And now that he’d given me that space, I only wished to take it back and keep him close.
But he was already out the door, leaving me there to wonder if letting old fears push David away had just cost me the greatest love I’d ever know.
14
For a Monday night, Gretchen’s apartment buzzed with activity. Since nobody had heard me knock, I walked in to find one of Gretchen’s roommates cooking cashew chicken, the other pouring wine as she manned a playlist on her phone.
Ava raised a wooden spoon in my direction. “Hi,” she called over the blare of Rihanna.
Bethany looked up from her phone and lowered the volume. “Hey, Liv. I didn’t know you were coming over.”
Gretchen waltzed into the kitchen in jeans and a colorful kimono that billowed after her. “She’s spending the night,” she said and picked up a glass of wine Bethany had poured.
Bethany took a new wineglass from a cupboard. “Want some Pinot Noir?” she asked me. “Where’s your stuff?”
Gretchen hadn’t even asked for an explanation when I’d said I’d needed a place to stay tonight—and that I might need to borrow some things. She’d told me to come over, so I’d taken a cab straight from my office.
Before I could answer Bethany, Gretchen grabbed a leather duffel from one of their kitchen chairs. “Here,” she said, handing it to me. “This came for you via a delivery service a half hour ago.”
“For me?” I set my handbag on their counter and took the bag. “What is it?”
Gretchen smiled a little. “Well, I didn’t go through it, but I have a guess.”
I unzipped the bag to find a few work dresses, some undergarments, travel-size toiletries, and an unsigned note in David’s handwriting.
To get you through the next few days
Appreciation warred with my disappointment. He was still thinking of me, but I hated the thought of him gathering and packing my things—especially a fewdays’worth. I didn’t even want to spend tonight without him.
“He’s really thoughtful,” Gretchen said, peering over my shoulder to read the note.
“Bill sent that?” Ava asked from where she stood at the stove. “How come you’re staying here on a Monday?”
I glanced at Gretchen. “They don’t know about . . .”
Gretchen shook her head. “Nope. I wasn’t sure if we were telling people.”
“Telling people what?” Bethany asked, lowering the volume even more.
The doorbell rang. Gretchen’s brows furrowed before easing as she nodded. “I have a feeling that’s Greg,” she said and called for him to come in.
Greg sauntered into the kitchen seconds later and gave Gretchen a quick kiss before grinning at us. “Ladies,” he greeted.
Gretchen hugged his waist as she scolded, “What are you doing here?”
“You said you were having a girls’ night.” He grinned. “I’m here to crash it, just like old times.”
A memory of the four of us playing the Clue board game in our old apartment flashed over me. “Old times, but without Lucy,” I said, frowning.
“Lucy’ll come around. You know her, loyal to a fault,” Greg said. “So what’s tonight’s topic? Taking a break from all the sex, Livvy?”
Ava’s and Bethany’s eyebrows shoot up in unison. “What?”
“Can I tell them?” Gretchen asked. “Please. I’m dying to see their reaction.”
I zipped up the duffel bag. “It’s not really a secret anymore,” I said.
“Get this,” Gretchen said, facing her roommate with her arms extended as if to brace them. “Olivia spent her entire weekend shacked up with David Dylan. Remember—”
