But sharing them?
Rachel swallowed and squared her shoulders. She was strong. She wasamazing. And there was something she wantedto talk about. Something she would normally have called Maya for. To Maya, she could have divulged a name. But she didn’t know anyone in L.A. Maybe…
“To be honest, it’s not about the date or the questionnaire. I had a huge fight with…with someone a few days ago, and I can’t let it go.”
“Oh, with Lucy?”
She blinked. “No. Is Lucy mad at me?” Shit, of course she was, because she still hadn’t contacted their father. Because she was back, but hadn’tdoneanything yet.
Maddie quickly turned her face away. “Lucy’s always mad at someone. Don’t worry about it.”
Rachel sighed heavily. Maddie wanted to protect her. She appreciated that, but…never mind. That was a problem for another day.
“So, who did you fight with?” Maddie asked.
“With a…friend.” There was no other word she could use to describe Connor. Nemesis sounded silly, and she didn’t sleep with casual acquaintances.
“Oh, okay. And why can’t you let it go?”
“Because I don’t know if I’m wrong or not,” she whispered. Because that was exactly what had kept her awake. “I think I’ve hurt that friend even though I didn’t think that was possible. Now, I don’t know if I owe him an apology or not.”
Maddie ignored her computer, and Rachel could be wrong, but her cheeks seemed to glow, as if she were incredibly pleased that Rachel was speaking about a problem with her.
God, was she really this guarded? She didn’t even notice anymore.
“Tell me what happened,” Maddie said softly. “Maybe I can help.”
Rachel swallowed, but nodded and rolled her desk chair closer to her sister's. “Okay. I accidentally interfered with myfriend’s work. I didn’t know I was doing it, but I did, and…now he has been forced to throw his entire work schedule out the window and maybe redo an unpleasant task.”
Maddie frowned. “Could you be more specific?”
Her cheeks caught fire. “No, I’m sorry.” If Maddie knew she was referring to Connor, it would raise a whole new set of questions.
“No problem.” Maddie nodded understandingly — and Rachel admired her for her good, patient heart. “So, it wasn’t your intention, but you made more work for him?”
“Yes, and…I think I hurt him. Unintentionally! His work is incredibly personal to him – which I didn’t know! – and I practically told him he was doing it wrong, and it turns out I was right.”
“Ouch,” Maddie said, grimacing.
“But I didn’t know I’d hurt him!” she said quickly. “It wasn’t my intention…”
“Sometimes, it doesn’t matter if you had good intentions or if you accidentally hurt someone. Have you always done everything right just because you didn’t want to hurt the other person? Even though the end result is that they’re hurt?”
Rachel swallowed. Maddie sounded like Connor.
“Is there a chance you’re…wrong, Rachel? That he has a right to be angry?”
“I didn’t mean to interfere,” she said quietly. “I didn’t know I was.”
“But you did. And you’re sorry for hurting him?”
She swallowed and looked away. “Yes. He looked extremely angry, desperate, and hurt.”
“I think you should apologize for that then,” Maddie said, shrugging. “You can be sorry for the effect your words and actions had, even though you didn’t do anything wrong. It doesn’t hurt to let him know you’re sorry. You don’t have toapologize for what you did, but you can apologize for hurting him. Or did you mean to hurt him?”
“No.” No matter how frustrating Connor was or how contrary his opinion, she hadn’t wanted to make him that angry and reopen old wounds.
“Well, then…” Maddie shrugged.
