Page 48 of Stone Rules

“Well, you know about two people here, me being one of them. All of my sisters are accounted for. And I called the gym to ask if they’d let me know when you left. They also happened to tell me that you didn’t leave with the hot P.I., so I thought it was a good opportunity to come over and catch up. It’s been days since we’ve spoken and I’m dying to find out what happened yesterday. Skylar told me about your dad showing up and then Ethan and the limo. So, come on, sister. Spill.”

I take another drink of my margarita, wondering where to even begin. It’s been a while since Piper and I have had a real heart-to-heart. I’ve missed it. I’ve missed her. But I’m not sure I’m ready to spill all my secrets about Ethan. About what he does to me. How I feel about him. How it hurts so badly.

She tugs on my arm, pulling me over to the couch. She points to an overnight bag on the floor. “I’ve got all night. I'm here as long as it takes. We can have a sleepover. It’ll be just like old times.”

I close my eyes and remember all the nights we spent talking until dawn. You would think even best friends would eventually run out of things to say after six or seven hours of talking. We never did. Not one time. I smile and motion to her bag. “Did you bring them?”

She rolls her eyes. “What do you think? Of course I brought them.”

“Good,” I say, bouncing up off the couch to go to my bedroom.

I rip off my clothes and dig through my dresser until I find what I’m looking for. Then I quickly put them on and join Piper in my living room.

We squeal in delight when we see each other wearing our matching long-john pajamas we bought from a street vender in Dubai about four years ago. That very same night, we put them on and stayed up all night talking. It was one of the best nights I’d ever had. We drank. We laughed. We dreamed. We may have even healed a little.

The next day, we surmised that the pajamas had magical powers, so from that day forward, anytime one of us needed to have a good talk, we’d pull them out and put them on.

My soul sister—the person who knows me better than anyone on this earth—she knew I’d need to talk after hearing about the visit from my dad. And she’s the only one who really knows what happened to me, so she’s the only one I can ever talk to.

Secrets are lonely.

I make us another round of drinks and then I tell her mine.

Chapter Twenty-two

It’s Monday and once again, I’ve got too much time on my hands. Yesterday, I went to brunch at the Mitchell’s restaurant on Long Island. They have brunch together as a family every Sunday. I’ve begged off the past few, but as Piper did spend the night Saturday, I had no choice but to be dragged by her to this latest one. I was just glad it wasn’t at the Maple Creek location. The original Mitchell’s restaurant. The one where I grew up waitressing—in the town to which I vowed I’d never return.

Time is really not your friend when you have a lot on your mind. The idle brain has a way of taking small problems and turning them into big ones. Big ones such as what am I going to do tonight at the gym? It didn’t go very well on Saturday. It hurts to see him. Physically hurts, like in the pit of my stomach and in the wall of my chest.

My phone pings with a text and when I look at it, the pain shoots through me like an arrow.

Stone: Can you come by the office? I have some more information for you. Or if you’d rather, I’ll bring it to the gym.

Come by the office? Hardly. And I haven’t decided if I’ll be at the gym yet. I do know I need space. Space from him. Maybe he can just leave the stuff at the front desk and I can pick it up from Gretchen.

Ugh. The thought of seeing her makes me wince. Especially if she has any idea her boss bailed on me Saturday night. I’d never see the end to her gloating. No, that won’t work.

He could leave it at the gym. I’m sure one of the guys or the front desk staff would hold onto it for me.

I stare at his text wondering what to say when it dawns on me.

Why can’t he just email me the information? We are living in an age where meetings have all but become obsolete. In fact, why hasn’t he just emailed me everything all along?

Me: Is there some kind of rule that says you can’t email me this information?

Stone: Rule?

Me: Yes. Rule. And if there isn’t one, why haven’t you been emailing me this stuff all along?

Probably because he gets more billable hours if he takes meetings in person.

Stone: I prefer to meet with clients face to face for the most part. No, there’s no rule.

Me: Then email it to me please.

There is a long pause before my phone pings again. I can only imagine what is going through his mind. Maybe that he won’t be able to charge me as much. Maybe that I’m sick of him playing with me whenever it suits him. Maybe that he’s an arrogant asshole who doesn’t deserve a freaking girlfriend.

Stone: I’ll have Gretchen send it right over.

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