“If I go, he wins,” I counter.
“Unless you go and make him eat his heart out,” Clarabella announces.
“I don’t want to go.” The words come out of my mouth before my head says, I want to go.
“We spoke last night.” I fill them in on the small details I’m sure they are going to freak out about, and the minute I say the words, they all gasp. I hold my hand up to stop them from talking. “It’s over. He said his piece. I said mine, and we are moving on.” I look at the three of them and they all burst out laughing. “What?”
“He’s been here four times since he broke up with his girlfriend.” Shelby tilts her head to the side.
“Actually, his fiancée.” I point at her. “He was engaged less than a week ago, and now he wants to come up all in my space and uproot my life?” I shout, shaking my head. “No fucking way. Fuck that.”
“You’re going,” Clarabella states, “if only to tell him you don’t need him.”
“I just told him I don’t need him.” I point behind me to the window. “So I don’t have to go.”
“That was a mating dance if I ever saw one,” Clarabella declares. “He looked like he was going to fuck you against the door, with or without us looking out the window.”
“Mating dance?” I say, not sure I heard her right. “I was literally telling him how much I hated him.”
“That just gets it going even more.” Presley laughs. “I used to tell Bennett at least once a day how we weren’t a couple.”
“But everyone knew that you were,” Shelby remarks. “The only one you were fooling was yourself.”
“Ladies,” I say softly, “I am not going.”
“You have to,” Shelby says, and she is usually the voice of reason between the three of them.
“I don’t have anyone to go with,” I finally say, “and I’m not going to a hockey game by myself.”
Clarabella holds her finger in the air before walking over to the door. She sticks her head out of the door. “Addison,” she calls the new receptionist who started working here this week. With the expanding business, we needed to hire someone to do most of the paperwork and return phone calls.
Addison comes into the room and looks at all of us, the smile on her face falling. “Am I in trouble?” she asks as she tucks her blond hair behind her ear.
“No!” we all shout at the same time, and the frown turns back into a smile.
“That guy who was just in here?” Clarabella asks her.
“The hot one?” she asks, and all I can do is roll my eyes. He’s not that hot, and I don’t know why I’m bothered she thinks that.
“Yes, him,” Clarabella confirms, turning to me to smile as if she made her case.
“He’s not that hot.” I throw my hands up in the air.
“Now you’re fucking lying.” Shelby points at me. “Addison, what are you doing tonight?”
She looks at her and then me. “Probably some coloring and then maybe some Play-Doh, and if it’s really a crazy night—painting.” She smiles. Her daughter is four years old and she is a single mom, and from what she said, the father is not involved at all.
“Not tonight, you aren’t. You’re going to the hockey game,” Shelby tells her, and her eyes go big.
“Um,” she says, “thank you so much, but I don’t have any babysitters.” She twists her fingers in front of her. “And I don’t have the extra cash to hire someone.”
“I will take her,” Shelby says with a smile. “The girls have a great time when they are together.” Addison’s eyes go even bigger.
“I haven’t been out without her since she was born.” I put my head back, feeling like an asshole if I’m the one who ruins her one night out.
“This is insane,” I finally say out loud. “Are we just going to forget that he was engaged less than a week ago?”
“Let me ask you something,” Shelby says, and from her tone, I have a feeling she’s going to come at me with guns blazing.
“How was he during the wedding meetings?” She puts her hands on her hips.
“Oh, good one.” Clarabella claps, pointing at Shelby.
“He was like every other groom,” I lie through my teeth. Folding my arms over my chest, one look at them and they can see through me. “Okay, he was off a bit, but that is only because it was awkward that his ex was planning his wedding.” I look at her. “How do you think Ace would feel if you were planning his wedding?”