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“A man who looks at a woman the way he looks at you doesn’t just want sex.”
I shake my head, crinkling my nose. “I messed up badly, Poppy.”
“What do you mean?”
My gaze drifts to the beach, to a family building a sandcastle where the father allows his daughter to bury him in the sand. Then I bring my gaze back to her. The waitress finally brings us our order, and I dig into my omelet.
“We had sex, and it was amazing until he checked out on me. You should have seen his eyes, Poppy. They were distant, and he seemed as if he didn’t want me there anymore.”
“He sounds spooked,” she says, in between bites of her bacon.
“When I saw him at work, I told him we should keep it professional. Fast forward to last night, he tried to have sex with me again, and I told him no, and I jumped out of his car. I don’t want him to treat me the exact way he did the first time we had sex.”
I told myself that I wasn’t going to give in to him, but he’s like a drug that I can’t kick the bucket for.
“What if I’m making a mistake? What if he hurts me again?”
“You’re projecting,” she states.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re projecting your fears onto him.” She bites into her toast. “What if you have a fling with Atlas and it turns out great? What if he’s your soul mate? What if you’re missing out on something good? Don’t let Carter take that away from you. Don’t let him rob you of your happiness.”
She’s right. I’m so afraid to get my heart broken again. If I have feelings for him, he’ll leave me out of the blue like Carter did.
“But I don’t want love right now, I want a career. I want to live my life freely, and I want to be able to do whatever I want.”
Relationships have always been too complicated for me. I usually pick bad men and the results aren’t great. Atlas has been trying to make up for his bad behavior, and he has been patient with me, but I don’t know if I can trust him again for how he made me feel. I’ve been burned by too many men, but I haven’t had a man to make me feel good about myself. I’ve been living a lonely life for seven months. It’s been seven months since the car accident.
“You want my brutally honest opinion?” Poppy asks.
I nod.
“You’re being too harsh on Atlas. It’s not going to kill you to have fun with him.”
“Even if I know it’s going to turn out like a train wreck?”
“Yep.”
“Sometimes, you’re too much of a ray of sunshine for me,” I joke, and stick out my tongue.
She bursts into a fit of giggles. “You’re too much of a stormy night for me.” Her face beams. “Good thing we balance each other out.”
“We do.”
Sadness seeps into her eyes, and she straightens her back. “I have something to tell you. I don’t want you to be surprised at the wedding, and you’re going to be the br—”
“Spill it, Poppy.”
“Carter and Odette are going to be there. I tried to talk Link out of making Carter his groomsman, but he’s been his friend since grade school.” She shrugs.
I frown. “He’s marrying Odette?”
Odette was my old best friend from high school, but we stopped being friends shortly after graduation because Odette made a pass at Carter. He showed me the text messages. But, I didn’t know he secretly wanted her back.
“Yes, they chose to marry in the exact venue you chose. When I found out about it, I told Carter he was a piece of shit.”
“I’m happy for them,” I say through tight lips. Honestly, the wound is still fresh from how he left me, but I don’t want him back. He wasn’t good for me, and he’s her problem now.
