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“Thank you,” Lila answered, beaming.
“Still, this angelic donut can’t distract me from Grumpy Bear.” Skylar continued her pacing.
“I love that you call him that. So much,” Lila laughed.
“He’s rude, uncouth, vulgar…”
“Attractive,” Lila added.
“Yeah, the most attractive man I’ve ever seen…” Skylar stopped; eyes wide as her gaze landed on her friend. “Wait, what?”
“Oh, come on. You two totally have the hots for each other.” Lila’s instigating earned her an elbow in her ribs from Kade.
“That’s irrelevant.” Skylar shook her head as she continued her pacing.
“Obviously, it’s not if you’re wearing down our tile the way you are. He’s gotten under your skin.” Lila said with a smirk.
“He has not!” Skylar protested, reaching for her coffee cup on the counter.
Kade pulled it away from Skylar, giving her a small smile. “Maybe hold off on the caffeine right now. Why don’t you tell us what’s really going on?”
Skylar’s shoulders dropped as she stood in front of her friends, popping the last of the donut in her mouth. “Nuffin,” she said, mouth filled with pastry.
“There’s something more to this. It can’t just be that he was in a bad mood,” Kade gestured for them to sit at a table next to them.
Skylar slumped into a nearby chair. “I haven’t told you everything.”
“What’s going on?” Kade asked, placing her hand on top of Skylar’s on the tabletop as she sat beside her, at the same time, Lila took a seat.
“I don’t even know where to start,” Skylar covered her face, letting out a sigh before lowering them, looking at her friends’ concerned faces. “I was engaged.”
“What?!” Kade and Lila both exclaimed.
“His name was Adam. We met not long after I started my business. He’s a photographer, and we would run into each other at weddings and events.”
She told them the whole story. She fell madly in love with him quickly and moved faster than she should have. They were engaged within a few months, thinking they’d found their own happily ever after.
“So, what happened then?” Lila asked, a curled fist under her chin.
“I found out he was having an affair with my business partner.” Kade and Lila gasped, eyes wide as they looked at her. “Ashley and I graduated and started our business together. Never in a million years would I have thought she’d do something like that to me. That Adam would do something like that to me.” Tears formed in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She’d let Adam have too many of her tears already.
“How did you find out?” Lila asked.
“I came home between appointments because I forgot my iPad charger. Caught them on the couch together. It’s so stupid and cliche I want to kick myself.” Skylar couldn’t stop her hands from forming into fists and her blood pressure rising as she thought back to that day.
“Hey, it’s not your fault,” Kade said, rubbing Skylar’s arm.
“I know.” She looked up at her friends and gave them a sad smile. “I just hate being that girl. If I had to be a cliched movie character, couldn’t I have at least been the one that ends up on some grand adventure or with a real-life prince or something?”
“You might still end up with all those things,” Kade added.
“Ha—I doubt it. Anyway, the two of them are living what should have been my happily ever after. They pushed me out of the company and are running it together as some sort of cute wedding planner/photographer duo. Before I left for Logan Creek, I packed up all my stuff and put it in a storage unit until I can figure out what’s next.” Unclenching her fists, Skylar forced her body to relax into her chair.
“Oh, hun, I’m so sorry.” Kade squeezed her shoulder.
“Yeah, that’s rough. Do we need to go to the city to kick some ass? I’m married to a cop. He can get us out of trouble,” Lila said with a smile and a wink.
Skylar laughed, “Thank you, but no. They aren’t worth it.”
