“I thought he didn’t have many friends here.”
“He kept to himself when he first moved back, but now that he’s involved in the local political scene, he’s found—and I know, it sounds crazy—a couple of good guys that he likes to hang out with. When there’s not a baby crying…which right now is practically never.”
“This must be a special moment, then.” Gabi is curled up in Bee’s arms, snoring softly.
We sit silently in the quiet for a moment, each on our respective sides of the couch. Bee closes her eyes and leans against the backrest. She’s got dark circles under her eyes, but somehow she still looks radiant. Her sandy hair is gathered on top of her head in a messy bun. A hot tendril of envy rises through my chest. I always felt like I had to work harder than my sister to be beautiful, to be valuable. It was always easier for her.
I check that thought.
Maybe it wasn’t.
I guess you never know.
“How did you know, Bee?”
“About what?”
“About Dex.”
She takes a deep breath in through her nose and lets it out. “That I loved him?”
“More than that. How’d you know he was the right one for you?”
“I loved him almost from the moment I saw him. We always had…” Her voice trails off as she searches for the words. “There was always something between us, but it was more than friendship, and when he kissed me the first time, it was like…God, this is so stupidly cliché. It was fireworks.” Bee smiles at the memory.
“But you didn’t date.”
“We were going to. Life just kept intervening.”
“So when you saw him again…”
“That was a wild coincidence. It was one of those split-second decisions. I wanted to show him how over him I was, and at the same time I wanted to know…why hadn’t it worked out? Why had he disappeared from my life for so long? At first, it wasn’t about getting him back. But once we started talking, everything from school came rushing back. Anyway, in the end, you don’t get that many second chances, so I took it.”
As Bee speaks, I remember the Fourth of July, Jax cutting across traffic to talk to me. That was a split-second decision, too, exactly the same kind of thing Bee had with Dex.
“And you’re sure he’s the one for you?”
Bee laughs, a pretty, charming sound. “Cate, is something on your mind?”
“Obviously I can’t hide it from you.”
“Did you and your boyfriend have a fight?”
The tears come so quickly it surprises me. “We broke up.”
Bee is instantly concerned. She raises a hand like she wants to reach for me, but drops it again when I wave her off.
“Don’t wake up Gabi just because I was a total idiot.”
“What happened?”
“He got me fired from my job. Well…transferred. I wouldn’t listen to him long enough to hear the whole story. It happened overnight, and he didn’t say anything. There was a medical emergency with his mother, and we didn’t talk, and he didn’t text, or send any kind of message. The next day I showed up at Basiqué and I’d already been replaced.”
“Wow. That’s a pretty ballsy move.”
“I was really pissed.”
“I bet. It probably doesn’t help that he was right.”
I roll my eyes. “Not you, too.”
“He definitely should have told you, and talked to you about it, and if I ever meet this guy, I’ll tell him that myself. But that job—it wasn’t worth what you were giving it. Would you even be here now if you were still working there?”
I shake my head.
“That’s what I thought. So why don’t you call him up and tell him you’re sorry, and you can kiss and make up as soon as you see him again.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. “It’s too late. He won’t want anything to do with me.”
Bee looks at me for a long moment, then shrugs her shoulders a little. “If that’s what you think. Want to watch a movie?”
“You pick.”
She turns on a romantic comedy that had been popular when we were in high school, and I laugh at all the appropriate parts, but her words ring in my ears.
You don’t get that many second chances.
Chapter Forty-Two
Jax
I’m stepping onto my private plane, everything squared away, my things already stowed in the overhead compartment by my staff, the portfolio with all of my plans for Cate held tightly in my hands, when my cell phone rings in my pocket.
Jesus.
My first instinct is to ignore it, but after all that’s happened lately with Mom, I can’t risk it.