I snort a laugh. “At least your algorithm has taste.”
She grins. I’ve been so consumed with what Trudy represents, the threat, the past, the ghost of a woman who came before me, that I’ve barely registered who she actually is when she’s not crying or apologizing.
“It’s done now,” I say. “You’re here. Use the time to figure out your next step, and don’t rush back to him, okay? Your Alpha sounds toxic.”
“Toxicis generous.” She’s quiet for a few steps. “I’ve been thinking about opening my own business. Starting fresh, not needing to rely on anyone.”
“Yeah? Doing what?”
“Floral arrangements.” She says it tentatively, testing the words, and I notice the way her gaze snags on the florist we’re passing, the buckets of dahlias and roses crowding the doorway. Not a casual glance. A hungry one. “I used to do them before I met Kristian. Weddings, events, small commissions, and I was good at it.”
“Trudy.” I bump her shoulder with mine. “That’s exactly what you need. Build a business that’s yours and nobody else’s.”
She gives me a huge smile that’s genuine, and the warmth of it catches me off guard because I’ve been bracing for rivalry and getting friendship instead. I didn’t expect to find myself strolling down a sidewalk with my Alphas’ ex-Omega, sharing a conversation that feels more natural than my relationship with Louis.
Last night, all three of my Alphas stayed at my place, including Damien, and Trudy was alone in their empty house.
The guilt sits in my stomach right next to the possessiveness. Neither one wins. They just coexist, uncomfortably, the way feelings do when you’re a person who wants to be good but also wants what’s hers.
“Hey.” Trudy grabs my arm, pulling me from the thought. “Isn’t that her? Your ex’s Omega? From the rugby match?”
I follow her gaze up the sidewalk to the brunette Omega staring at a dress through the store window. The same one who’d been his maid of honor at the wedding and at the rugby game.Now, she’s dressed in a pale blue sundress, all alone. No Louis in sight.
My stomach drops, and I immediately scan the street. Doorways. Parked cars. The gap between buildings where someone might be waiting. Nothing.
“Come on.” Trudy’s already angling toward the crosswalk. “Let’s talk to her.”
“What? No.”
“She’s right there.”
“That’s the woman who was in the car outside my house when Louis broke up with me, Trudy. The woman Louis left me for, so I can’t just stroll up and?—”
“You can and you should.” Trudy faces me fully with a determined expression. “We Omegas need to stick together, especially the ones attached to shitty Alphas.” She softens. “I spent years being misguided by Kristian. Having another Omega reach out to me would have changed everything, and maybe she needs that and doesn’t even know what kind of man she’s with.”
The words swirl in my mind in the exact place my anxiety lives.
“Okay,” I finally say because I can’t think of a logical reason why I shouldn’t.
We approach the brunette staring at the dress store. Up close, she’s striking. Freckled, dark green–eyed, and put together. I shouldn’t compare myself to her, but I do anyway, from the cheekbones to the hair to the confident posture. She’s the upgrade and what Louis went looking for while I was pressing his shirts and working on my recipe book.
“Gorgeous dress,” Trudy says, sliding up beside her.
The brunette glances up and grins. “Oh, hey. You were at the rugby game, right? Louis pointed you out, and he spoke to you both.”
My throat seizes. I open my mouth but nothing comes.
Trudy’s hip bumps mine, and the contact jolts me free.
“Yep,” I manage. “That’s us.”
“I’m Trudy. This is Claire.”
“Maggie.” She extends her hand. I shake it, and her grip is firm, her smile real. Inside my skull, the anxious narration is running at full volume:This is the woman he chose, the woman who replaced you.
“You live here?” Trudy asks her.
“I do, but I’m from Boston originally.” She gestures at the harbor, the storefronts. “And it’s just gorgeous here, so it was easy for Louis to convince me to move here.”
