“I could show you.”
I frowned. “I don’t think that’s something you teach people. I don’t break laws.”
She shrugged. “I slashed my ex’s tires when I was in high school. Did it solve anything? No. Did it make me feel awesome? Hell yeah, baby.”
“Abby! You could have told me I was moving in with a criminal.”
She waved a dismissive hand. “Says the insurance fraudster.”
“I guess we’re both hardened criminals,” I said.
She giggled. “So, how are you doing?”
“Terrible.”
“Have you talked to Dane?”
“Absolutely not.” Three days. It had been three days since I spoke with him.
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know,” I sighed. “Maybe I’m having a breakdown. Is this what a breakdown feels like?”
“Probably. Want to talk about it?”
“Not really.”
“Talk anyway.”
I sighed and took another sip of my coffee that had gone lukewarm. “Abby, am I being too hard on him?”
“Yep.”
“That was fast.”
She looked at me with a soft smile. “Look, what Dane said to Keith was shitty. I’m not defending that. But you have to consider the context. He was cornered by someone who was threatening to destroy both of your careers, and he panicked.”
“He said love wasn’t real. He said it was just a transaction.” I put my mug down too hard. “I know for a fact he used to believe that. Now he says he’s changed, but behind my back, he’s still singing the same old tune. Which version of Dane should I believe?”
“He said a lot of things he didn’t mean to protect you from Keith’s vendetta.”
“Did he though?” I felt tears threatening again. “Or did he just say what he actually believes and I accidentally overheard it?”
Abby was quiet for a second. She sipped her coffee and then looked at me. “You think he doesn’t know how to love you.”
“I think he doesn’t know what love is outside of what he can see on a screen. He’s all about the science. Guys like that can’t see beyond the lines they live in.” I wiped my eyes. “It was abouthow he sees love in general. And that makes me so sad, Abby. Maybe he’s incapable of love with anyone.”
“Or maybe he’s just scared and stupid, like most men. You know they are emotionally stunted.” She shrugged. “In my experience anyway.”
“Maybe.” I grabbed my laptop from the coffee table. “Can we not talk about this anymore? Please? I need to forget about him. I want to pretend he never happened.”
“Oka, what are you doing?”
“Job searching.” I pulled up Indeed and started scrolling. “I need to find something fast. I have savings, but not enough to last more than a month in this city.”
Abby leaned over to look at my screen. “You’re looking at jobs in Wyoming.”
“So?”
