Page 25 of 40-Love
If she made eye contact, her friend would apologize. Again. And Belle hadn’t owed her one apology, much less six of them and counting. Even if that weren’t true, Tess would gladly forego penitence in favor of forgetting Lucas Karlsson existed and never mentioning his name ever again.
She’d been a fool. Idiotic enough to believe, if only fleetingly, that a barely-legal flirt might consider a woman like her anything more than a convenient distraction until something better came along. Ridiculous enough to have felt betrayed by concrete evidence of his other casual entanglements. Irrational enough to have been stung by the stark contrast between her and his…Karolina.
Apparently, she was still a fool, because her stomach churned once more at the memory of that stunning, elegant,youngwoman kissing Lucas’s cheek, claiming him for her own.
But that foolishness was no one’s fault but her own, no matter what Belle believed.
“Put your notebook down, babe. You need to get ready for your lesson.” Belle spoke from her double bed, where she was thumbing through a paperback. “Unless you want to cancel, which I’d understand.” Her wide brow furrowed as she hesitated. “It’s your birthday vacation. You should do whatever you want. Again, I’m so sorry I pushed you into all this.”
There it was. Heartfelt apology number seven.
It was sweet of her best friend to worry, but the contrition needed to end. Immediately.
Tess laid her notebook and pen down on the coffee table. “We worked this out already, Belle. Don’t worry, and please don’t apologize. I know your intentions were good.”
Honestly, despite the dueling distractions of work and Lucas, Tess should have realized her friend was up to something even before that first lesson. The two of them had taught in the same department for several years and worked in the same school for even longer, besties the entire while, until Belle moved to Boston for her boyfriend-turned-ex-boyfriend. And during all that time, Belle had been a pink-clad, sequin-loving catalyst for action. Not fearless, but unwilling to be guided by those fears. She couldn’t tolerate dithering, and she refused to stand by idly when she saw a problem she thought she could fix.
Tess might not have considered her current sexual and romantic drought one of those problems, but Belle obviously hadn’t agreed. Which was unfortunate and, frankly, irritating.
But on the occasional teaching days when mingled exhaustion and frustration had left Tess in tears after the last bell, Belle had listened and located tissue boxes and helped however she could. No one had supported Tess more in her quest for an administrative position. And Tess had never met anyone, absolutely anyone, more loyal to her friends.
She had written Belle a glowing reference letter, celebrated when her friend landed a new teaching position in Massachusetts, and helped with the packing. But not seeing that huge smile, that bright crown of blond hair, in the halls of Marysburg High every school day had hurt. Badly.
So Tess could forgive Belle a little meddling. Hell, she’d forgive much, much worse.
Belle had just wanted Tess to have a little adventure on their vacation. A few hours of relaxation. Memories of a hot night or two she could use as a man-shaped reminder of her birthday trip. Worst-case scenario, in Belle’s estimation, the appointments would roust Tess from her notebook and let her stretch her legs in the fresh air, even if she decided not to pursue her handsome tennis instructor.
No harm, no foul. Just fun and exercise and eye candy.
But Belle had underestimated Tess’s foolishness. They both had.
And neither of them could have known how a simple picnic would echo the single worst, most painful moment of Tess’s adult life. The moment that had ended her long engagement and demonstrated the wisdom of a wholehearted commitment to work and friends and nothing more. Especially not romance.
Even sex, she could take or leave. Unless said sex involved only her and her trusty vibrator. Or maybe two trusty vibrators, if she was feeling frisky.
“Let me say this one more time, and then I’ll let it drop.” Belle pressed her lips together, brown eyes soft with regret. “I should have listened to you. Your feelings and your knee both got hurt, and I’m sorry.”
Since the prospect of seeing Lucas again had her tasting bile at the back of her throat, Tess couldn’t dispute those hurt feelings, much as she wanted to and as unjustified as they were. But she could get over her humiliation like a grown adult and move on.
She figured the pain in her knee, courtesy of bounding down countless steps earlier that afternoon, would last much longer.
“I’msorry I’m spending so much time on work, instead of hanging out with you.” Tess pushed to her feet, her knee protesting the sudden motion, and adjusted her ponytail. “You deserved to take a vacation with better company.”
Belle flicked a dismissive hand. “You’re still hanging out with me. We’re taking plenty of tours and snorkeling trips and wolfing down plenty of really expensive tasting menus. And when you need to work, I’m more than capable of entertaining myself. Speaking of which…” She pointed to the phone. “From what I can tell, you still have lots of planning to do tonight. Why don’t you call the concierge and cancel the lesson?”
Tess shook her head. “I hate to waste money, and you spent a crapload of cash on those appointments, sosomeoneis having a damn lesson tonight. Are you sure you don’t want to go instead of me?”
“I would.” Belle sounded sincere. “I know you need the time, and your lunch date today ended kind of…”
When her friend paused to find the right word, Tess filled it in for her. “Unfortunately.”
Or maybe that was the wrong word, since the arrival of Lucas’s playmate had stopped Tess from making a critical mistake: taking him more seriously than she should.
She should be thanking the young woman. Possibly by offering her informational brochures about her upcoming SATs and college choices.
Okay, that wasn’t fair. Tess knew how to judge kids’ ages, and that girl was definitely legal. Maybe even out of college. But also definitely young. So damn young.
Just like the sweet, clueless grad student she’d discovered her ex-fiancé, an ancient history professor, fucking.
