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Amelia couldn’t help her sharp inhalation. “What?”
Scarlett nodded. “Yep. I was freaking out. I thought he was dead. Finally, after two weeks, I got through to his mother and found out that he was perfectly fine, he just didn’t want to talk to me anymore. His.Mother. He broke up with me through hismommy. That was almost worse than being ghosted.”
Camilla had a hand over her mouth. Lucy’s eyes were wide.
Amelia just stared at Scarlett and shook her head. “I’m so sorry.”
“What did you do?” Camilla asked.
“I went through a major slut phase,” Scarlett replied, eyes glinting. “Major.”
Lucy giggled. “Well, that’s one way of dealing with it.”
“I might still be going through it,” Scarlett admitted. “I haven’t decided if it’s over yet.”
“Your sex life is going to take a serious nosedive if you stay in Stirling,” Amelia noted. “The pickings are slim.”
“Hey, it’s an hour-and-a-half drive to Boston. I’ll deal. I can always have an emergency sexcation weekend away.”
The four of them laughed, and Amelia felt slightly better. As their giggles died down, she let out a long sigh. Camilla put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed.
“I feel so stupid,” Amelia admitted.
“Are you going to go out with Ben?” Lucy asked, angling her head toward Amelia’s phone, where it rested on top of her workout towel. Amelia had told them about his text message.
“I don’t know.”
“You have to!” Scarlett exclaimed. “Best way to get over someone is to get under someone else. I know from experience.”
Amelia grimaced. “I don’t know if I’m even into Ben. I had such a big crush on him and within half a conversation it just…died.”
“You could just go and practice your new flirting skills, see if there’s a spark. There’s no harm playing the field,” Camilla said.
“I recommend the slut phase approach,” Scarlett added. “It’s highly effective.”
Amelia snorted. “I’m not sure I have it in me.”
“Oh, you would have lots of things in you. That’s the whole point.”
Laughter burst out of them all. Amelia fell back onto the grass, slapping her hands over her face. Camilla wiped her eyes. Lucy’s entire face was bright red. Scarlett just cackled along with all of them, then jumped to her feet and pointed to the coffee truck at the far end of the park. “Let’s get some drinks. I need caffeine.”
An hour and a bit later,Amelia was back at home, showered, and gearing up to sit at her computer. It was strange to be back here, in her little apartment, sitting at her laptop. She had a mountain of work to do, with two potential new clients looking for a call with her to discuss their needs. It would be so easy to slip into her pre-Leo life, where her business was everything and data was her only companion.
But as she sat down and began to work, it was difficult to slip into that state of flow that used to come so easily. She’d start pulling data from clients’ websites, and her mind would wander to something Leo said, how he made her laugh, how he’d slip his hand in hers like it was the most natural thing in the world.
This felt like a breakup, but that was ridiculous. They didn’t know each other. Not really. They’d had a deal, and now the deal was done.
Why did that make her want to cry?
When all the numbers on her screen began to blur, Amelia sighed and pulled up Ben’s message. She still hadn’t answered. Her fingers hovered over the screen. Her indecision frustrated her.
Why was she so hung up on a guy who would treat her the way Leo did? What right did he have to toss her aside as soon as the retreat was done? They’d opened up to each other. Their time together hadmeantsomething. And he was just going to throw it all away?
A flash of anger had Amelia’s fingers moving. She accepted Ben’s invitation to dinner and asked him if he was free the coming weekend.
When his reply came through a couple of minutes later, setting a time and place, Amelia let out a huff. There. She had a date. The deal was well and truly done.
She could move on from Leo, once and for all.
