Page 16 of Love Like Lightning

I resist the urge to correct her and remind her of Henry’s name. It doesn’t matter. “I wasn’t a ho.”

“You were a bold badass ho with a guy who seems to be the complete opposite of your usual laced-up lame asshole type. And I use the word ‘ho’ endearingly. You know I ho enough for the both of us.”

There’s one thing I don’t ever have to worry about when it comes to Simone. She’ll never sugarcoat the truth. Even if she should sometimes. Luckily, I’ve developed a thick skin after all these years, so it isn’t so jarring. And I do know that she’s using the term ho with affection.

“Listen, I know that my past boyfriends haven’t exactly been shining examples, but I don’t know if that means I should start messing around with anyone new.”

Simone’s been convinced that I’ve had so many bad relationships because I go for the wrong kind of guys. She’s never really been on board with the way I find my boyfriends through our cousins, her brothers specifically. When I tell her it’s just convenient, she goes on about how love isn’t supposed to be convenient. She’s been so dedicated to that rhetoric that I almost believe it myself.

Only, I’m more convinced that it’s a me problem, not a them problem. It certainly doesn’t help that I’ve been told more than once that maybe things would have worked out if I were just a little bit different. Just before they told me that they had actually met someone else.

Of course, this “someone else” was somehow better than me. Had something I didn’t have.

The shittiest part about how all of my relationships have ended is that my partners never seem to care all that much, and I’m left with a broken heart wondering why the same thing keeps happening over and over.

Not all of us can go off and have a string of fun flings with all different kinds of guys, not caring what anyone else thinks about it. Simone decided to walk that path a long time ago, and there’s no room for me there. We may be family, but as an only child, I don’t feel like I can do the whole free spirit thing.

Simone’s mom and mine are sisters, two of five siblings, and Simone has always had way more leeway than me. Her three older brothers bear the brunt of her parents’ expectations, while Simone, as the only girl in her family, is more or less left to do as she pleases.

I, on the other hand, am under a lot of pressure. Pressure to be successful in my career. To succeed at finding the right person to date and eventually marry. Someone my family likes and accepts, which can be tricky with a huge Italian family. The number of opinions is almost insurmountable. It’s a miracle any of my cousins have gotten married, but a handful have achieved what I still haven’t.

It’s why I’ve stuck to people who are already kind of in our orbit. Not that that’s worked out well at all.

Which is fine. Completely fine. I’ll find someone who is right for me.

After I take a long break from dating. I’ve been hopping from one relationship to the next since college. A break is more than called for.

“I’m just saying, there are plenty of fish in the sea and all that. And more than enough who don’t live in suits.”

“I hear you. If nothing else, I’ll have the memories of an epic hookup.” It sounds like some kind of consolation prize, and when I say it, it feels off. “Let’s just drop it for now and start Bridgerton, okay? I need something to cleanse my brain of that episode.”

“All right, all right.” She grabs the remote from the coffee table and navigates to the Netflix app. Once she finds the show, she glances at me before hitting play, but I’m barely paying attention.

I’m staring down at my phone, reading a text message that just came in from Cam over and over again to make sure I’m not seeing things. I can’t quite compute what he’s trying to say. I haven’t heard from him since we both flew out of Denver a couple of months ago after that less than stellar meeting. I’ve been working on a freelance project that’s set to wrap up next week.

Just as the contents of the message are starting to sink in, another one comes through. A cold sweat breaks out on the back of my neck, and my mouth drops open.

“What’s up, G?”

Dragging my eyes away from the flight info displayed on my phone, I snap my mouth shut. She looks at me with concern in her green eyes, her finger poised to click the play button.

“Apparently I’m going back to Colorado.”

Her perfectly arched eyebrows shoot up, and she lets out a shocked laugh. “What?”

“In two weeks, I’ll be back in Ever Lake.”

Oh, shit.

7

Henry

“No, dude, I know I’ll never see her again. That doesn’t change the fact that I can’t get her out of my head.”

I roll my eyes even though my brother Ian can’t see me through the phone. He’s acting like I’ve been talking about Gia every day since the night I met her. I’ve only mentioned her a time or two.

Only when it’s relevant. Or when she just crossed my mind.

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