Page 30 of On the Rocks

“I get it,” Aiden said. “But you’ve got to let go of that history. Hailey is the one who’s here now. She’s the one you love. Forget about everything else.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My thoughts swirled between confusion and anger as I remembered how Levi’s betrayal had left me shattered. I remembered the nights I’d cried myself to sleep, wondering what I’d done wrong, why I hadn’t been enough. Disgust boiled in my gut. I really thought Dominic was a nice guy. But my perception of him shifted in an instant. He was no different than Levi. And Aiden? Giving advice like that made him just as bad.

Dominic’s next words only fueled my indignation. “You’re right. I just...need to move on, stop dwelling on the past. Amanda was a mistake. But Hailey needs to be my reason for living.”

So Dominic thought this fling would make him feel alive again? He was content throwing away his vows for the thrill of something new? His poor wife. I shifted, crumpling the papers in my trembling hands as I stood up. I didn’t want to hear anymore.

8

CORA

“Good, you’re home!” Jennifer called as I walked through the door. I could see the back of her head over the back of the couch from where I stood in the doorway.The Sound of Your Heart, Jennifer’s favorite Korean soap opera, was playing on the TV. “Jo Seok’s trying to cook for Ae-bong to impress her, and I’m very amused.” Pots were boiling over and flames were shooting up on the TV. “I swear to god this is what the kitchen looks like in Eastfield every time I turn my back.”

My thoughts were as stormy as the boiling pot on the TV, a horrible mix of anger and disappointment. The walk home had done little to soothe my agitation, leaving me free to replay the conversation between Dominic and Aiden over and over in my head. I toed off my shoes, dropped my bag, and headed for the couch.

It was Jennifer’s night off, and she sat there in her favorite, worn Winnie-the-Pooh pajamas, the melodramatic subtitles flashing across the TV screen, with an open box of pizza on the coffee table next to the tube of raw cookie dough from the fridge.Oh boy…These were all her guilty pleasure indulgencesat once. Truthfully, she’d been indulging more and more lately. Whenever Jennifer talked about Eastfield, she was either stressed or apathetic, and I’d started to worry she’d lost her enthusiasm for cooking.

Jennifer looked up from the TV and offered me the spoonful of cookie dough that had been on the way to her mouth seconds ago. She frowned, perhaps noticing the look on my face, and immediately hit pause on the episode. “Uh oh!” She stuffed the spoon in her mouth and sat up straighter, patting the spot on the couch next to her. “What’s wrong?” she demanded, the words muffled by cookie dough. “What happened? Who do I have to hurt? Just tell me and I will make their lives a living hell.”

I sank down on the cushion next to her, laughing without any real humor. “Work was shit.”

“What? Wait. I thought you said you liked your team. And that the lab actuallyisincredible. And that Allie was around for chats.”

“Yes, okay, all that’s great. I guess the work itself wasn’t shit. I made good progress today sorting out the ingredients I want to play with in some of the drinks. It’s more just something I overheard at work today that sucked.”

“Sucked” was actually an understatement.

Jennifer made a noise of concern. “This doesn’t sound good.”

“It wasn’t,” I muttered. Once I started talking—well more like venting—I couldn’t stop, giving Jennifer a blow-by-blow account of the conversation I’d eavesdropped on between Aiden and Dominic. My voice trembled at one point, and I hated how much I’d let it affect me.

By the time I’d finished, Jennifer’s expression had soured, her brows pinched, her nose wrinkled. I leaned back against the couch, surprisingly exhausted as old feelings of betrayal spilled free. “I just couldn’t stop myself from connecting it all back to Levi and the way he ended things with me last year.”

Jennifer wrapped her arms around me, smelling like pepperoni and chocolate chips as she gave me a reassuring squeeze. “Let’s just remember who’s to blame in that scenario,” she said firmly. “Levi.Youdidn’t do anything wrong. The two of you were together for fifteen damnyears.All the way back to high school.”

All the way back to after Aiden dumped me, when I’d been so hurt and confused and had needed someone to make me feel like I was desirable, lovable. Levi had been that someone…right up until he wasn’t anymore.

“Levi never gave you any hint that he wasn’t totally committed to you before he went on that work trip to LA and lost his damn mind,” Jenn reminded me.

I nodded, biting back the swell of emotion that surged up from my chest. It was fine to say that, but I still sometimes wondered if I’d missed red flags. Were there signs that I chose to ignore?

“I think we’ve learned Levi’s the kind of guy who only thinks of himself. And that doesn’t say anything about you, Cora. It says everything about him. Frankly,” Jennifer continued, “I don’t know how you put up with him for as long as you did. He was lucky to have you, and I wish him nothing but blisters and jury duty for the rest of his life.”

I choked on a laugh, blinking back the heaviness in my eyes. “I can’t believe I actually thought he was such a nice guy, like hecouldn’t possibly hurt me like Aiden. Goes to show how little I know.”

What was it about me that forced guys to end relationships at the drop of a hat?

“God, men suck sometimes. But hey,” Jennifer said. “Neither of them deserved you. So it’s totally their loss.”

“Yeah,” I muttered. “Except now here I am, with no Levi, and with annoyingly successful Aiden in my life again. Honestly, if I did have to get stuck with one of them, why did it have to be him?” Levi’s betrayal was the freshest, but at least I knew what had happened there. It sucked that he’d fallen in love with someone else when Ithoughthe was in love withme, but at least he’d been honest about it. I’d probably never know what went wrong with Aiden—and like hell if I was going to ask him after all these years. That would make me look like a desperate fool who was unable to let things go, which wasn’t at all the case. But who could blame me for wanting an answer?

Jennifer nudged my shoulder, chuckling to herself.

“I’m failing to see what’s so funny about any of this.”

“You’re right. It’s not funny. I was just thinking, if youdohave to interact with one of your exes on a regular basis, at least you got the walking eye candy. That’s, like, a tiny plus.”

“This isn’t helping,” I said as I fought off a horrendous blush. Yeah, Aiden was a mega-jerk who owned two-million-dollar bottles of liquor, but that didn’t stop him from being the hottest guy I’d ever met. He’d been cute in high school—the big football player type, still getting used to his size and his strength—but damn if he hadn’t aged like fine wine. Or something sexier thanwine. Maybe the Macallan Genesis 72-year-old whiskey. God, my cheeks were flaming.

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