Page 91 of The Guy Who Became My Grumpy Boss

“Talk to her about it.”

I swallowed hard. “It’s that simple?”

“It is. However, and here’s the hard part, don’t plan the conversation. At least not all of it. If you can talk to her about this without it being totally rehearsed, then I think you’ll be able to tell if she’s right for you.”

“But am I right for her?” I asked as I added a red rose.

“Only she can tell you that. Are you going to give her the chance?”

Chapter 27

-Jessica-

There wasn’t much a table full of pies couldn’t fix.

Unfortunately, my current problem might be one of the few that could resist the pie solution.

When Ashley had said she would take care of it, she hadn’t been kidding. She’d arrived, along with Brooke, Teresa, and Nanette—who had just flown in from her husband’s movie set in Europe—and the aforementioned pastries, at exactly nine o’clock in the morning. My apartment was only a partial disaster, but no one seemed to notice.

Teresa had insisted on making whipped cream from scratch, which had taken much longer than it should have, but had been extremely entertaining, and now the five of us were gathered on my couch and chairs eating.

So far no one had asked me why I’d called a code red, but I knew it was only a matter of time before someone did.

Instead of waiting, I swallowed my bite of chocolate-cookie-cheesecake-something pie and cleared my throat.

Everyone stopped eating and looked at me.

“You’re probably wondering why I’ve summoned you here today.”

Brooke, bless her heart, snorted.

I sighed. In order for them to understand my dilemma, I needed to start at the beginning. “None of you know this, but Iwas married once.”

My announcement was met by surprised blinks and raised eyebrows.

I continued. “When all of my high school friends dated, I did too. They all claimed to have met the loves of their lives, so I thought I had too. They all got married the summer after we graduated, so I did too.”

The memories from this time of my life weren’t bad, they were just tainted.

“At first, we all hung out. Had parties. Then the others started having kids and staying home. My husband—” I swallowed. There was a reason I’d called Danger Zone, “Danger Zone,” for so long. “His name was Peter, and I had decided we wanted to wait to have kids, so this time we didn’t jump on the bandwagon.”

More blinks.

“Your ex-husband’s name is Peter?” Nanette asked.

I winced. “Yes.”

“Go on.”

“We weren’t unhappy, but Peter—Peter the First—wasn’t exactly ambitious. He worked a labor job, which was fine, but when I got a promotion at the bank and was almost making more than him, he became angry.”

Ashley’s eyes narrowed. She’d been through some partner trauma before too.

I held up my hand. “Nothing physical. He didn’t even attack me emotionally. He just disconnected.”

Even though I’d thought about this moment a thousand times, it took me a minute to put words to it. “Like so many young girls, I believed that marriage should be for life, so I did what I thought I should and turned down the next promotion. And the one after that.” Now that I’d started, the words tumbled out. “I’d applied to go to college and got accepted. I asked him ifhe thought I should go to school, and he said he was the man of the house and could take care of me.”

A few mutters followed that statement, but no one interrupted.

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