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Chetthe personal trainer barked orders, and Amelia rued the day she ever decided bootcamp was a good idea. Gasping for breath at the last whistle, she lay on the grass and stared at the blue sky, wondering if the past week had been a fever dream.
“Are you going to tell us what happened? You’ve been so quiet. You barely even showed up in our group chat all week.”
Amelia turned her head to see Camilla’s brows drawn together. Her coppery hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun, her emerald-green headband somehow looking elegant and stylish even with her exercise-reddened face.
“Yeah,” Lucy complained, flopping down on the ground on Amelia’s other side, “you’ve been MIA.”
Amelia grimaced. “It was a weird week.”
“Weird good or weird bad?” Camilla flicked the mouthpiece on her water bottle and started sucking.
“Weird bad, I think,” Amelia admitted. She’d been in a daze since yesterday morning. Leo had dropped her off and just…left. As if they hadn’t had a connection. As if what they shared hadn’t been real.
Was Amelia delusional? HewasPestilence, after all, even if his nickname hadn’t strictly been earned the way the rumors said. Had she totally played herself by falling for him?
“Do we need to shiv him?” Lucy asked. “I can start sharpening the end of my toothbrush.”
“Who are we shivving?” a new voice cut in. “And can I join?”
Three heads turned to see a gorgeous, voluptuous woman with medium-brown hair pulled back in a high pony. She planted her hands on her hips. “Is it Chet? Because I’m down. That man is evil.”
Camilla gave the other woman a wry smile. “He’s not that bad.”
“He’s awful,” Amelia groaned. “Anyone who tells me to do burpees automatically goes on my hit list.”
“Amen,” the new woman agreed, then grinned. “But I’ll still come back on Wednesday for another session. I’ve seen you three here every week for a couple of months. Thought we should finally meet.”
Amelia smiled in agreement, then introduced herself and her friends. “Sit down.” She gestured to a patch of grass. “I’d say we should get up and go grab a coffee, but I need at least another five minutes before I can move.”
“You’re the new florist on Wilson Street, right?” Lucy asked, squinting.
“That’s right. Scarlett Westbrook.” She shook hands all around then leaned back on her palms, tilting her head to the sun. “Gearing up for wedding season. I hear the summer and fall are crazy in Stirling for weddings.”
Amelia couldn’t help the groan that escaped her. “Please. Don’t tell me about weddings. I don’t want to hear that word again for a long, long time.”
Scarlett arched a brow. “Bad experience?”
“Not exactly. But my sister just got married, and I’m in my early thirties so my social media feed is weddings, babies, and advertisements.”And I think I might be completely heartbroken.
“Girl, don’t even start.” Scarlett laughed. “That’s one of the reasons I had to move. My mother won’t stop asking me when I’m going to give her grandbabies.” She looked at the three of them. “The answer is never. But I want to hear about this shivving business. Who are we murdering?”
Amelia couldn’t help the smile from curling her lips. She sat up and found herself relaying all the events from the bonkers company retreat. When she told her friends about yesterday morning, she was met with gasps of outrage.
“He just left you there?” Lucy asked, blue eyes wide. “Just drove away, hasn’t said a word?”
Amelia pinched her lips and nodded.
“I think he’s panicking because he cares about you,” Camilla proclaimed.
Amelia groaned. “Don’t, Camilla. I can’t handle it right now.”
“Can’t handle what?” She reared back, offended.
“Your romantic heart. I feel…” Amelia shook her head. “I feel scraped raw. He’s gone, and I just need to deal with it. I fell too hard, too fast, and now it’s over. The end.”
Camilla frowned. She didn’t agree, Amelia could tell. But she said nothing.
Scarlett plucked a blade of grass and started peeling it into tiny strips. “I once dated a guy for four years. We were a completely committed couple: holidays with each other’s families, vacation plans, planning to move in together, jokingly discussing baby names for our hypothetical kids…” She met Amelia’s gaze and gave her a grim smile. “Then one day, out of the blue…he ghosted me.”
