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Closing my eyes, I let out a sigh. “You told Stella?” I whine. Great.
“You know the rule. When one of us gets our heart broken, we rally. She’d be pissed if I didn’t tell her.”
I nod at her reasoning. I’d be mad too if Stella had a nasty breakup and I didn’t know. The three of us were thick as thieves in college and we don’t let each other hurt on our own.
“But I’m gonna need a full rundown of what happened and don’t you dare leave anything out.” Layla sits her glass down on the end table, grabs the box of tissues, and hands them to me. I wave them away, then change my mind and grab one. I start from the time my parents arrived to when Theo walked out my door last night.
“I think the whole thing could have been handled differently.” Layla sighs.
I sniff. “Had I been able to control the narrative, absolutely, but you know my mom. I was waiting for the other shoe to fall with her.”
“Oh, Cass, the shoe did not fall, it was thrown, like a freaking grenade.” She shakes her head, mumbling “that woman” under her breath.
“I’m going to lose my first client.” I fight back another round of tears.
She straightens. “Who? What? Why?”
“Nora Abbot. She’s going to fire me if Theo tells her everything.” My heart rate picks up at the thought. The thought had not yet occurred to me but now that it has, the anxiety of losing such a high-profile client, a woman I have come to adore, and the black mark it will leave on my résumé.
“Surely she wouldn’t fire you. Even if Theo tells her what happened, I’m sure she will clearly see the differences in your histories. Logic and reason. That’s key here. I still think Theo will come around…” She trails off.
I purse my lips. “Even if he does, it’s over. I can’t give up such an important part of myself for a man who doesn’t want the same.”
Layla’s eyes are full of sadness.
“I won’t do it, Lay,” I add.
“I know, sweetie. And you shouldn’t.” She reaches over and squeezes my knee. We sit there for a few seconds, the silence heavy in the air.
“I need to talk to Nora. Explain things. At the very least, maybe I can talk her into letting me put Katie on as her contact. I’ll take a back seat and HEA won’t take the hit financially or publicly.” I mull over this plan. It may work. Katie is a great planner and has worked for HEA for a couple years now.
Layla huffs. “Let’s not worry about the business side of things. It’s not a big deal if we lose a client. Especially for personal reasons. We as a company didn’t do anything wrong. It’s a non-issue.”
I nod, thinking about my conversation with Nora, and wonder if Theo has said anything to her yet. She hasn’t called, so maybe he hasn’t. Honestly, it would surprise me if he did, at least willingly, tell her about what happened. He’s not one for many words. But I can’t imagine he’s in a great mood, so his grumpiness may be enough for her to pull it out of him.
I let out a sigh. His surliness was so sexy and I’ll miss his grumpy face. And those defined ab muscles. The best sex of my life…
“Shit. You’re thinking about him right now, aren’t you?” Layla points at me. Damn, she has my number. “You went all dreamy. Started to blush.”
I lean my head against the back of the couch and groan.
“It’s gonna be all right, Cassie. You’re going to find an amazing man who will love you and cherish you. He’s going to want to marry the shit out of you and make all the babies with you.” Her smile is soft and sincere. I believe her. I do. I know the right man for me is out there. I just wanted it to be Theo.
“I know,” I say with a shaky breath.
“You know Ruth is going to want to match you hard once she finds out you and Theo are done.”
I bark out an unexpected laugh. “Lay, she’s been going at it hard for months. That woman is like a dog with a bone.”
“She’s not going to let up until you let her match you. When you’re ready, I think you need to take a chance. If anyone is going to help you find the one, it will be Grams.”
I nod. I know she’s right.
“Speaking of matching.” Her tone changes to amusement and she’s giving me a bemused smile. “I have a new client. You may know him. His profile came across my desk and man was I surprised when I saw the name and the referral name listed was yours.”
I give her a shy smile. “Alan reached out?”
“Yeah, he did. Also didn’t miss in the notes that it said he was offered the service free of charge.” She says this with shock in her tone, but the light dancing in her eyes tells me she’s not mad.
