house was hers, which Jewel supposed it nearly was. They spent enough time together that they were both comfortable at each other’s places.
Jewel flung her purse onto the floor by the door and collapsed into her couch. At least her tears had dried. Lea went into the kitchen and came back out with a beer in hand, which she gave to Jewel.
“Thanks,” she muttered before she took a long pull, as Lea disappeared back into the kitchen.
The faint noise of pots and pans rustling, the fridge opening and closing, barely made a dent in Jewel’s despair. She was so focused on everything that had happened that day between her and Brady that she again barely noticed as Lea sat next to her, a beer in her own hands.
“Tell me what happened.”
Jewel huffed. “I’m sure the gossip club already shared it with you.”
Lea snorted, but she didn’t deny. “What did he say?”
“He texted, right after lunch period, that he was breaking up with me.”
Lea sucked in a breath through her teeth and shook her head. “The jerk.”
“Exactly!” Jewel threw her free hand up into the air. “Coward.”
“He is.” Lea smiled and looked Jewel over. “So you decided to confront him after school?”
“Of course. I deserved a real breakup after fourteen months.”
“I think that’s fair, but the grocery parking lot?”
Jewel shrugged. “It was where I found him.”
“Would you have gone inside to have it out if he’d still been in there?”
