Page 42 of Love Puck

I’d set a boundary with her. A boundary I had every right to make. Jillian was engaged to another man. She shouldn’t be poking her nose in my life.

It didn’t make any sense.

The other thing that didn’t make any sense was the fact that I felt fucking guilty.

I kept playing that scene over and over in my mind. The look on her face when I told her she was too involved—

Fuck.

I knew I was right.

But that didn’t mean I felt like any less of an asshole for doing it.

Beau gave her a quick hello, and she talked with him—and Wyatt—for a minute. Then he took the dog and went off to sit with Gigi. This left Jillian and I staring awkwardly at each other. “Thanks for the—” I started to say.

But Jillian spoke at the exact same time. “Thanks for—”

Like I said—fuckin’ awkward.

“Thanks for the invite,” I spoke up and nodded at her. My fingers wanted to reach over and undo her messy bun. And my eyes wanted to watch her long hair tumble down over her shoulders. And my heart wanted to yell at my fingers and my eyes.

Christ.

How the hell was I going to get over Jillian when every time I turned around—she was there?

She gave me another fake smile. “It was nice of you to join us.” She shut the door behind me, and I walked all the way in.

There were a lot of extra chairs set up. A few were empty. Some of the women sat on the floor in groups and chatted and laughed.

Christ, I wished I could feel half that relaxed right now. Instead, my guts were in a nervous knot.

No part of me wanted to be here tonight.

Yes, I’d read the book. That part didn’t bother me.

But having that conversation with Jillian had bothered me more than I thought it would.

Was it necessary?

Absofuckingloutlely.

I’d meant every word of what I’d said. Her being around me—and contacting me all the goddamn time—was too much. More than I wanted to handle. Or should need to handle.

This fake friendship charade did not mean we had to be attached at the hip twenty-four/seven.

A really, really great image of us being attached at the hips just shot into my brain.

Fuck.

I shut my eyes and rubbed them. Christ, I was hopeless.

“Headache?” Trey’s voice made me open my eyes. He looked at me and grabbed my shoulder in hello.

“No, I’m okay. I’ll take a water if you’ve got one, though.”

He nodded and jerked his head toward the kitchen. “Follow me.”

I did as I was told, saying hello to the book club members as we passed by.