“Rude!” Evan shouts from the kitchen.
Amelia playfully rolls her eyes. “See? I’m under constant observation. I’ll be fine.” I give her an unimpressed look, so she continues. “Nikki, I’m serious. Everyone dropped everything to be at my bedside during Christmas, and I love and appreciate you all for doing that. But right now, I need to feel useful. I’m stuck in this bed all day watchingThe Real Housewives of Miami.” She puts her hand up before I can interrupt her. “Which is my favorite thing in the world to watch, but it’s not the same while I’m bedridden. I need to do something. Anything. So please, pretty please, let me plan this vacation for you. It would make me feel so much better knowing that I have something to do. You know how much I love planning our girls’ trips! Plus, forget Bali. I found the perfect place for you, and the private jet will get you there in under four hours.” She pleads with her hands in a prayer pose.
“Wow. You’re not above playing dirty with my guilt, are you?”
“Nope.” She pops thep.
“Amelia, I love you, and I think that I hit the best friend jackpot the day we met, but I don’t think going on a trip I intended for Justin and me is the best thing for me at the moment.”
Amelia’s eyes fill with compassion. “You’ve been so wrapped up in my chaos that you’ve been avoiding talking about your breakup. The rundown you gave me at the hospital while I was still on morphine is foggy at best, so I’m gonna need you to fill me in when you’re ready to talk.”
“There isn’t much to say.” I sigh. “He wanted me to move to Florida, to live on his family farm. And I’m not in my small town–romance era.”
“Nikki,” Amelia warns.
“Okay, fine. Look, Justin is a great guy. Probably the best boyfriend I’ve ever had. We lived together and moved through life pretty seamlessly. But when I looked at my future, I could tell you how many clients I intended to add to my private practice, and I could recite the internships I’m running for the psychology undergrad students at Fordham. I could visualize what I hoped my future apartment would look like and what cities I would love to vacation in.”
I take a small bag of Skittles and pull out all the red and orange ones to eat, then dispose of the rest. “I can even see myself being the best auntie to your future billionaire babies, because that’s totally happening.” I chuckle. “But I just couldn’t see him. I couldn’t see us together long term. And that’s not fair to him. I would never make him choose between me and his family farm. Especially knowing that I couldn’t see a future for us, even after spending a year together.” I shrug sadly.
Amelia squeezes my hand. “I’m so sorry, Nikki. I really thought you and Justin were endgame. But I’m happy that you have clarity on your decision.” She smiles softly.
“To be honest, I didn’t know if I was making the right decision. I’m thirty years old, I’m settled in my career, I had a steady, responsible, and loving boyfriend. Yet somehow, I couldn’t take that leap with him. I kept waiting to feel this overwhelming sense of loss after he left to spend the holidays with his family. But I just felt… nothing.” I turn to face Amelia, crossing my legs under me. “It shouldn’t feel like that, right? I should be elbow deep into a bucket of ice cream, watching rom-coms. Or at the very least, I should be crying a bit, shouldn’t I?”
“He wasn’t the one,” a male voice rumbles.
I startle as I see Evan leaning against the doorway with a glass of water and a prescription bottle in his hands.
Look, Amelia is my best friend, and I would never betray her, but I would have to feign blindness to deny how annoyingly attractive Evan is. I’m still getting used to my best friend dating a Chris Evans look-alike, but for now, I push those thoughts away while I focus on the romantic mumbo jumbo he’s about to spew.
I scoff. “The one. So stupid.” I watch him as he makes his way toward Amelia, his eyes filled with devotion. “Unless it’s you two shmucks.”
Evan speaks again. “Justin seemed like a good guy, Nikki, but he wasn’t the one for you. It was clear as day.” He shakes out two pills from the prescription bottle and hands them to Amelia, then passes her the glass of water. “He wasn’t enough for you.”
That causes both Amelia and me to do a double take and widen our eyes at his declaration. “Care to elaborate, Dr. Phil?” Amelia asks after taking her pain medication.
Evan sighs. “Look, Nikki, you’re the shrink here, so this shouldn’t be rocket science to you. But Justin? He was more of a lapdog. Someone who could keep you company day to day but never challenge you. And if you’re anything like Amelia, I know for a fact that it would’ve never worked in the long run. You’re both strong-willed women, but sometimes,” he looks at Amelia in mock seriousness, “and only a very small number of times, you need someone who isn’t afraid of calling you on your shit.”
Amelia gasps.
“I said only sometimes!” Evan dodges an elbow from Amelia as he takes a seat next to her, pulling her into his side while placing a chaste kiss on her forehead.
I groan. “Save the Hallmark moments for after I’ve left for the day. We’re talking about my failed love life here.” I lean forward and place my head in my hands.
“Well, well, well. Another one bites the dust.”
I stiffen when I recognize the familiar, deep, velvety voice of the last person I want bearing witness to this conversation. I send up a silent prayer in vain, because when I slowly lift my head, there he stands.
The man who makes no effort to hide his disdain for me.
The man who has consumed my thoughts on lonely nights.
The man who is the absolute worst.
Amelia’s older brother, who also happens to be the man who gave me my worst New Year’s kiss ever, because it was tainted by my lies.
I close my eyes momentarily to brace myself for the inevitable. A larger-than-life man with height and muscles that easily rival those of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. With year-round tan skin, short, soft brown hair, a clean-shaven face, and caramel-colored eyes. A panty-dropping smile that turns into an immediate scowl when I’m in his presence. Thighs that could be compared to tree trunks and… and now I’m thinking about climbing him like a tree. Crap, focus girl.
I finally straighten and begrudgingly give him my full attention.
