“Your laptop?”
“Uh-huh.”
“You need therapy.”
Victoria smiled. “Very possibly.” She reached for her coffee, then pointed. “You’re wearing your engagement ring! You finally told your mom. Good for you. Was she thrilled?”
Shannon flinched. “No.”
“She wasn’t excited?”
“I didn’t tell her. Ava did. Then my mom confronted me for keeping it from her. She’s hurt and disappointed and all the things. I made her cry, and I feel like crap, and now she’s gone away with Luis and I’m the shitty daughter who broke her heart.”
“My mother ratted you out? On purpose?”
“I don’t know. We haven’t spoken, and it’s not like I’m going to call her and ask.”
Victoria looked stunned. “I can’t believe she did that. Although Cindy is her friend, or she was. They had a connection.”
“Twenty-four years ago, which apparently still matters. The last time I spoke to your mom, she made it clear I was a failure and a disappointment.”
“That sucks. She makes me feel that way all the time, but I’m used to it. I don’t remember if you said whether she used that slightly outragedSurely you can’t mean thattone. The one that implies she’s practically faint with the shock of her disillusionment?”
Shannon shuddered at the memory of speaking with Ava. “Oh, yeah. I got that one. She pointed out that I was little more than unformed clay. Not in those exact words.”
“Unformed clay with a killer engagement ring. I’m sorry my mother was a bitch.”
“She wasn’t,” Shannon admitted. “I’m complaining about her, but the truth is she’s not wrong about me. I avoid makingthe hard decision. I wasn’t willing to tell my mom about the engagement and because of that I’ve hurt her. For the rest of her life, she’s going to know that I kept my engagement a secret.”
Victoria stared at her. “Jeez. Do you have to be so hard on yourself?”
“It’s the truth. I want to say it’s not, but she’s shattered, and I only have myself to blame.”
“I’m sorry. That’s really awful.”
“I’ll deal.” She looked at her friend. “Why’d you break up with Javiar? And no bullshit. Just tell me the truth.”
Victoria drew in a breath. “There was no breakup. He wanted to date, and I didn’t. It’s not about him, for what it’s worth. I don’t want to be with anyone like that. I don’t want to care.”
Shannon studied her. “You’re lying. What you said before was the truth. You want to care, you just don’t want to get hurt. Love isn’t pain.”
“Have you met my mother?”
“Love gives you wings.”
“Is that from a Taylor Swift song?”
Shannon sighed. “Fine, don’t be serious. Live your sad, little lonely life. One day you’re going to regret losing him or if not him, then whoever it is who could have been someone important in your life.”
“Ouch.” Victoria picked up her coffee. “I told him from the beginning that I didn’t want to go out with him.”
“Then why did you keep hanging out with him?”
“I thought he’d put out.”
Despite her worry about her mom and her regret about what Javiar was going through, Shannon laughed. “You’re sick and twisted.”
“I know. Are we still friends?”
