Page 83 of Broken Heart

To top it all off, my sleep had improved drastically. I no longer woke up at night unless it was because Cooper was with me and looking for a taste.

And I was giving myself permission now to try to form deeper connections. So far, it seemed I was succeeding in doing that with Cooper’s sisters and Rhea. I would have tried with Ava, too, but she was off dancing on a tour for the next several months.

Part of me was worried about where things would lead and if I was making a mistake, but deep down, I knew I couldn’t continue to lead a solitary life. I had no choice but to try.

And it was working.

I was exceptionally happy.

Perhaps that was the reason why I had to have one area of my life that caused me some stress. Or, at the very least, it was mildly annoying.

Maria.

She had attempted to reach out to me by calling and texting a few times, and I’d ignored every attempt.

Apparently, that hadn’t made things clear enough, because after all the years that I’d been friends with her, I knew, without even turning around, that it was her voice that had just called my name.

“Skye?” she repeated.

My teeth clenched with fury, and I inhaled deeply in an attempt to calm myself down.

It didn’t work.

So, I figured I’d have no choice but to allow this to play out however it would.

Slowly, I spun around, my eyes ultimately landing on my former best friend and her pregnant belly.

Even if I was confident that I had moved on and was completely happy with my life right now, it didn’t stop the pang of hurt from lancing my heart again. The woman I thought was my best friend was standing in front of me, pregnant with my ex-boyfriend’s baby. That was a reality no woman should ever have to face. As angry as I was at him for the betrayal—and I was livid about it—I was devastated over the fact she could do to me what she’d done. It was unbelievably sad.

“What are you doing here?” I asked her, my voice indicating I was in no mood to deal with her.

Maria held my gaze for a few seconds before she whispered her plea. “We need to talk.”

“About what? I have nothing to say to you.”

Her shoulders fell as she tipped her head to the side. “Then let me talk. Just listen to what I have to say.”

I didn’t want to give her any of my time. She didn’t deserve it. But I realized there were still some people in my store, and I wasn’t keen on causing a scene. Maybe the sooner I let her say whatever she had to say, I could tell her to leave and never come back. “So, talk. But make it quick.”

She inhaled deeply. “I know what I did to you was wrong. I’m sorry. I can’t go back and change what happened. I understand why you don’t want anything to do with me now, but we’re all we have, Skye. For years, it was just the two of us. Before Simon was even in the picture, particularly after your grandmother died, we had each other. I don’t want to lose you over this. Do you know what it’s like to be going through one of the biggest milestones in your life and not have your best friend there to celebrate it with you?”

Having my jaw drop open while I stared at her with utter disbelief wouldn’t have been an unreasonable reaction. I didn’t do that. Instead, I fired back, “Are you listening to yourself, Maria? The reason your best friend isn’t in your life to celebrate your pregnancy with you is your own fault. You created this mess. Not me.”

Nodding furiously, she insisted, “I know. I’m well aware this is my fault. I accept full responsibility. I just?—”

“Accepting full responsibility would be understanding that there are consequences for your actions,” I clarified, cutting her off. “You seem to think there should be no penalty for what you did to me. I’m sorry, but I don’t trust you, and I don’t want anything to do with you.”

Disappointment washed over her. “How can you say that? After all these years? What if, what if we go to counseling?”

I jerked my head back as my brows pulled together. “Why should I go to counseling when you’re the one who doesn’t know the first thing about loyalty? I didn’t go behind your back and lie to you about anything. I didn’t betray you. I offered you an appropriate response to the way you treated me. It’s a shame you believe you don’t have to accept that.”

“I’m not suggesting there’s anything you did wrong, but I thought it would be a way for us to figure out how to fix this and get back a part of our friendship,” she explained.

My eyes narrowed. “Counseling only works when the people going are interested in fixing something. I don’t want to fix my relationship with someone who could so easily do what you did. That was the ultimate betrayal.”

It was becoming clear how the weight of the consequences she faced for her decision to hook up with Simon was impacting her. She looked like she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. And maybe there was a teeny, tiny part of me that felt bad for the baby Maria was carrying that she was under that stress. But I didn’t feel bad for Maria. She obviously wasn’t thinking about me when she betrayed me with Simon.

“It doesn’t make any sense why you’re still holding a grudge,” she argued, even though the fight was no longer left in her voice. “You’ve moved on. You seem happy. If anything, you should be thanking me.”