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“If I’d known you were going to drop a bombshell like that on me, I would have.” Serena reached out to pat my knee. “It makes the time Hudson let his female best friend interfere with our relationship to the point where my sister and I hid at Château Marmont for more than a week seem a little less awful.”

I remembered a lot of speculation about their relationship splashed all over the media a couple of years ago. “Only because he groveled and has been making it up to you ever since.”

“Yeah, but maybe Julian learned from him. Or Reid because he messed up too.”

I gave her more details about the destruction of my marriage and how my conversation with Julian went yesterday. “I don’t know how to be around him without wanting to fix it, but I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“My advice isn’t going to be easy, especially not with everything you’ve been put through,” she warned.

“Okay.”

“He said it was his to deal with, so let him.”

“Ugh,” I groaned. “I hate that you’re right.”

“It’s his daughter, son-in-law, and ex-wife,” she pointed out. “That makes them his problem, not yours.”

I blinked innocently. “Not even when the son-in-law is my ex-husband.”

“Nope, you just need to focus on what it will take for you to trust Julian again.” She shook her head with a sigh. “That’s going to be enough of a challenge.”

“Julian has his work cut out for him there,” I agreed.

She nudged my foot before standing. “It’s a good thing he’s got the brains to back up his confidence.”

“Why yes, I do,” Hudson teased as he came into the living room.

When he rested his hands on her shoulders, Serena tilted her head back to smile up at him. “I wasn’t talking about you.”

He bent down to brush his lips over hers. “I could’ve sworn I heard my name.”

“Only once.”

“As a cautionary tale.” I stood with my mug in my hands. “Which I’m going to be if I don’t get started in the kitchen soon. I need to shop for another client today, and I want to be done early enough to have dinner with Julian tonight. But I’m not working at top speed right now because I still need to catch up on some of that lost sleep from Saturday.”

“Fine. Go, cook.” Serena wagged her finger at me. “For your other clients and us. Julian should earn your food back, right along with your trust.”

“Harsh.” Hudson dropped onto the couch cushion I’d just left and pulled Serena onto his lap. “But if it gets me more of Celia’s food, then I’m okay with Julian suffering.”

Their banter made me smile as I got to work on the meal prep they’d asked me to do for this week. I got into the rhythm faster than I expected, so I was done around when I’d originally planned. After saying my goodbyes, I hit up three different stores for the ingredients needed for a client’s book club tomorrow. By the time I dropped it all off at her house, I felt like I was about ready to fall over.

I was thinking about calling Julian to cancel our dinner date when I parked in front of my house. But my internal debate ended when his car pulled up behind me.

I got out of my SUV and waited by the driver’s door for him to get out of his sports sedan. “You’re early.”

“I noticed the doorbell was quiet when I came over yesterday.” He pulled a package of batteries out of the inner pocket of his suit coat, along with a flathead screwdriver. “So I was going to swap the old ones out before I pick up dinner.”

That was such a Julian thing to do that I almost threw myself into his arms. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, baby.”

I ignored the flutter of butterflies in my belly and asked, “What were you planning to get for dinner?”

“Pizza.” He got on his knees, paying no attention to the dirt on his dress pants, so he was at eye level as he pried open the outdoor cover of the doorbell. “We haven’t done that since our fifth date, and I thought it might be a good way for us to have a no-pressure date tonight.”

“That actually sounds amazing.”

“Good.” He pulled out the old battery and replaced it with a new one.