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When she entered the library, the big, open spaces that usually inspired her just felt empty. The place seemed dark and hollow. This hurt Ellie because usually, the library could always cheer her up. She stood over her desk, turning on her computer and staring dully at the table.
“Hey!” Chase cried, bouncing toward her. “You haven’t gotten back to me at all since the vacation … how did it go with Mason?”
“Huh?” Ellie asked, trying to claw her way back to reality so she could answer Chase’s question.
“I didn’t want to bug you while you were away, in case you were having a really good time,” Chase sidled up to her, giving Ellie a nudge and a wink.
“What?” Ellie said, looking up. Finally, her eyes focused on her friend, but she couldn’t smile.
“Uh-oh,” Chase said, her face falling. “What happened?”
Ellie shook her head. “Nothing … well, no, everything.”
Chase folded her arms and gave her a firm look. “Tell. Now.”
Ellie sighed. “I broke up with him. Well, I don’t know if that’s the right word, but I told him I don’t want to see him again.”
“Why?” Chase asked, confused. “Was London that bad? What did he do to you?”
Ellie looked dreamily off into the distance. “He took me to the nicest places. Paid for the most luxurious things everywhere we went. Treated me like a queen the whole time, listening to me and attending to my every need. Also, the sex was fucking dynamite.”
Chase frowned. “Wow. You poor thing. I don’t know how you coped.”
Ellie laughed softly. “I know. It all sounds backward, doesn’t it? The fact that he’s so perfect is exactly what makes it so wrong. He won’t settle down, Chase. He can’t give up his lifestyle.”
“Surely, you could make it work, somehow,” Chase protested.
Ellie shook her head. “Look, I told him we couldn’t see each other anymore. That was a week ago. He hasn’t contacted me to try to plead his case or anything like that.”
“Maybe he’s just such a gentleman, and he’s respecting your wishes.”
Ellie looked down, wrapping her arms around herself. She could feel her eyes beginning to sting.
“I don’t know, Chase,” Ellie whispered. “Maybe, I made a big mistake. I’m so miserable, but I know it wouldn’t have worked out. I did the smart thing. But how can I get my mind and my heart to see eye to eye?”
“Hey,” Chase rubbed Ellie’s arm, pulling her into a brief hug. “It will be okay. You know what you really want, don’t you?”
Yes. Mason.
“Of course, I do,” Ellie said, wiping her nose. “I know I did the right thing. This is for the best. I’m a casual little homebody, and he’s a globetrotter, living a life of constant adventure. I’m telling you, it sounds downright exhausting.”
Ellie’s hands tightened on her arms as she hugged herself. Chase’s arm wrapped around her shoulders firmly, and Ellie took a few deep breaths.
“He would have abandoned me for someone else, sooner or later,” Ellie muttered. She clearly remembered the way other women had looked at him everywhere they went. It just didn’t make sense for a man like that to be slumming it with a librarian when he could have any celebrity or model he wanted.
“I don’t know about that,” Chase said, frowning. “He seemed to have good morals, I think.”
“You didn’t see the way other women looked at him,” Ellie snapped. “And the way they looked at me. It was pretty obvious that all of them would have done anything to take my place. You should have seen how gorgeous they were.”
Chase looked skeptical. “Yeah, but Ellie, did he look at them?”
“What?” Ellie asked, narrowing her eyes. Chase sighed.
“Did he look back at these amazingly hot women? He seemed very into you, Ellie. I seriously doubt he was on the make while he was with you.”
Ellie pulled back into herself, feeling wounded.
“Okay,” she admitted. “He didn’t look at them. I wasn’t kidding when I said he treated me like a queen. Mason gave me his full attention. But I know that a man like him wouldn’t be satisfied with a girl like me.”
