“Yeah.”
“What’s the worst that could happen, if you told him you liked him?”
“He’d reject me.” He already had once. How to explain the soul-crushing terror she felt at the thought of someone even gently denying her?
Her sense of self-worth was like spun sugar. She feared it cracking more than anything.
“What’s the worst that could happen if you tell him you’re Anne?”
“He’ll think I’m strange. Or an object of pity.”
“Possibly. That’s not fun, I know.”
“It’s scary.”
“Fear is natural. It’s hard not to be afraid. I was in bed with Reese about three hours after we first met, and I was terrified for, like, two hours and forty-five minutes that he didn’t like me,” Madison said.
“How did you stick your neck out long enough to get into bed with him?”
“I jumped.” Madison shifted. “And you know, some people like the Band-Aid approach, but you don’t have to rip that shell off completely. If you feel like you’re stuck in a rut, how about, instead, you keep your head out for a while longer each time? Feel two emotions, or three. Try something low-risk that scares you a little, but nothing that could really hurt you.”
Eve nodded. No wonder her friend had pushed her to get out of the house during the winter. Becoming a Ryde driver had been intimidating, but low-risk.
“You don’t have to jump in and seduce Gabe this week. Spend some time with him. Enjoy his company. See if you even like him beyond his hot body. No expectations. No stress on either of you for more.” Madison put her project aside and smiled faintly. “I know you like costs and benefits, and the cost to you on that is fairly low. And the benefit... hey, you may end up smooching him or you may just stay friends or you may get your bracelet back. Any way you look at it, you come out on top.”
Eve ran the cost-benefit analysis on that proposal. It was extremely low-risk to her. “What if I do something that makes him think I’m weird?”
“First, you’re not weird. And second, if he does think you’re weird, the literal worst thing is he thinks you’re weird. It’s an opinion. Not a fact.”
She chewed on her lip. It was good advice, for most people. Most people who hadn’t lived their lives for fear of other people’s opinions.Which you vowed to stop doing.
It was sticking her neck out a little more. A little longer. It was safe. “I’m—”
Her phone rang, making them both jump. She pulled it out of her pocket. “It’s Sadia.” She answered. “Hello?”
“Hey, Eve.” A loud clanging noise came from the background and Eve raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry to call so late.”
“Don’t worry about it, I was awake.”
“Listen, we’re having an issue with the new oven at the café,” came Sadia’s grim reply.
Eve frowned. Sadia had inherited Kane’s Café from her late husband, Paul, but Jackson had bought it from her recently.
Eve and Sadia had an odd relationship. While Sadia had been Livvy and Jackson’s best friend growing up, she and Eve had barely interacted. And then she’d married Paul Kane, making her firmly off-limits to any Chandler. Paul, once Nicholas’s best friend, had been the one most enraged by Brendan buying Tani out of the Kane’s share of C&O.
Sadia was dating Jackson now, but since the feud was old news, she and Eve could be friends. The two of them were still feeling each other out, though. Eve was pretty sure Sadia knew about the time she’d tried to bribe Livvy to get out of town, and slights against best friends were hard to forgive. After all, Eve was still holding a grudge against Malcolm Caldwell for breaking Madison’s heart their sophomore year of college. “I’m sorry to hear about the oven.”
“Yeah, it’s, like, falling apart, and Jackson isn’t ready to leave it until it’s fixed. The repairman can’t come until Monday, so it might be Tuesday before we can get up to the lake house.”
Her brain never took long to make connections from A to B. She froze and looked up at Madison, who was watching with curiosity. “Uh. Thanks for the heads-up.”
“You’re welcome.” Another loud clanging came, and Sadia cursed. “I’ll see you later, Eve. Gotta go.”
Eve hung up slowly.
“What now?”
“Sadia and Jackson and Kareem aren’t going to be able to come up to the house until Tuesday.”
