Page 20 of When We Break

I huff, but he stalks off to the car. Riley and I watch as he climbs inside, and I wave as the car drives away.

“None of my business, my arse,” I mutter to Riley, who watches me with his expressive, seemingly concerned eyes. “She’s our best mate in this town, so that means it’s my business. We’ll stop by the bookshop on our way to the studio.”

I want to dance today. I don’t always anymore. Not only did I dance every day before, but I also danced for eight to ten hours a day while gearing up for a specific performance.

These days, I dance a few times a week. It’s a great workout, and I want to make sure that my muscle memory doesn’t fade. I know I don’t need it for anything specific, but it’s mine all the same, so I’ll hang on to it for as long as I can, even if my ankle doesn’t want to cooperate.

Will I ever let the anger go regarding my injury? The circumstances surrounding it? The bitterness and helplessness that I still feel deep down in my soul?

I don’t know.

“Let’s not dwell, Riley.” I grab my handbag and set the alarm system on the house, using the new code Connor insisted I implement. Then Riley and I head into town. I park at my studio and walk the few blocks over to the bookshop, where I’m sure to find Bee.

And sure enough, she’s stocking copies of the new Catherine Cowles novel on a shelf.

I’ll be picking up one of those before I leave.

Billie looks lost in thought, her brows pulled together in a frown. She always dresses as if she’s ready for a killer date or an important meeting, and today, she’s in a red dress with black heels that could likely maim a man. Her hair is twisted back in a braid, and she’s wearing a pretty necklace that falls between her breasts.

I’d kill for this woman’s breasts. Billie has curves in all the right places, and I have a ballerina’s body. Painfully slim, and no boobs to speak of.

“Hey there,” I say softly and still manage to startle the poor woman, who drops a book, then cringes when she sees the cover got bent. “Sorry, I’ll buy that copy. I was going to buy one anyway.”

“No, it’s my fault for not paying attention.” She slides the book on the shelf with the others. “It’s been slow in here today, so I’m just restocking and tidying up.”

“I like the new display by the front door.”

She nods, lets out a gusty breath, then props her hands on her curvy hips. “I don’t want things between us to be awkward.”

“It’s glad I am to hear you say that because I don’t want that either. It would be the worst thing ever. Do you need me to disown him? I could probably piss him off somehow. Make life hard for him, at the very least.”

She smiles, and her shoulders sag in relief. Then she lets out a big laugh and pulls me in for a hug, and I know that everything will be okay.

“The moment I saw him at the recital was maybe one of the most surreal moments of my life,” she admits as we walk over to my favorite chairs and take a seat. Riley curls up on the dog bed next to me. “I kind of wanted the floor to open up and swallow me.”

“I can only imagine. I suspected when you first told us about it that it could be Connor from the way you described him, but I swear to you, Bee, as far as I knew, he’d left that previous afternoon.”

“I think he was supposed to, but then we got that snowstorm, and he ended up staying another day.” She bites her lower lip and stares outside.

“Was he an arse when he pulled you outside?”

She doesn’t immediately answer. Instead, she looks down at her hands, then over at me, and her cheeks flush again.

“I don’t want to know this, do I?”

Bee laughs. “I’m absolutelynotstarting something with your brother.”

Bristling at that, I square my shoulders. “Now, why not? He’s handsome, and successful, and you said the sex was decent?—”

“Not decent.” She shakes her head. “I think he pulled my soul out of my vagina.”

I press my lips together, then double over laughing. “That paints a picture.”

“I kind of like keeping him in that little one-night bubble. A happy memory that I can pull out and look at once in a while, then tuck back away. I have a business, and a family, and all kinds of things to see to here, and while your brother is all of the things you described, he’s also nothere.”

Connor never confirmed to me whether he was going to buy the ski resort to rebuild, so I don’t want to say anything out of turn to my friend.

“He’s not here,” I confirm.

---