“Maybe they like looking like a rainbow.” She grinned, but the smile dropped pretty quickly and her nose wrinkled. “I could sure use some rainbow in my life after the talk with my mother.”
“Not good?”
Polly grabbed a glass from the overhead cabinet. “You know how she told me she was taking a break from men?”
Uh-oh. Maggie had a feeling she knew exactly where this was going. “Yeah.”
“Well, after two point five seconds, the break is over. She’s met Mr. Right and he’s already basically living with her.”
Maggie cringed. Not that she was surprised. Polly’s mother had been doing this since they were kids. She “fell in love” hard and fast. Changed her entire life to fit around the new guy. Then a couple of months later it ended, and Olivia Mack never came out of it unscathed. Neither did Polly, who was left to pick up the pieces.
Polly shook her head. “I don’t understand why she does this.”
“Maybe she doesn’t want to be alone.”
“She’snotalone. She has me.”
Maggie nodded, tempted to tell her friend that was different, but Polly wouldn’t get that. To her, men offered nothing useful to a woman’s existence. That’s what her mother’s love life had taught her. That men took but they never gave. That they inflicted pain without remorse.
“How are you and Ethan doing?” Polly asked. “Tell me you’re great so I don’t hate every single man on this planet.”
“We’re great.”
Polly stopped and turned, a frown between her brows. “What was that?”
“What was what?”
“You’re lying.”
“I am not.”
Polly rolled her eyes. “I’ve known you almost my entire life. I know when you’re lying. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I’m being silly about something.”
“I love hearing silly things. Spill.”
Maggie nibbled her bottom lip. “You know the other day when I went to see Ethan at work?”
“Yeah, the day you saved my ass and did a shift at Bloom.”
“Jay was there. And I admit, I get jealous of her because she’s beautiful and formidable and she has this history with Ethan that I don’t.”
“You have a different history with him. A deeper one.”
“I know.” She ran her fingers over the counter. “And Ethan’s given me no reason to question him or how he feels, but…”
“But what?”
“When I was leaving, I turned my head and she was looking at his arm around my waist. And the look on her face made me think…”
“That she likes him?” Polly finished, when she didn’t.
“Well, yeah.”
“Okay. I mean, Ethan’s a great guy, maybe shedoeslike him. But if he doesn’t share her feelings or reciprocate, are her feelings a problem?”
“I guess not. But while she’s here, they’re spending so much time together. Every time I call, I hear her voice in thebackground, and I immediately feel this irrational pit in my stomach.”
