Page 42 of Shy Girl
“Fine.”
She stood up and headed for the door. I stood, but remained outside by the railing. Below, the yoga session started to break apart. Dagny spoke with Alison, Helene’s mother. Relief that Victoria was leaving, and with so little struggle, left me a little weak. Until this confrontation showed its ending, I hadn’t realized how stressed out I’d become.
Victoria stopped before she left. She gazed over her shoulder.
“I’m sorry, too.”
With that, she disappeared.
Fifteen minutes later, a knock came on my door. Vikram let himself into the bungalow, then dropped onto my couch with both arms in the air in a sign of victory. He fist pumped one of them.
“I still got it!”
He held up his phone, which displayed a new phone number across the top in bright green letters. I threw a pillow at him, then a beer. He deflected the first and caught the second with an arrogant smirk.
“Another number?” I asked.
“You know it. This lady, however, is just coming off a break up and needs a little reminder that men aren’t dirtbags.”
“You are.”
He rolled his eyes. “I’m not a dirtbag, I’m just not a committer. There’s a huge difference. You can still be good to women and not marry them. Grady’s on his way over, by the way. Something about best man responsibilities or that garbage.” Vik cracked the top off of the water bottle. “Nothing us lowly normals would know about.”
Bastian entered through the back door before I could make a sarcastic quip back. Before I could toss him a beer, he grabbed his computer, opened it up, and slid back to sit on the counter. “Dagny’s going on a walk,” he said. “I have no idea where Victoria is. The grill is packed or else I’d recommend we go there.”
I waved that off. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll order lunch. Hey, I talked to Victoria while you were out there.”
Bastian’s eyebrows rose in silent question. Vik paused, bottle halfway to his mouth. They both stared at me, eyes wide.
“Victoria came here?” Vik asked.
Bastian eyed me. “And she didn’t claw your eyes out?”
“Yeah. It was fine. I just explained that I wasn’t interested and was sorry that her feelings weren’t returned. It’s over. Communication for the win.”
Vik snorted and leaned back. “She’s not going to let it go.”
“She will.”
“She won’t.” Vik held up a hand. “Girls like that don’t get thwarted, my friend. They aren’t a second choice, certainly not to someone as normal as Dagny. Not without having the last word, anyway. Note my correctness in a week when you’re full of regret for letting your guard down.”
“Dagny isn’t normal,” I snapped. “Not the way you said it, anyway.”
“She’s normal, and that’s not an insult. I’m just saying that you shouldn’t let your guard downjustyet.”
I rolled my eyes. No, I wasn’t getting into a dramatic breakup story here. Victoria, while she wasn’t exactly an adult, was no problem to me or to Dagny. Her nasty remark about Dagny’s stutter replayed through my mind. While I doubted Victoria would act on an impulse in a violent way . . . maybe Dagny didn’t need to be left alone in social circles, just in case Victoria got mean.
“Fine,” I said. “Fine. I’ll keep an eye out.”
“We will too,” Bastian countered. “We got her back.”
Vik held up his beer in agreement.
A large, familiar body blocked the light from outside as Bastian held out a hand for a beer. I tossed it, but Grady advanced into the room and snatched it without breaking stride. He smirked at Bastian, then sat on a wicker chair across from Vik.
“Gentlemen,” Grady drawled.
“Grady,” we intoned together.
