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I stand by the door, waiting for her to arrive, because I have nothing else to do, but when she steps into view, I regret it. Watching her give herself a pep talk aboutnotripping my head off isn’t my idea of fun.
“Shit!” Pippa startles when she sees me.
“Yep.” I say, giving her nothing.
She cringes, realizing she’s been caught, and then owns it. “Trust me,thatwas needed.”
“I get it.”
“Do you? Because if you knowwhyI want to yell at you, why aren’t you doing anything to fix it?”
I stare at her blankly to stop myself from giving her a piece of my mind. “You were there,” I say with my voice void of emotion. “You told me to leave. Willow doesn’t want me to fix it.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it.”
Yeah, it is. But Willow only wants me to fix it by telling her everything. And I can’t. Not yet. Not until I’m sure she can handle it.
“I guess you and Willow agree on one thing… Neither of you are willing to open up about what happened on that mountain.”
Relief hits me but I try not to outwardly react. If Willow’s not talking, we’re all safe.For now.
“It’s not my place to tell you if Willow doesn’t want to. And I’ll talk toherwhen she’s ready. Here’s your key.”
I grab the key off the stand near the door and hold it out for her. “It’s parked on level five, spot number two forty-seven, near the elevator. The code to get out of the gate is six, six, five, four.
Pippa rushes to pull her phone out of her purse and quickly punches in the details, as though I’m such an asshole that I wouldn’t repeat them if she forgot.
“Thank you,” she says with a forced grin. “No matter how I feel about you right now, I promise to be a professional at work, and I promise I’m not about to throw you to the media wolves.”
“Thanks.”I think.Though I’m not sure I love the “no matter how I feel,” line.
“I’ll clear up our relationship with the media too,” she adds. “I’ll give them the ‘just friends’ line. Ryan’s even said I can tell them we’re together.”
“Wow.”
“Yep. I think he likes me.”Obviously.I hold back an eye roll.
“He more than likes you. And he’s a good guy. You deserve that. He’ll be a much better boyfriend than I would have been.” I shrug.
Pippa’s lips pull into a small smile before she shakes her head. “Thanks, Jesse. But I’m not ruling you out just yet. I think you have potential. For someone else.”
There’s only one person I want.
“Anyway,” she continues. “Thank you for your help. Facing Ashley and Jonah was a lot easier with you there.”
I thin my lips and nod. “No problem. See you at work.”
Pippa’s face drops as I abruptly end the conversation, but she recovers quickly, waving as she walks back to the elevator, stepping in as the guy with my takeout steps out. Her eyes flash to mine just before the doors close and she nods, leaving me with a tightness in my chest.
That wasn’t fun. At all.
It almost felt like we weretrulybreaking up, and maybe that’s because our friendship seems as though it might be over.
I don’t hear from security after Pippa leaves, so I assume she found her car, and when ten p.m. comes around and I’ve cleaned up after dinner, I force myself to try and sleep.
But like last night, it fails me.
If it’s not stress, it’s worry, and if it’s not worry, it’s nightmares. And it all comes back to the same thing…the past I tried to forget.
