She crosses her arms and widens her eyes. “Now, why would you think I would make a scene, Juliette Caldwell?”
I look down and push my straw around the ice in my empty drink. “A very handsome man might have momentarily paralyzed me. He might have also caught me staring,” I whisper without looking up.
“Oh, I already know that. I called your name three times before you realized, and I could see you had hearts in your eyes.”
“I did not,” I spit. What the hell is she talking about?
“Well, don’t gate keep. If I can’t look yet, you might as well give me the goods on him.”
I lean back, subconsciously raising my eyes toward the bar, and catch him still looking.
Shit.
“Jesus. Act cool.”
“Easy for you to say, you don’t know the power this man has over my eyeballs.” I laugh. “Oh, someone else just walked up. You can look—fast, though.”
She turns inconspicuously but quickly sits forward, face ashen. “No.”
“What do you meanno? No, what? You barely got a look at him.”
She shakes her head rapidly. “Oh, I’ve gotten a good look. For the last two years at Abbott.”
“Oh my god, you work with him? What a small world.” Abbott is the asset management company Becks works at.
She laughs sardonically, not looking one bit amused. “Oh, I don’t workwithhim. I workforhim. He is my boss’s, boss’s, boss: Harrison Davenport, CEO of Abbott. And you’re forgetting about that jerk right now. You’re not going there.”
Harrison.
“I wasn’t going there,” I mutter. “I was only looking.”
“Well, don’t even look,” she says with finality, which shocks me because she constantly pushes me to talk to new people and get out of my comfort zone.
She never understood what I saw in Hunter. Looking back, I’m not sure what it was either, other than familiarity. So, I’m surprised she’s not dragging me over there by my hair, introducing me.
A waitress this time shows up with a margarita, and I couldn’t be more thankful to switch the conversation.
“Carrie, this is my best friend, Juliette. Jules, Carrie is the best waitress in all of New York, and a new friend of mine.”
I shake her outstretched hand.
“Hi, so nice to meet you.” She smiles warmly and returns the sentiments before returning to the bar.
Lucky bitch, servingHarrison.
Becks sighs and leans back. “I feel bad for her. Her ex-husband is a piece of work. They’re in the middle of getting a divorce, and he shut off all her cards, both credit and debit, completely fucking her over.”
“What?” I ask, stunned. “How can he even do that?”
“Everything was in his name; he manipulated her toward the end of their relationship, and this isn’t even the worst of it.”
“How can it get worse than leaving your wife high and dry, with no money,especiallyin New York, where everything is five times the price it should be?”
She takes a large gulp of her drink and slams it down. “They have three kids under the age of four that he gives no shits about. So now she is feeding them, paying for childcare, and trying to pay rent with her waitress job. It’s impossible. Not to mention, she’s been working double shifts here, then three hours later, getting the kids up for school. She has no family in New York.”
Tears tickle my eyes; I feel for Carrie but also for Becks. I know this is hitting home for her.
Her dad left her and her mom with nothing when she was younger. Her mom struggled for a long time. Though her story turned out for the best, it left its scars.
