Page 121 of Angel Eyes

Two days?

Slowly, I pushed myself into a seated position, ignoring the way my ribs ached in protest. An unexpected side effect of a broken heart? Random injuries due to too much crying.

Simone’s mouth curved into a smile as she brought the tray closer, scooping up a spoonful of oatmeal sprinkled with brown sugar and raising it to my lips. I swallowed a mouthful, letting the warm, nutty flavors wash over my tongue.

“You know,” she said, scooping up another spoonful, “my grandmother used to quote the philosopher Bernard Paul Heroux, saying There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be diminished by a nice bowl of porridge. Of course, Heroux was actually talking about a cup of tea rather than porridge, but to each his own, right?”

That drew a tiny grin from me, and Simone winked, feeding me another bite.

On Sunday, I finally crawled out of bed. Halting on the way to the door, I caught sight of my reflection in the mirror. If my face muscles weren’t out of commission from nonstop cycles of crying and sleeping, I would have laughed. The shirt I was wearing was riddled with sweat stains, and I had on mismatched socks beneath a pair of sleep shorts that were, for whatever reason, on backward. And that was to say nothing of the state of my hair.

Undoubtedly, there were scarecrows who looked better.

Swiping a hand through my bedhead, I pulled open the door and moved down the hall. The minute I entered the living room, Simone looked up from where she sat perched on the sofa, knees tucked beneath her as she pressed a phone to her ear.

“Hey, she’s up. I’ll have her give you a call.” She hung up, watching me carefully as I shuffled toward the kitchen in search of hydration.

“Who was that?” I twisted the cap off a bottle of Evian, drinking half of it in one go.

“Your sister, who is freaking amazing, by the way.” She crossed the room, sliding onto one of the kitchen bar stools. “How come you never told me you had a twin?”

“Irish twin,” I corrected, sinking down onto the chair beside her.

“Well, your Irish twin is a total badass.” Her grin slipped. “And she’s worried about you.”

I stared down at my chipped nail polish. “Does she know?”

“Mm-hmm. She called the morning after …” She trailed off, letting an awkward stretch of silence fill in the blanks. “I told her what happened. I hope that’s okay.”

I squeezed Simone’s arm gently, trying for a smile that collapsed halfway through. “It’s more than okay. Honestly, I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done these past few days. If it weren’t for you, I’m sure Ember would have been on a plane by now.”

Simone chuckled. “Yeah, about that …” I blinked, my eyes going wide. “Don’t worry,” she rushed on before I had the chance to fly into full-on panic mode. “I talked her out of coming. I promised her you wouldn’t be alone for a single minute if you didn’t want to be.”

I sighed with relief, dropping my head into my hands. The last thing I needed was my sister upending her life to come and rescue me. Ember had always been the muscle in our relationship, and she wasn’t above pureeing someone’s balls if she thought they’d hurt me.

I lifted my head and glanced around the quiet room. “Where’s Carter?”

“Oh, I sent him home. He needed to work on that final assignment due Tuesday.”

The final assignment. Right. Apparently, I had forgotten real life was marching on beyond the four walls of my personal tragedy.

“Crap,” I muttered, massaging my forehead. “I meant to finish that this weekend.”

“Way ahead of you.” Simone placed my phone on the counter, pushing it toward me. “I emailed Benoit to let him know you had a virus and were puking your guts out. Not in those exact words, but he got the gist. I’m pretty sure he plans to give you an extension.” My eyes shot up, connecting with her amused expression. “Pays to be the teacher’s pet, I guess.”

I bobbed my head, not bothering to argue.

“Listen,” I said, glancing at Simone, “you should probably take off too. I’m sure you have things to do, and you’ve already done more than I could ever repay you for.”

“I don’t need repayment for being there for my friend. But …” She paused, chewing her lip. “Are you sure you want me to go? I’m happy to stay another night.”

I shook my head. “No, seriously, I’ll be fine.” I was going to have to face reality sooner or later. Might as well be sooner.

She gave me a searching look, but didn’t argue, and I waited while she collected her things before walking her to the door.

On the threshold, she turned and pulled me into a tight embrace.

“Don’t let the bastards keep you down. Your sister may be a total badass, but so are you.”

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