“It’s me, sweetie.”
Goldie opened the door to Josie and threw herself into her best friend’s arms as she began to cry again. Josie crab walkedthe two of them into the apartment and closed the door, lowering Goldie into a chair.
“I’m going to get you something to drink,” Josie said as she went into the kitchen and returned with a glass of water. “That’s all I could find,” she said apologetically. “I should have brought wine.”
“How did you know?” Goldie asked after taking a few sips of the water and again stopping the flood of tears to pull herself together.
“I saw you coming out of the hotel. The look on your face…” Josie gave her a reassuring smile. “Then I saw you talking to Max. Are you all right?”
She wagged her head. Right now, she doubted she would ever be all right again.
“You don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want to,” Josie said, sitting down next to her.
Goldie laughed at that. She’d told her best friend everything since they were girls. She let it all out, from the disastrous attempt to move on from Max with Donovan to Penny and her friends and their plot against the café. Finally, to Max.
“He actually admitted he’d made a mistake and wants to get back together?” Josie asked. “Why aren’t you jumping up and down for joy? Isn’t this what you wanted?”
She nodded. “It was.”
“Was?Are you telling me you don’t want to be with Max after all?”
Goldie hesitated a little too long.
“Wait! You haven’t fallen for Donovan, have you?”
She shook her head. “Turns out I have terrible luck with men, even the fake boyfriend ones. I found this in Donovan’s room.” She pulled the note from her pocket and watched while Josie read it and frowned. “I think his girlfriend, Lolly Mandeville, might have brought it to him from her father.”
“It appears they are up to something here in Dry Gulch,” Josie said. “But what?”
Goldie shook her head. “Max told me that he suspected Donovan was involved with Arnie Adams over at the café and Malcolm Mandeville. I thought he was just jealous, but he’s right.” She wiped a fresh tear. “I didn’t want to believe it. I’m the one who brought Donovan to town. I was so busy trying to make Max jealous that I didn’t pay any attention to what was going on. Then when everything gets worse, Max finally admits he still loves me and should never have ended it. But he said he wanted things back like they were.”
Josie sighed. “You got what you thought you wanted, but it fell short.”
“I don’t want to punish him, if that’s what you’re thinking. I just don’t know what I want right now. I don’t want things to go back like they were. I hate the way I feel and what I’ve done.”
“You aren’t responsible for this,” Josie said. “Max needs to take some responsibility for this. Also, it’s clear that there were other forces behind this that you were unaware of. You can’t blame yourself for what Donovan and Mandeville are up to.”
Goldie smiled at the lawyer coming out in her friend. “You’re right, your honor.”
Josie laughed. “I’m not putting up an argument just because you’re my best friend. I’m angry and disappointed in Max too.”
“He acted as if he actually thought I would fall into his arms,” she said with an oath. “After everything he’d put me through?” Goldie shook her head. “Now I’m asking myself why I went through all of this to get these results and why I didn’t throw myself into his arms—the only place I want to be.” The tears began again. She brushed them away angrily.
“It’s going to take more than him saying he’s sorry,” her friend said. “He’s lost your trust. I would imagine you both need to rebuild trust between you.”
“He thinks I slept with Donovan,” Goldie said with a sigh. “I couldn’t even get that right.”
Josie shook her head. “He told Cordell that he couldn’t hold any of it against you. He took all the blame for this.”
“That’s something, I suppose,” she said, making a guilty face. “I blame myself for moving in with Max in the beginning. I wanted more and yet I didn’t ask for it. I sold myself short, telling myself that we didn’t have to get married, that just being with Max was enough.”
“It wasn’t,” her friend said.
Goldie nodded. “I’m not going to let myself do that again. It’s way past time that I spoke up. Too bad all this realization came after I sold my café and brought a band of criminals to town.”
Josie hugged her and rose to leave. “I like this new Goldie.”
She laughed. “I’m still the old Goldie, just battle worn.”
