Page 94 of Offside Devil

“Which is exactly why I’m going to go out with someone who does.”

“I could fire you,” I blurt.

As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I know I won’t. But I let them hang there anyway.

Mira stares at me, her face stony. Finally, she shrugs. “Fine. Do it if you want.”

“Mira—”

“I’m taking the day off to make up for all the overtime I worked last night, since you were an inconsiderate asshole and ruined my date.” She snatches her keys and purse from the counter. “It will be a test run so you can see what it’s like without me.”

I don’t need a test run. I know what it’s going to be like without her.

But I don’t ask her to stay.

I can’t.

I lost four years of sobriety last night, along with a good dose of my dignity. I’m not going to lose any more.

Mira is halfway out the door when she whips around. “By the way—from now on, when you’re in town, I want every Friday night off. I’ll pretend to be your girlfriend during business hours, but I’m not going to put my life on pause for you anymore. Asshole.”

To prove her point, she slams the door closed without waiting for me to answer.

38

MIRA

“This dress was made for you, Mimi. You need it.” Taylor drapes the tenth dress in as many minutes over my arm and rushes off to the next rack.

I’m starting to buckle under the weight of all this fabric. And the growing price tag. I have a couple paychecks from Zane in the bank now, but not enough to go on a shopping spree in a place that serves champagne in the dressing rooms.

“According to you, every dress in this store is made for me.”

“Because you are the sample size.” She looks over her shoulder at me with thinly veiled disgust. “Everything fits you perfectly. I would sell my soul to have legs as long as yours.”

“I’m going to have to sell mine if I’m going to afford this.” I deposit a few dresses to a rack as I follow behind my best friend. “I already have dresses.”

“Summer dresses. Cute, daytime dresses. Nothing you can wear on a date.”

“Well, maybe it’s a good thing I couldn’t make it last night, then. Would’ve been nice to know I had nothing to wear before I agreed to go.”

“Blaine is so into you that he would’ve liked whatever outfit you chose.” She whips around, a slinky velvet dress held aloft. “But this? This he will love.”

Taylor adds the dress to the pile. I don’t even bother to argue.

I also don’t mention that I never actually chose an outfit to wear on the date. Even as the hours ticked down and I knew I needed to start getting ready, I couldn’t force myself to go through the motions.

I didn’t want to curl my hair and do my makeup for Blaine. What I wanted was to stay at the condo and celebrate for Zane. Watching him score the winning goal and be paraded around the ice was more exciting than anything the double not-a-date was going to offer.

I actually had half a mind to cancel—until Zane ignored my texts and stayed out all night. Even then, my anger was less about missing the night with Blaine and more about the principle of the matter.

“I don’t know if Blaine is ever going to see me in any of these,” I admit. “I don’t think I’m going to reschedule.”

Taylor slams to a stop and whips around. “You don’t have to reschedule; I already did.”

“What?!”

“Well, he was sitting there at the table with me and Daniel for an hour before you finally called and said you couldn’t make it. It was awkward.”

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