Page 91 of Dear John

“Another brilliant idea,” Anna sighed, going back to her phone.

“You don’t get it. Men don’t handle breakups the same way as women. We drink. We work. We?—”

“Fuck another woman!” Fox exclaimed. “Yes, that’s what you need to do.”

There were no words to explain how utterly stupid that would be. But I tried anyway. “So…you think I should throw away everything with Isla and just go for the nearest woman.”

“No, I think you should get out of your head and realize what’s right in front of you. Since there have been no loving pleas of affection exchanged, I think this is still a viable option. However, you do run the risk of her never speaking to you again.”

“Then why would I risk it?”

He shrugged. “Why do people risk heart medication with all the side effects? Because there’s a chance it’ll work.”

I shook my head. “Not in this case. Your idea sucks.”

“Well, you didn’t like my other ones. I was just giving it a shot in the dark,” he grumbled, sinking into a chair.

“Thanks, but there’s no advice needed here,” I sighed, closing my eyes.

“She could still come.”

“She’s not coming, Fox. Give it up.”

“You know, I liked it better when you were her stalker. At least then you had some good ideas.”

“Yep, and those ideas landed him at the airport,” Anna said.

She wasn’t wrong.

30

CASH

The door slammedopen and Eva stormed in. As usual, she was fucking pissed at me. Well, so was everyone else. She could get in line.

“What is this?” she asked, slamming a newspaper down on my desk.

I picked it up and read the headline, then tossed it back down. “It looks like a news article to me.”

Her finger jabbed the picture that showed Isla walking out of a hotel, looking over her shoulder. The distance was far enough away that she probably didn’t even realize she was being watched. “How could you? Kavanaugh is your friend. Please tell me you didn’t sell him out.”

“Why would I give a fuck about Kavanaugh and Isla?”

“Because you wanted revenge. Because he didn’t go along with the senator’s plans like you wanted him to.”

I was no angel—not anymore, but that didn’t mean I would settle for petty revenge. Going after Isla would get me nothing. “Eva, I’m sure in your mind, there’s always a conspiracy, but in reality, going after Isla would accomplish nothing.”

“What would?”

I looked up at the accusation in her tone. “Excuse me?”

“I know you’re planning something. You’ve been on your phone non-stop with Michael.”

The only way she would know that was if she’d paid a visit to the IT room. “Monitoring my calls? How very unlike you.”

“Well, I picked up a few tips in all our years of marriage,” she sniped. “It seems the only way to get answers out of you is to spy on you.”

I walked around the desk, grabbing my keys to Sally’s case. “You could always ask.”

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