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She laughed. “Just getting started, but I run every day. I sweat. I love it.” She lifted an eyebrow. “I have to admit I’ve been very concerned about Layla. She and I are such good friends.” Oh boy, were theynotfriends. She knew it. I knew it. Anyone who watched her vlog knew it. “Where is she?”
Layla wasn’t hiding from anyone. Not really. Her husband owned a vineyard, and the family lived on the property. They were eventually going to start selling wine. A real journalist could find her in under two minutes. Bill of sale. Companies registered legally—because Zeke was big on doing things by the book—in the United States. They’d get an address. If they could get past her security, they’d be able to ring her fucking doorbell and see Layla face-to-face.
Someday, they might even open a tasting room. Layla and I discussed decorating space for tastings together the last time I visited her.
The piece of shit in front of me made me madder than she usually did—probably because I was so tired—because she couldn’t be bothered to do that kind of work. No, all she could do was take photos and videos or buy them while she picked apart Layla’s life and said terrible things. She didn’t know Layla married Zeke, so it might be a while before she figured out she had a new last name. And thank the universe, she didn’t know about Noah.
I got to my feet, and Max rose next to me. “Layla is happy and well.”
“I’d love to say hello.”
I was done. If I’d had anything in my hands, I might have thrown it at her. Maybe it was a good thing the gym made us lock up our stuff in lockers when we came in. “If Layla wanted you to find her, she’d let you. Otherwise, I suggest you get some kind of life that doesn’t involve destroying others and leave my sister the fuck alone.”
The gym had gone completely silent. Yes, I’d just told off a woman who formed public opinion. She was a tastemaker, an influencer on Instagram. Like me, she was the kind of person who could squash me like a bug, if she wanted. Despite all that, she knew my sister didn’t want her to find her, yet had the audacity to ask me anyway. We owed her nothing.
“Here’s some advice, move on from Layla. She’s off limits to you. Find something new to talk about. Surely you must have enough brain cells to find someone easier to chase.”
Her smirk told me all I needed to know. I’d walked right into that one.Damnit. I knew better. What was the matter with me?
Tears threatened, but I held them back. Nope. It wasn’t time for the great Hope freak-out. Not yet.
“Where is she?”
I pointed at her. “Off your radar.”
Next to me, Max shifted his weight.Oh no.He was going to say something. I couldn’t let him do that. I’d ruined his life once before, and I wouldn’t do it again. I swung around to stare at him. “And you. It’s bad enough that you threw me out of the best restaurant in town.” Amanda would already know that. “You have to yell at me here?”
I threw him a look over my shoulder and hustled to the locker room. Hopefully, she’d think he wasn’t involved with me and not take him down because he had the bad luck to be seated next to me on a mat at the gym. I pressed my back against the wall and tried to breathe for a second before I put on my clothes. I wassweaty and a mess. Although I needed a shower, I wanted out of this gym.
I needed to get home and start thinking about the rest of my day. I had an event that night. What was I doing? I had no business spending all this time with this man, anyway. I couldn’t even have sex. What kind of total idiot couldn’t do that? I grabbed my bag and hustled myself outside, where I immediately collided into Max.
He grabbed me. “Whoa, there. Don’t hurt yourself. What was that? Are you okay?”
I wiped at my face. I was still managing not to cry. That was a small miracle. “I didn’t want Amanda to come after you.”
“I got that. She flirted with me for half a second and moved on. She tells me she’s eaten there. But she moved on after she got what she wanted from you. Wow. She really pushed your buttons. Are you okay?”
I nodded. “I’m fine. I just need to go.”
“Okay, let’s go. Come on.” He took my hand. “And I’m proud of how you stood up for your sister.”
I shook my head. “It’s the least I could do. I left her in Paris once with no money and entirely on her own.”
“Why?” He waved to Theo, who was maneuvering through traffic to bring us the car. “That doesn’t sound like you.”
“When I make mistakes, I make big ones. I wish I could say it was just every once in a while. I think I have a tendency to do it at least three times a week.”
Max scrunched up his face. “Don’t round up. Maybe it’s more like two point five times?”
I laughed. Nothing should have been funny, but there it was. He’d just made me laugh when things were really, really not funny. “Maybe it’s more like two point five.”
“Come on. You’ve had enough today. That is for sure. I’ll take you home, then I’ll jump on a subway and go home. Don’t let that small-minded person bother you. She’s…sad.”
Easy for him to say.His life didn’t depend on people like her. “I have an event tonight, so I should get going.”
He nodded. “Next time, we’ll go to my gym. The only person you’ll see there is a man named Joey who might talk your ear off about his grandson.”
That sounded like a plan. I also liked thenext timein that sentence, even if I knew it was pretty much impossible.
