Voyeur Extraordinaire(46)

“Oh Nora,” Amy said quietly. Shit, why did I have to say Adrian had broken my heart?

I shook my head. “I don’t want to talk about this, about Adrian anymore. I just want to pretend last night never happened. Can we do that?”

Amy nodded. “Of course. But if you ever feel like talking about it or men again, tell me.”

“Don’t worry. There’s no one else I could talk to anyway.”

“So Janet has discovered her passion for jackfruit. She’s introduced three new dishes with jackfruit in them. And they all taste perfect. It’s scary how close her jackfruit jerky and her shredded jackfruit come to tasting like actual meat. I don’t think people would even realize there wasn’t shredded chicken in their tacos if we weren’t a vegan restaurant. You have to come for lunch soon and taste it!”

I gave Amy a grateful smile. Only she could change the topic that smoothly and entertainingly. “I think I’ll take you up on that offer. Shredded pork and chicken tacos are something I’ve been really missing since I stopped eating meat.”

She smiled widely at me, then stuffed more pancake into her mouth before she began to chatter about a few of her odd customers in the restaurant. I took a few bites from my pancake as well, laughing occasionally about something she told me. Bruno was too focused on the food to pay much attention to us, though Amy was still patting him. He would choose food over women any time.

Having Amy act so normally, like a true friend, showed me once again that I couldn’t run away from her and Jared, and my life. I didn’t enjoy working in the bar, but I liked Leon and Mona, and I actually kind of liked living in New York even if I was constantly broke. And then there were Amy and Jared. They meant so much to me, especially Amy, and I would not lose her because I'd been stupid enough to sleep with Adrian.

I wondered what he was doing now. Probably laughing his ass off because I'd spread my legs for him. Or maybe he was disgusted because he'd slept with a little, stupid virgin. And tonight he would likely take the next woman into his bed and bang her. In a few days he would have forgotten about me completely. I wished I could say the same about me, but I would never be able to forget what had happened. I'd given him a part of me. I wasn’t someone who attached great importance to her hymen, but it would certainly have been nice to do the deed with a somewhat decent guy. Instead I’d fallen for the epitome of a bad boy. I would never again be able to roll my eyes at a protagonist who fell in love with the bad boy in a book. I was that girl now.

I let out a small sigh, causing Amy to stop talking and look at me.

“I think I'll spend a few days in Harrington. I'm missing my parents and I haven’t been home in a while,” I told her, trying not to let my inner turmoil show. Even though it was a spontaneous decision to go home for a few days, I knew it was the right one.

Amy’s expression turned worried. “You're not thinking about moving back in with your parents, are you?”

I shook my head. “No, not anymore. There was a brief moment of panic last night when I considered it, but not anymore. I want to be a writer and New York is publishing central.” Not that it was doing me much good…

She regarded me closely for a moment before a relieved smile broke out on her face. “Good. I wouldn't have enjoyed coming to Harrington to kidnap you and drag you back to New York with me, if you'd chosen to move back.”

I couldn’t help but grin at her. Amy had that effect on people, and especially me. I didn’t doubt for a second that she would have come to my parents’ house to give me a tongue-lashing.

“Will you take Bruno with you?”

I nodded, glancing at my little pug; he was sleeping on his side, his hind legs twitching as if he was dreaming about running. “Yes. I'll just have to call my boss later because I'm supposed to work the next few days, and then I'll leave as soon as possible.” Jack would be royally pissed that I bailed on him, but I needed a change of scenery. But he wouldn’t fire me. I doubted he’d easily find someone else for the job. Who was keen on working minimum wage plus meager tips and get their butts touched on a daily basis?

Amy grabbed my hand. “Promise me you’ll have fun. Promise me you won’t dwell on that night. Promise me you won’t think about that asshole for one second, don’t even give him that much of your time. Just forget about him. He's not worth it. You'll find a nice, caring guy. You’re too good not to.”

I didn't say anything but I forced a smile. It would be hard enough not to think about Adrian every waking moment of the day. Until I wouldn’t think about him at all anymore, that would take a long, long time. I put down my fork. “I think I need to get home and take a shower. I’ll wash your pajamas and bring them to you before I leave.”