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Sally’s mouth dropped open. “A Dackin offered to cancel your debt. That never happens. They thrive on money and profit. Are you sure that’s what he offered you?”

She nodded glumly. “There was a condition. He doesn’t want me seeing Eric.”

Sally grinned. “Oh, I get it. Avel got jealous and thought you’d hook up with Eric after he courageously rescued you from your doom.”

“I don’t know about Avel being jealous,” Holly said. “I can’t figure out what’s going on in his head most of the time.”

“Of course he’s jealous.” Sally shook her head. “He sees you hanging out with another guy, a significant guy from your past. He’s going to think the worst.”

Holly still wasn’t convinced. “I don’t do conditions, even though it was one I could have easily met.”

Sally pressed her lips together. “That was a lousy move on Avel’s part. You don’t offer something with strings. What did you say to his offer?”

“I told him to stuff it. I got angry.” Holly shrugged. “In fact, I offered him the chance to have his money back.”

“You did?”

“After we’d talked about what I should do about Avel, I decided to pay off my debt to him. It’s a problem between us, and I wanted it gone.”

“I bet Avel loved that.”

“He hated it. He accused me of thinking his money wasn’t good enough.”

“Stars! Holly, you’ve gotten yourself in a mess over this guy.” Sally gave her a quick hug before stepping back. “You two need to talk and take time to listen to each other, instead of seeing the worst. Avel offered you a great deal. He put a stupid condition on it, but his intentions were good. Avel saw you with a guy who wasn’t treating you well, a guy who broke your heart and treated you like dirt. He wouldn’t want to risk that happening again.”

“Avel should know me better than that,” Holly said.

Sally arched an eyebrow. “How long have you known him?”

“I first met Avel... three weeks ago.” Holly’s bottom lip jutted out. Had it really been such a short amount of time? She felt like Avel had been in her life forever. She couldn’t imagine him not being around. How could she have fallen so fast? She wasn’t a believer in insta-love.

“Three short weeks and you haven’t spent every day together. How’s Avel supposed to know how you really feel about Eric?”

Holly sighed. “He could have asked.”

“And you could have told him,” Sally said. “It took me months to drag the information about Eric out of you, and we work together every day.”

“I don’t like to over share.”

“You don’t like to bother people.” Sally smiled at her kindly. “You don’t want to worry people, so you keep everything bottled up. That’s not good for you.”

Holly scuffed her foot on the floor. “I don’t want people to think badly of me.”

“That’s impossible. But think about this from Avel’s point of view. His work means he doesn’t hang out with the kindest of people. He assumed you wanted to get things going again with Eric. He maybe thought you were playing him because you owed him money.”

“I’d never do that,” Holly said.

“And everyone who knows you and loves you understands that. But a guy who’s only known you for three weeks and spends most of his time chasing people dodging repaying the debt they owe him, will have a different slant on things.”

Holly picked up a cupcake and took a bite. “I didn’t think about that. I mean, I know now that his offer was great. Imagine what it would be like, starting my own business with no debt to deal with.”

“And you turned that down.” Sally shook her head.

Holly ate more cake. She’d turned down something amazing and let her hang-ups mess with what Avel offered her. She’d had her barriers up for so long because she was scared of being mistreated again by someone who claimed to love her.

She hadn’t let anybody in for a long time. She hadn’t really let Avel in, maybe a little, but then she’d slammed the door in his face. Could he be different? She wanted him to be.

Sally picked up her own cake. “That idiot, Eric, did a number on you. Give Avel a chance. He messed up, but we’re all guilty of that. Maybe this tough guy of yours is like your favorite chocolate when you get to know him better.”