Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 121054 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 605(@200wpm)___ 484(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121054 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 605(@200wpm)___ 484(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Valerie led me to the inner office, saying, “I only have a very few minutes, so if you’d like to come in…”
“Of course. This won’t take too much of your time.” Well, it might. It would depend on her reaction. I stepped into the room and froze.
She’d kept Neil’s desk. The one that he’d fingerbanged me over and eaten lunch from between my legs on. I might as well have caught her rolling around in our bed.
It took me a moment to recover. “I wanted to talk to you.” I sat in the plush new chair across from her, uncomfortable in the office, the magazine, the whole environment.
Valerie got this weird smile/glare combo she sometimes had when she was losing patience with my perceived stupidity. “I gathered that from your rambling voicemail.”
Okay, my Miss Congeniality act was not worth it. Too many other things demanded my energy. “Look, it’s an awkward subject, and I’m nervous, so maybe retract your claws a little.” I took a breath, and before she could respond or call security, I said, softer, “You told Elizabeth about Neil and your brother.”
She paled.
“You told her,” I went on, “because you were afraid that he wouldn’t tell her. Because you knew how broken he really was. And you were worried he wouldn’t get better.”
Her features froze. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You told Elizabeth what your brother did to Neil, and when she didn’t take it well, you let Emma think that you’d jealously tried to sabotage the wedding.”
“Are you sure?” She forced a laugh. It wasn’t even half convincing. “I was expecting you to say I did it to sabotage their engagement.”
“I think you were aware that it could. And I think you’d have been okay with that.” I felt my temper stir, and I pushed it back down. Now was not a time to indulge in my grudge against her. “But I know that, deep down, you still love Neil, and you were looking out for his best interests.”
“I…don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her smile was more frozen than Queen Elsa’s snow dress.
“Yeah, you do.” I wasn’t going to back down here. All of the pain and recriminations, all of the scheming and passive-aggressive barbs between us, all of it could have been avoided if we’d just been open about that one simple fact. “Emma once told me that she thought you didn’t love him, you were just unwilling to let him be happy.” Hurt flared in Valerie’s eyes, so I kept going in an effort to gloss past it. “But that would mean you put an awful lot of work into keeping me away from someone you don’t even care about.”
She rolled her eyes. “Is that what you wanted here, Sophie? To give me your little speech and walk out the better person?”
There was too much pain; she was a bonfire of it, burning up right in front of me. That wasn’t why I came. “No. I wanted to thank you. For caring so much about him. And that I know what it’s like to love him like that. I’m never going to hurt him, Valerie. I swear.”
“Well, I hurt him, so you’ve won,” she said, standing and moving around her desk furiously to grab a tissue.
“It isn’t about winning.” My voice rose, and I forced myself to calm down. Valerie was hurting. It wasn’t the time to pick a fight with her. There’s never a time to pick a fight with her, I reminded myself. “I came here because things have been nasty between us before. I just wanted you to know… I think it’s really awesome, the way you’ve handled all of this. You’re in a difficult position, but you’re still helping your friend out. I admire you, Valerie.”
For a long moment, she didn’t say anything. Then, “I’ve decided not to come to the wedding.” She looked down then swung her head up to meet my gaze with sad eyes and a smiling mouth. The combination caused a little flutter of sympathy pain in my chest. She shrugged. “I didn’t fill out an RSVP card.”
“Don’t feel like you’re not welcome. You’re Emma’s mother, you’re—”
She cut me off. “I’m Emma’s mother. And Neil’s friend. But I’m also a woman who’s lived for the past two decades with a broken heart. It’s too much to ask me to sit through another wedding, biting my cheek and trying not to cry.”
“That’s fair.” I didn’t know what else to say.
She took a step away from me, as though being too close to me pained her. “Did you know that he told me about you? Way back, when you’d first met?”
“I didn’t.” Though it made sense. Neil had been head-over-heels in love with me ten minutes after I’d introduced myself, or so he said.
“He told me he’d met the most amazing girl. He called you a girl, so naturally, I assumed that this was just a fling, and he was enthralled with the younger woman who’d found him attractive.” Her sad smile twisted into a grimace as she remembered. “I always believed, in my heart of hearts, that Neil and I would be together. I knew Elizabeth wasn’t permanent, the way you can tell when a friend is with someone who’s wrong for them. When Neil told me they were divorcing…”