Page 108 of Off Pitch

No, she’s happy with planning her wedding

Let her be happy

And she has no idea about anything that’s going on right now since I never told her

Rory

So this must involve Knox

Lucia

I’ll bring a bottle of wine then

Rory

And I’ll bring the Ben & Jerry’s

Keep your chin up, Lo

Luc and I will help you with whatever’s got you down

Lucia

We’ll see you shortly, ojitos

I tell Lucia and Rory everything as soon as they walk in my door. We’re now all cuddled together, sitting on the floor in front of my sofa, open containers of ice cream in front of us.

“He’s fucking joking, right?” Lucia says.

“Oh, I wish,” I say with a sigh. “But he made it clear that it’s all fake to him, that we’re only playing our parts.”

“He can say whatever the fuck he wants,” Rory says, clearly pissed, “but he’s lying through his goddamn teeth.”

“He’s not lying. He explicitly told me he wasn’t lying.”

“Because someone who’s lying about their feelings certainly wouldn’t lie about lying about them,” Lucia chides.

“Not helping, Luc.” I go to wipe a tear from my eye, but the tears are gone. There aren’t any left in me right now. “Even if he is lying, it makes no difference. It’s abundantly clear after tonight that he wants nothing more than what we already had going. I’m just the stupid girl who fell for a man who was never going to want her in return.”

Lucia cups my cheek with her hand. “Harlow Pierce, I will not sit here and let you talk about yourself like this. There are only two possibilities I see here: Knox is a great liar who can deny his feelings for somebody to her face out of fear, or he’s the biggest dumbass in history to let a catch like you walk away.”

“Both can be true,” Rory adds. “He’s stupid for letting you walk away if he doesn’t have feelings because heshouldhave feelings for you—you’re fucking amazing. But he’s even more stupid if he lets you walk away when hedoeshave feelings.”

“Well, men are idiots,” Lucia says.

“Says the woman who’s had no luck with online dating,” I mutter.

“I’m ignoring that because you’re hurting, Lo.” She and Rory pull me in tighter. “But no matter what he meant or didn’t mean tonight, you still got yourself back through all of this. Harlow is back to her normal, bubbly, pre-Derek self, and Knox is a large part of why.”

I let out a breath. “Yeah, he is. Hearing the things you, Rory, and Ella have been telling me hit different when they came fromsomeone who had no obligation to say them. That was the push I needed to finally disregard everything Derek ever put into my head.”

“We’re beyond grateful for that aspect of this,” Rory says. “We really missed this Harlow.”

“I missed me, too.”

“Are you going to be okay, Lo?” Lucia asks, looking at me in concern.

I nod my head. “I’ll be okay. I’m strong, and he’s not the first man to hurt me like this. It’s painful, but it’s not the end of the world. I’ll be able to move on eventually.”

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