“I don’t blame you,” Gabby said, giving Jessica’s hand a squeeze.
“This is so sad.” Emma stared glumly into her lemonade. “We all love you, and we all love Mark, and I just hate that it didn’t work out for you guys.”
“I do too.” Jessica gulped from her new margarita. “But enough about me and Mark. Someone change the subject to something cheerful.”
“We went for our wedding tasting last weekend,” Carly said. “I can’t wait for you guys to see this place. It’s like a for-real castle up on a mountaintop, and rumor has it, the owner is some kind of reclusive billionaire hottie.”
Mandy perked up. “Ooh, is he single?”
Carly laughed. “No clue, but I’ll be sure to find out if I meet him.”
They laughed, ate, and drank for over three hours, and Jessica faked her way through the whole thing. The truth was that she just felt broken inside. She still had no energy and no appetite, whether it was thanks to the Lyme disease, the antibiotics, or her broken heart, she wasn’t sure. The only thing she knew for sure was that it was going to take a long time to recover from losing Mark, maybe even longer than it had taken her the first time.
