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Nyla winked and sat on the swing next to Dani. She was dressed similarly in sweatpants and a trucker hat pulled low, but glasses instead of shades.
“I heard my bestie was heartbroken.”
“Who told you?”
“Tasha. You should give her a raise.”
“At this point, Tasha probably makes more money than I do.” Dani snorted, shifting in the swing and straddling the plastic seat so she could face Nyla. “You owe me several I told you so’s.”
“I know, but when you’re looking this pitiful, it takes the fun out of being right.”
Nyla copied how she sat in the swing and they both swung toward each other and away, just being silent. And Dani felt better because her friend was there.
“So why did you do it?” Nyla finally asked.
“Because I needed to—” Dani stopped and dropped her head. Even she was tired of repeating that same old refrain.
“I love you,” Nyla said. “You’re one of the fiercest women I know. And we’ve never blown smoke up each other’s ass, have we?”
“No.”
“So I’m going to tell you some truths whether you want to hear them or not.” Nyla placed a hand over her heart. “But with love.”
“Okay.” Dani braced herself.
“Be real,” Nyla began. “Do you think Jameson would’ve prevented you from doing what you needed to do to get the Genesis contract?”
Dani squinted her eyes. “He said he wouldn’t.”
“Did you believe him?”
Since there’s nothing she’d ever asked for that he’d denied her... “Yes.”
“Then why didn’t you ask for his help?”
Dani’s stomach churned, her mouth drier than her unmoisturized skin.
Which was hella dry.
“The truth?”
Nyla tilted her head, full of attitude. “I’m not asking these questions for my health!”
Fine!“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“Of being wrong.”
Nyla was relentless. “About what?”
“About him. And his feelings for me.” Dani clenched her fingers around the swing’s thick chain links. “I was afraid that I’d gotten it wrong. That I’d fallen hard for him and that if I asked him to do this for me he’d say no.”
“And what if he did?”
“Then we’d argue and he’d leave. Or he’d try to make me choose and I’d leave. Either way, the relationship would end and I’d lose the man I’d come to love so much. I didn’t want that to happen so...”
She shrugged and dug her toe into the recycled rubber.
