Page 30 of Never Say Yes To Your Best Friend (I said Yes)

“I tried to explain that, but I’m her only child. To her, it’s like telling someone who loves crab legs that there’s such a thing as too many crab legs.”

He’s got me there. There can’t be such a thing as too many crab legs. Never, never, never, with a side of lush, meaty, seafoody crabiness. “I was going to ask what you thought about a new pudding flavor. Crab legs and garlic butter. I know everyone thinks pudding is sweet, but we’ve done some wild flavors before, and savory is a huge thing. I think it could be a bestseller.”

He can tell I’m just trying to cheer him up, and I don’t know how to do that without changing the subject. “If people arewilling to eat crabanana splits, I could see how you’d be right,” he murmurs.

“Maybe we should have tried one. Market research,” I say with a small laugh.

“I didn’t fancy a trip to the ER.”

“But you were brave enough to come clean with your mom. If you can do that, then you can do anything.”

“I feel like I can donothingat the moment.” Shit. He looks like he’s sagging into his chair again. Defeat. It doesn’t look right on this man. He’s allowed to feel sad or hurt or question things, but defeat? I don’t like it at all. “I feel like I’m stuck.”

“Stuck here?”

“Stuck in life. Going nowhere. I feel like I have so much of what other people want, and when you have money, everyone wants your life because they think it must be perfectly uncomplicated and problem-free, but I can’t seem to get it together in the way I should be getting it together. Business-wise, it’s good, and I’ve made great choices. I feel like I can be proud of everything I’ve accomplished or had help accomplishing because I for sure did have help. Not just at the start from family money but from everyone who has ever worked at one of my companies along the way. I have great teams, and awesome people make a huge difference. I would never take all the credit. When I say I’m proud, I mean it that way. But personally? I just feel like I’ve hit this wall. I’ve been at this stupid wall for ages.”

“You’ve had relationships in the past?”

One set of honey-gold eyes track back to mine. They’re not guarded, but they are a little bit narrow. He can’t see where I’m going with this.Ican’t see where I’m going with this. It’s not like I have much experience myself. I’m definitely no love guru. In fact, I’m the opposite. I’m the get-dumped-for-a-woman-my-fiancé-just-met-the-day-before guru.

“Not long ones. Nothing I would say even skirted close to love. They seem to always end because I’m told I don’t know what it is I want. It’s a common theme with me as the common denominator. And they’re probably right.”

“You have friends,” I comment.

“I do have friends, yes.”

Friends made all the difference for me when I was stuck. I don’t know what I would have done without Gen. I wouldn’t be the same me I am now if she hadn’t been there for me growing up, as a teenager, and now as an adult.

“I think if you’re facing down a wall, then maybe you should do the things you normally do that make you happy.” I’m not a good person to give advice, though. I didn’t do jack shit after Jeff left me with a ring on my finger, a head full of broken dreams, and a heart full of misery. “Hang out with friends. Go out and do things. You might meet someone, or you might not, but you shouldn’t pressure yourself into it. No one should be pressured into that. Your mom might have been trying to help, but setting up dates someone doesn’t want to go on in the first place, or maybe both parties don’t want to go on, isn’t going to remedy the singleness situation. That’s just applying pressure in such a way that all you’re going to get is coal. Or diamonds. I can’t remember which one it is. Maybe neither. Maybe it’s something combustible, like a baking soda and vinegar volcano waiting to explode.”

“Baking soda and vinegar.” His tiny smile causes a not-so-tiny reaction in my ovaries. “I haven’t thought about that since I was a kid.”

“Do rich people make regular science fair projects?”

“Sure. We just use really expensive vinegar and really expensive baking soda.”

We both chuckle. And a chuckle is almost a laugh. It means we’re getting there.

My heart flutters when Mont looks the tiniest bit like a not-so-well-used mop.Even if he literally were a well-used mop, he’d probably be the hottest one in the building.

“I made that donation to the rat rescue. I looked it up after you sent me the link. You’re right. They look like they do good work. And the rats are pretty cute.”

“They’re adorable.” I try to show I’m grateful for it, or at least that my friends will be, but it’s hard not to show anything else. As in, the way his soft voice and the amber flecks in his eyes that seem to be able to turn on and off with his emotions just about plow me over. “I think the only thing more adorable than a pet rat is an opossum, and they’re pretty much just large, hissing rats with pouches.”

“Opossums are awesome.”

“That’s the rhyme, and it’s there for a reason. They’re awesome indeed.” I fumble awkwardly for something else to say. I’m me, and awkwardness doesn’t last for long before I just go with raw honesty. “Are you going to be okay?”

“You mean, am I going to pick myself up from this and get on with it? Sure. I hope so. My mom won’t be annoyed with me forever, and I don’t think she’ll go back to planning dates for me, at least not at the rate she was before. Maybe one or two here or there, and I might have to give her those, but I’ll figure the rest out.”

“Do you have time to figure it out if you’re always working?”

He sighs and rubs a hand on the back of his neck. I wonder if he’s been bent over his work at this desk for hours, and it hurts, or if it’s just a stress mechanism. Either way, I’d like his hand to be my hand right now. Both my hands would be better. I could give him one hell of a massage. My va-jay lets out a two-fisted cheer. She’d like to give one hell of a massage.

So inappropriate. Holy fuckles.

“I’ve been thinking more about that. I don’t know what I want to do because my life has been all about work. It’s been about trying to fill the huge shoes that came before me and being worthy of my family name and legacy. Yes, that dreaded word. Legacy. Maybe the right thing to do is work smarter, as you said, and not so hard that I don’t have time for anything else. I can put other people in place to oversee the running of the companies I have, and for the large part, that’s what I’ve done. I wouldn’t be able to function on any level otherwise, but I could do more. I could keep doing it. I could do it until I literally have nothing to do except check in every now and then.”

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