I walk in, close her door, and sink down onto a chair. “I did it. I ended things with Baron.”
The pen Willow was holding clatters to the desk. “Holy fuck, really?” She stands up, moving quickly around the desk to sit in the chair next to me, taking my hand. “That’s great, I’m so happy. Do you feel good about it? Relieved? Was it easy, or did he give you shit? Do we need to go beat him up?”
I choke out a laugh. “Yes, yes, sort of, no, and definitely not. He agreed, we weren’t doing it for the right reasons, and there was no real love between us. Honestly? The worst part was telling my parents. Did you know disappointment has a sound?It’s the huff-sigh combo my mother does that makes it clear she disapproves of my decisions.”
Willow winces. “Yeah, I’m familiar with the sound. Lydia had it down pat.” Her reference to her former boss makes a small smile break free.
“Lydia would have gotten along great with my mom and Baron’s.”
“Okay, so, he took it well and it’s done now. Why do you look so freaked out?”
I choke down a sip of coffee, feeling it burn my throat. “Um, well, see, I couldn’t get what you said at dinner the other night out of my head.”
Her eyebrows raise, and I drop my gaze to my lap.
“About what, exactly?”
“You know what.”
“About Monty? Oh Lark, what did you do?”
To her credit, she doesn’t sound worried or upset, just curious.
“I…kissed him.”
“Oh.”
My head slowly nods up and down. “Yup.”
“Well, what happened next?”
I force myself to lift my gaze and look morosely at Willow. “He was shocked, frozen. And I bolted.”
“Oh, Lark.” Willow leans forward, pulling me into a hug. “You just took him by surprise. Don’t think anything of it. The poor guy probably thought he was dreaming.”
“Or living a nightmare,” I say miserably, letting my fear come to light. “What if we’ve been reading him all wrong? What ifthere’s nothing there but friendship, and I just messed it all up with one stupid kiss?”
Willow pushes me away, holding my shoulders and shaking them gently. “Stop it right now, Lark Miller. Believe me when I say, Monty is in love with you. I think he has been for a long time, but he had no choice but to bury those feelings out of his respect for you. Now that things are different, you need to give him a chance to realize that. Did he know you had broken up with Baron before you kissed him?”
“Yes,” I say, then drop my gaze. “I told him right before I did it.”
Willow’s quiet laugh isn’t mocking in any way. “So he had zero time to adjust before you gave him the shock of his lifetime and made all of his dreams come true.”
I try to think of what happened from that perspective, and it’s easy to see how Willow could be right. I really did kind of blindside him, especially considering my radio silence between the night he brought me home from the restaurant and today.
“Okay.” I exhale. “I need to go and talk to him, don’t I?”
Willow stands up, moves back around her desk, and opens a drawer, pulling out the jar of Skittles Ronan keeps stocked for her. She offers it to me, and I take a handful.
“Yes, you do,” she says simply, tossing a few Skittles into her mouth. When she finishes chewing, she leans forward, and looks me straight in the eye. “But what are you going to say?”
My shoulders lift and fall, because ain’t that the question of the day. “Honestly? I have no idea. I just got out of a long-term relationship with a man I mistakenly thought I was going to marry. I’m hardly looking to jump straight into anotherrelationship, if that’s even what Dan wants.”
Willow lets out a small laugh. “Trust me, that’s what he wants. But he won’t push you into something you’re not ready for. He’s not like that.”
“And that’s just it. It’s Dan. He’s the best man I know, no offense to Sin.”
Willow gives me a smile and nods her head. “None taken.”
