Page 73 of Breathless With Her

“Hey. You look like shit,” Zoey said as she pushed past me into the house.

I closed the door and wiped the crumbs off my T-shirt and sweatpants.

I had put my hair on the top of my head, and I was pretty sure I had cookie dough stains on my shirt, as well, but it didn’t matter.

I needed to wallow in my misery. Because I was the one who had done this.

Not Devin. Devin had been amazing. No. I was the evil one.

I deserved to look like crap and feel like crap.

Because I was crap.

“I know why you’re here, but you can’t make me feel any worse than I already do.”

“Babe, I love you. But you’re a mess.” Zoey picked up the cookie dough, looked at it, raised her brows, and then went over to the fridge to put it away. She also tossed my glass of warm wine and put away the bottle that I had left on the table.

“You don’t have to clean up after me.”

“No, but I will. Because I love you. And Amelia would be here, too. Because she’s a friend, but things are weird.”

“That’s what happens when you date your friend’s brother. Things get weird. You don’t have to be here either. I know you’re close with the family. And you and Caleb—”

She cut me off with a look that could cut steel, and I winced.

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine. I’m friends with Caleb. Nothing more. It’s something that we all know. But I am your friend. And Devin has everyone else, so you get me.” She winced. “Well, that sounded worse than I meant it to sound.”

“No, it sounded just about right.”

“Okay, sit down and tell me what happened. Because I want to know why you pushed him away.”

“Well, what do you know?”

I sat down on the couch opposite her and just looked down at my hands.

“Amelia and I were at her shop when Devin came storming in, saying he needed to dig something or beat something up with his hands. We didn’t know what it all meant, but Amelia asked how you were doing because that seemed like the thing that might make him act like that other than his work and maybe a dog. And he just said that things were over. That you had ended it. That he was fine. Just fucking fine.” She sighed. “His words. A total lie, by the way.”

“I’m an idiot.”

“You keep using that word, and you’re probably going to keep telling yourself that. But unless you do something about it, you’re worse than an idiot. However, I’m not going to yell.”

“You’re yelling a little bit.”

“Because I love you. But just tell me. What happened?”

I looked down at my hands again, wishing I could have my cookie dough. Or cry. Or do anything but face the poor decisions I’d made and continued to make.

Zoey looked at me, shook her head, and then turned off the TV so I couldn’t finish watching10 Things I Hate About You.

Well, there were more than ten things I hated about myself right then.

And, pity party of one, Erin speaking.

“I went to see my dad.”

Zoey’s eyes widened. “You found him?”

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