Page 8 of Finally Loved

Neve glowered at her plate as she deliberately chewed and swallowed another mouthful. She figured it meant something terrible that she was glad of the burn for the distraction and relief it brought from the whole situation.

Eventually, she shrugged slightly. “I’m sure it would have been.”

Charlie’s dark brown eyes narrowed, fixed on Neve. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“She didn’t drive me home.”

The moment of silence around them felt oppressive. Somehow, it had felt easier to admit all of this to a stranger named Alba than it was to one of her best friends. Perhaps Alba had been right and it was because they’d never see each other again—it really didn’t matter what she knew. Now that Charlie knew, she’d know forever. And so would Alice.

“You’re telling me Roxanne had you pack a weekend bag, picked you up, drove you to the mall, broke up with you, and just abandoned you there?” The confusion on Charlie’s face was at least some comfort that the whole situation really wasthatridiculous.

Neve nodded. “That’s exactly what I’m telling you. Oh, and she still has my bag in her car.” She hesitated. “Well, actually, that might not be fair—”

“Do we care aboutfairin this situation?”

Neve smiled gratefully before continuing. “She spotted someone she knew right after she… Well, you know, and she’s never been great about running into her friends while she’s out with me, so, I just… let her go and walked away. Maybe she would have driven me home?”

“If her reasoning wasn’t something that suddenly came up in the mall—like, you didn’t attack her because she wants a red kettle, did you?”

“Of course not.”

“Then, there you go. She drove you out there planning to do that. She drove you to the middle of nowhere, with no way to independently get yourself home, to break your heart.”

“I’m sure that wasn’t—”

“It definitely was.” Charlie shook her head. “Roxanne had better hope we don’t run into each other, or I’ll give her a piece of my mind.”

“That’s really not necessary.”

“Who does that?” Charlie continued as if Neve hadn’t spoken. “What a shitty thing to do. She could have done it over the phone. She could have done it here before you left. She could have done it in the car right outside. There were so many options, and she chose the shittiest one.”

“Oh, I’m sure there are worse options.”

“In this situation, no, there are not.”

Neve looked at her. It had been easier talking with Alba about this, but she couldn’t deny that there was something about having one of your best friends so obviously outraged for you, so ready to validate how horrid you’d been feeling. Maybe Neve had needed both of them today.

Maybe Neve was also overly attached to a woman she didn’t know and would never see again. But, hey, Alba was, for all intents and purposes, her knight in shining armor. Just for today, at least. And sometimes, everyone needed one of those.

Everyone also needed a friend who looked as ready to charge into battle as Charlie did.

“How did you get home, then?” she asked, her forehead creasing. “Taxi?”

“Oh, uh…” Neve felt herself blushing at how dangerous an idea it had been to get into a car with a stranger. And how pathetic it sounded to have had a breakdown on that very same stranger. “I, um, ran into someone on the way out of the store.”

“Someone you know?” The suspicious expression on Charlie’s face implied she already knew the answer.

Neve swallowed more food, looking pointedly away. “Actually, no. Just a… stranger.”

Charlie’s expression dropped and she stared at Neve deadpan. “You, heartbroken and alone, got into the car of a stranger, didn’t text me or Alice to mention it, and thought that was a good idea?”

Neve winced. “Uh, yeah, that’s… sort of how it went down. I mean, we’d already been talking for a few minutes when I got into her car, and she seemed perfectly lovely and normal.”

“How lovely. And normal. Have you learned nothing about stranger danger?”

Neve rolled her eyes and got up to clean her plate. “I’m not five.”

“So you say.”

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