Page 94 of Do-Over with my Ex

“Thanks.” I beamed. I had amazing people in my corner when I didn’t fight everyone off. I’d made life hard for myself for a long time. What had it all been for? To piss off my dad? All I’d done was shoot myself in the foot.

“The first thing I’m going to do now that I’ve decided this is to buy a satellite phone,” I said.

Anna and Lexi burst out laughing again. “That sounds like the best idea ever.”

We fell silent, and I smiled at my two friends. My mind drifted to Lorenzo.

“I wish I could tell him about this, and he would be as happy for me as you are,” I said. The words had come out without me thinking about it and it caught me off guard.

“I know,” Anna said. “He’s an idiot, though. I don’t know what he was thinking.”

“He couldn’t have been thinking,” Lexi agreed. “Or he would have known what a prize you are.”

“I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head. “I think I might have been the one to screw it up. I pushed him away for so long…”

“Did you tell him how you feel about him?” Anna asked.

I nodded. “Actually, I did. I don’t usually, but we were out there, stuck in the middle of nowhere, not knowing if anyone would ever come for us, and I figured I had nothing to lose.” I took a deep breath. “Turns out I had a lot to lose.”

“Lorenzo knows who you are, and he went after you anyway,” Anna said. “If you told him how you feel, and he still walked away after it all, that’s on him.”

I sighed. “I guess it doesn’t matter now, does it? It’s over, and I’m moving forward with my life. I’ll figure it out as I go along. Instead of focusing on making everyone else miserable, I’m focusing on making myself happy.”

Lexi and Anna each took a hand and squeezed it, and I realized just how lucky I was to have friends like these. Fuck Seattle! After I came back from Brazil, there was no way I was going back there. I wanted to be here where my friends were, where I had people in my corner.

Even if LA made me think of Lorenzo, the city had held a lot of heartbreak for me, but it held a lot of good things for me, too. The good outweighed the bad, and it was time I focused on that.

I was Celine fucking Forger, and I would make my life what I wanted it to be.

30

LORENZO

WhenIpulledupin front of the house, Noah stepped out.

“What are you doing here, Lorenzo?” he asked. His jaw was set, and his eyes hard.

“I just need to talk to her,” I said.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Look, man, I know I hurt her. I fucked up. I just want to make it right. If she doesn’t want me after this, then that’s fine, I just want a chance to say my piece.”

Noah shook his head and looked to the side. One hand was balled into a fist, and he rubbed his knuckles with the other hand. He looked like he was going to hit me.

If that was what he needed to do, then fine—I’d hurt his sister, and I understood why he would be pissed off at me.

“I told you not to hurt her,” Noah said.

“You didn’t,” I corrected him.

Noah glared at me.

“You told meIwas going to get hurt if I did this,” I said. “Because we both know what Celine can be like. The thing is, I love her, man.”

Noah narrowed his eyes at me, tilting his head back a little so he looked down his nose at me.

“I may not have told you not to fuck with her heart, but it’s implied. You know that, right?”

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