Page 31 of Secret Desire
“I feel like I was just developing a relationship with my sister, and now you’ve ruined it.”
I leaned across the table and grabbed Ariel’s hand. “She wants a relationship with you more than anything. Ashley’s always idolized you. But don’t you want her to be happy? Don’t you want me to be happy, to have what you and Sadie have?”
After a long, pregnant pause I added, “Ashley makes me happy Ariel. For the first time in my life I’m in love. And it’s killing me to not be with her. Remember how hard it was when you and Sadie broke up? When Grace and Nicole broke up? This is the same thing. I feel like I’m dying inside not being with her.”
I felt a tear trickle down my face, and I wiped it away angrily. For some reason, that seemed to make Ariel soften.
“I’ve overreacted to this whole thing, haven’t I?” Ariel asked. “That’s what Sadie’s been telling me.”
Grace spoke up for the first time. “Yes you have.”
She gave me a stern look. “You were wrong to keep secrets.”
Her gaze swung back to Ariel. “And you said some terrible, hateful things to both of them, when you of all people understand how it feels when people don’t accept yourrelationship. You treated Ashley and Maeve the same way your mother treated Sadie.”
Ariel released a long, dramatic sigh, but I could tell that Grace’s words were getting through to her.
“You were both in the wrong here, and maybe we were long overdue for some kind of a blow up between us, but we are best friends, closer than sisters. Can’t everyone just apologize and move on so everyone can have their happily ever after? Please?”
Ariel and I both jumped up and gave each other a long tight hug. When we pulled away, we were both teary.
“What about me?” Grace asked.
We pulled her in close. “Let’s never fight again,” Grace whispered. “I hate it.”
“Me too,” Ariel and I said in unison.
Theo stood up. “I see that my work here is done. You’re welcome.”
“Thanks Theo,” I said.
“Thank you,” Ariel said at the same time.
He pointed at Ariel. “You need to apologize to your sister now.”
Then he pointed at me. “And you need to figure things out with your girlfriend.”
“And all of y’all need to buy me something nice to thank me for my hard work getting the band back together. I’ll take a nice 2025 Porsche 911 Turbo in carmine red please. It’s the least you can do after making me put up with your girl drama all week.”
“No problem Theo,” Ariel said quickly. “Pick out what you want and charge it to me.”
“I’ll pay for half,” I said quickly.
That was one of the nice things about being a billionaire, you could buy your friend a car that cost over two hundred thousand dollars without batting an eye.
“I’m off to go car shopping,” Theo said, his tone giddy. “Wait until I tell the hubby.”
“Let’s have a pizza party night,” Ariel suggested. “We’ll go to your place Maeve, is that okay? We can eat our weight in pizza and drink a gallon of margaritas and forget all about this terrible week. It’ll be nice for us all to reconnect. Between our schedules and our love lives, we haven’t been spending as much time together as usual anyway.”
I nodded. “That sounds good.”
As we headed for our private elevator Grace asked, “How did you leave things with Ashley? I noticed that you two seemed to be avoiding each other this week.”
“She broke up with me,” I said. “She said we shouldn’t be together if it meant her losing her sister and me losing my best friend.”
Ariel waved her hand dismissively. “I’ll go over there tomorrow to apologize to Ashley and convince her to give you another chance.”
“Are you sure you’ll be okay with me dating your sister?” I asked. “Because if we get back together, you need to know that I plan to marry her someday.”
