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“I think you should move your ass back here, like, yesterday,” Dani said bluntly. “Unless you can give me one good reason why your life should continue on in San Diego. And I’m not hearing it. Danica?”
We both looked at Danica. “I don’t want to pile up on you here, but I agree,” she told me. “I know Madeleine would be thrilled to have you back. She wants to keep Voilà in the family. She doesn’t have children. Who do you think she wants to leave her business to in the future?”
“I never thought of it that way.”
“Well, if you’re Madeleine,” she said, “we’re it. Her only hope of passing along the business she poured her heart and soul into, keeping it in the family, instead of selling it off when she wants to retire one day.”
Great. Now I felt guilty that I’d left Voilà in the first place.
“I never knew it was that important to her…”
“It is. It’s worth a conversation with Madeleine, anyway,” Danica said gently. “Isn’t it?”
“Yeah. Maybe. I know it probably seems like a no brainer to you. But moving across distances is hard. Even with support. I upended and relocated my whole life just three years ago and started fresh down there. What if I do it all again and it’s a mistake? If I cancel my life down there to come back up here, and Shane doesn’t even want what I want… It’s humiliating.”
“Why?” Danica said. “It’s very human to take a chance on love, Jolie. We should all do it once in a while.” She gave her sister a pointed look, which Dani ignored.
“Becausehe’s my stepbrother in a few days,” I groaned. “That’s why. If he doesn’t want me,me, for more than just a few weeks of dirty, forbidden sex… I’ll be fucking crushed.”
“No. You will not be crushed,” Dani said firmly. “If he doesn’t want you? His loss.”
“Dani…” I pressed my face in my hands again. “Not now, okay?”
She was right, of course. I knew that, because I’d say the exact same thing to her or anyone else I loved if they were going through this right now. But I did not want to hear it.
Because thinking about how I was going to suck it up and deal with it if he truly didn’t want any more time with me was not something I was ready to do.
“What can we do, babe?” Danica asked me.
“Nothing. Just have my back.” I peered up at them. “And if I cry like a baby at the wedding, just tell everyone it’s happy tears.”
“It will be happy tears,” Dani insisted. “Over his grave, if he’s not careful,” she muttered.
Danica frowned at her. “We have your back,” she told me.
“Always,” Dani agreed.
“I just… can’t even believe I’m in this mess.” I flopped onto the couch again. “It was just supposed to be one night.One fucking night.”
“One night, huh?” Dani mused.
“Yes.”
“So how did it become more than that?”
I stared at her, feeling helpless. Because that was the question, wasn’t it. “How do you think?”
They both seemed to be considering that, and I couldn’t even stand it. “He calls me his little dove,” I lamented quietly.
Holy God, I was gonna miss him so much.
It was visceral, this pain. My organs felt like they were revolting against me. It wasn’t a sick feeling. Or an empty feeling. It was like everything just didn’t fit together anymore and my whole system was trying to tell me I’d screwed up. My body and my mind and my fucking soul were all angry with me.
Without another word, Danica pulled a bottle of white wine from the fridge and started pouring. Dani took two full glasses and sat down next to me, trying to look like she wasn’t as curious as she was. “So, dominant, huh?” She handed me a glass
“Totally dominant.”
“What are we talking? Satin sheets and handcuffs? Or whips and chains and hot candle wax?”
