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“Of course not,” Drew protested, although deep down, she had been hoping that. “I thought we could work together to repair things.”
“Maybe you can,” Donna agreed. “They say Rome wasn’t built in a day for a reason, you know.”
Drew wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Isn’t there anything I can do to show her how much I love her?”
Donna and Cheryl avoided looking at the other in a very obvious way, and Drew’s heart beat a little faster.
“You know something. What is it?” There was no way for Drew to hide the fact she was begging. Hell, she didn’t even want to hide it. If she thought getting onto her knees and pressing her palms together would further her case, she would’ve done it in an instant.
“I want to be clear about something,” Donna said. “I don’t like you very much. With the way you treated Maisie—if I was in her shoes, I wouldn’t have let you in. The fact that she did… she loves you for some reason, and I worry she’ll regret her decision.”
“But you’ll help me?” Drew pressed. Despite everything, there was something about Donna that Drew couldn’t help but respect.
“For Maisie’s sake. But, again, I want to stress I don’t like or trust you. If you make one wrong move, I’ll—” Donna mimed what appeared to be arming a bow with an arrow.
“You’ll shoot me with an arrow?” Drew guessed.
Donna shot an exasperated look at Cheryl, who said, “A slingshot. She was trying to do a slingshot.”
“Oh.” It hadn’t looked like a slingshot.
“I should’ve gone for T-shirt canon,” Donna muttered. “Look, Drew. You may be a giant, but a slingshot took down Goliath, and I’m sure I wouldn’t miss hitting you.”
Drew wanted to laugh, partially because she’d never been threatened by slingshot before and partially because the sudden whoosh of hope returning to her body was making her giddy. But the steely determination on both Donna’s and Cheryl’s faces showed they meant business. Maybe not the slingshot, but if Drew fucked up and hurt Maisie again, she had no doubt they would hunt her down.
Drew could respect that.
“What do I have to do?” she asked. “I’ll do anything.”
Donna and Cheryl exchanged one more look before Donna said, “There’s one thing Maisie needs right now more than anything, and I think I know a way you can help her get it.”
CHAPTERTHIRTY-FIVE
“Thank you both for everything.”Maisie gripped Donna’s hand on one side and Cheryl’s on her other as she stood outside the imposing admissions building on her old college campus. “This may be the end of the road for my academic career, but I wouldn’t have made it even this far without you.”
“We’re just here for moral support,” Donna said.
“And to make sure you actually go to this meeting instead of skipping it and hiding in the bushes like you keep threatening to,” Cheryl added, forcing a smile from Maisie’s lips even though she was terrified.
“That’s what I get for saying my evil plans out loud,” Maisie joked. “It’s the same mistake the villains always made in movies, and I fell right into the trap.”
“Except you’re the hero in this story,” Donna said.
“Does that make Drew the villain?” Maisie tried to laugh, but her heart wasn’t in it.
Donna turned, her expression much more serious than Maisie’s attempt at a joke merited. “Do you think Drew is the villain?”
“No.” Maisie didn’t need to give her answer any thought. “In fact… no, never mind.”
“What were you going to say?” Cheryl asked. She also looked like she was hanging on Maisie’s every word.
The way the two of them were acting was kind of weird.
They’d both insisted on her making this appointment with Helen, the woman who handled readmission for students like Maisie who were trying to return to school after a long absence. Maisie had agreed, not that there was anything she would learn face-to-face that hadn’t already been addressed in emails. None of her options had changed. But her friends had both acted like it was so important, so Maisie had given in. It was strange.
Cheryl and Donna were still looking at her, waiting for an answer.
Maisie shut her eyes tightly and tried to organize the swirling chaos of her heart into words. “I thought running from Drew would hurt for a day or two, and after that, my brain would talk some sense into my heart.”
