Page 68 of Something Forever

I roll my eyes. “Oh, life must be so hard in your two-story penthouse that your rich boyfriend pays for.”

“Whitney,” she whines. “Please come over. I’ll order from your favorite Thai place?”

She’s going to get the truth out of me no matter what, so I might as well face it head-on. “Alright, I’ll be there in an hour.”

After sending off some emails, I head to Abbi’s apartment in Williamsburg. She’s only a few stops away on the L. Her apartment is a waterfront suite with a gorgeous view of the city across the river. When I arrive, she opens the door and wraps her arms around me.

“I missed you,” she whines.

I roll my eyes but hug her tighter. “I literally saw you last week.”

She pulls me inside. Once I’m settled in, we sit on the couch, and she puts our food order in.

“How’s work?” I ask.

She waves a hand. “I don’t want to talk about work. How’s your hubby?”

“I thought you wanted to talk about Shane.”

She narrows her eyes. “We’ll get to that.”

“We slept together,” I say reluctantly.

“I already knew that. No updates?”

“Again. We slept together again.”

Her mouth drops, quickly replaced by a giant grin that spreads across her face. “I knew it. You like him.”

I purse my lips. “I maybe sort-of slightly have a tiny desire to keep having sex with him. That is all.”

“You like him!”

Suppressing another eye roll, I reach for the wine between us and pour myself a glass. “I tolerate him. I like his skills in bed. There’s a difference.”

“Yeah, right. You don’t do casual. You never have.”

“Well, there’s a first time for everything.”

She scoffs. “The first time for you to have a friends-with-benefits is not with your husband.”

“Stop calling him that.”

Because I like it way too much.

She laughs in my face. “What else should I call him?”

“We’re not… he’s just—” I break off, frustrated. “It’s complicated. Friends with benefits is all this can be. I told him we should just pretend it never happened.”

“That’s what you want?”

I shake my head, blinking furiously at the unexpected pressure behind my eyes. “I just said it because I thought it’s what he was going to say, and I didn’t want to be embarrassed. But now that he’s actually acting like nothing ever happened? It hurts.”

Abbi wraps her arms around me, hugging me tightly. “You’ll figure it out. I know you will. You’re the smartest, kindest, most beautiful person I know. If Liam can’t see that, he’s an idiot.”

I let out a watery laugh, tears poking at corners of my eyes. “Thanks, Ab.”

“And no more avoiding me.”

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