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“What do you mean?”
“Rock was using me. He figured that since I was already living in his place, he might as well take advantage of the situation until he goes home.”
She frowned. “He said that?”
It was my turn to frown. “No, but he called his aunt right after we asked her to help us figure the situation out and told her not to worry about it.”
“Well, he should have talked to you first,” Paige agreed.
“I feel so dirty. And stupid.”
Paige stood and came to wrap her arms around me. “No,” she said gently. “You did what you wanted for a week, lived like a strong independent woman taking what she wanted. There’s no shame in that at all.”
“Unless that woman thought maybe it was going to turn into something more.”
Paige squeezed me. “Oh, honey.”
“I’m so stupid.”
“No, you’re not. You’re sensitive and hopeful and optimistic. There’s a difference. And this guy better not have crushed that beautiful hopeful heart of yours or I’ll have to make him pay for it.”
I loved that my friend would stand up for me, but I felt too heavy and sad to say much more about it. “Is it okay if I stay for a couple nights?”
“If you’re okay with the girls insisting on doing your hair and makeup.”
“Deal.”
And then I commenced the saddest workday I’d ever spent at the Tin. Luckily, by the time I went back out front, both Rock and his aunt were gone.
CHAPTER10
Rock
“Well, you really soiled the sheets on that one,” Aunt Nattie told me as we left the Muffin Tin. “What are you going to do?”
I shook my head, still trying to figure out what happened in there. All I really knew was that I’d screwed up, and one of the best things that had ever happened to me suddenly hated me. “Not sure. She hates me.”
“She doesn’t hate you,” Aunt Nattie said, steering me for a stroll around the town square. “The real question is, how do you feel about her?”
I thought about that. “I don’t know,” I said.
“Do better.”
“Well, when she’s nearby, I feel all warm and a little bit sweaty. And happy. Like maybe something really amazing is about to happen at any second.”
“Go on.”
“And when we’re... together... you know...” I could not talk about sex with my aunt.
“I do know. I’m not dead,” she said.
“Yeah, well. It’s the best thing I’ve ever felt. And not just... like that. It’s like, when I’m holding her, everything I need in the world is already right there, in my arms.”
“Yup.”
“But that’s insane, right? We literally just met.”
“Love follows its own rules, Rock.”
