Flirting with Forever: A Hot Romantic Comedy(81)

Of course he’d walked out. That was how he dealt with his feelings, apparently. And now he wouldn’t even talk to me.

Asshole.

I reached for the tequila but I heard another car. This time, it pulled into my driveway.

Thank God. It was my beautiful, wonderful, loyal-to-the-end friends.

I opened the front door to greet them. They swept in, loaded down with… I didn’t even know. Everly had shopping bags from a local grocery store. Hazel carried a stack of pink boxes and a bottle of wine. Sophie almost dropped both pizzas she was trying to balance. I grabbed one box before it slid off the other and onto the floor.

“We came with supplies,” Everly said, characteristically cheerful.

“Since it isn’t yet clear how dire the situation is, we brought some of everything,” Hazel said.

“I’ll be honest,” Sophie said as she unloaded the pizza onto my kitchen counter. “I was craving pepperoni.”

Everly and Hazel set everything else in the kitchen and started rummaging through the bag and boxes.

“Ice cream,” Everly said, holding up a pint of chocolate. “I got four different flavors, so we can mix and match.”

“Cupcakes,” Hazel said, pointing to one of the pink boxes. “Also, croissants and donuts. I was tasked with procuring carbs.”

“I see that,” I said.

Hazel held up a folder. “I also took the opportunity to print out some of your past articles on how to handle a break up. Then Everly reminded me that maybe you don’t want your own words thrown back at you. But they’re here in case you want to review them. Your advice is outstanding.”

Everly kept fishing things out of her bags while Sophie put the ice cream in the freezer, then helped herself to a slice of pizza.

“I brought facial masks in case you’ve been crying and need moisturizing,” Everly said. “Plus, they feel so nice. And chocolate, of course, if you need something other than ice cream. Hazel picked up a bottle of wine, because why not.” She held up a colorful box. “Oh, and I brought hair chalk.”

I eyed her with confusion and possibly mild disgust. “Why on earth did you buy hair chalk?”

“Just in case.” She shrugged and put the box down. “If you’re considering doing something drastic to your hair, we can use this instead.”

“You haven’t made a hair appointment in the last eight hours, have you?” Hazel peered at me over the rim of her glasses.

“No.”

“Have you visited any animal shelters or adopted any pets?” Sophie asked.

“No, this isn’t a cut my hair off or adopt a cat situation.” I brushed my hair back from my face. “Although I did quit my job.”

“Oh, my,” Everly said. “It’s really been a day, hasn’t it?”

“What do you need?” Sophie asked around a bite of pizza. “Food? Chocolate? Alcohol?”

I threw my hands up in the air. “Honestly? I don’t even know.”

“That’s okay,” Everly said. “Just tell us what happened.”

Another car drove by. Phil across the street. My tight grip on my emotions was beginning to slip.

“I turned in an article about all the positive aspects of dating a single dad. Tala, one of our editors, decided that it wasn’t clickable enough for her liking, so she rewrote it and didn’t tell anyone. The article they published, under my name, is awful. It’s all about how to manipulate a single dad into bed. It even suggests using his kids to get to him.”

“Oh, no,” Everly said.

“Dex read it before I saw it. And instead of calmly asking me to explain, he marched over here, yelled at me and accused me of using him and his daughter, and stormed off before I could figure out what the hell he was talking about.”

Hazel handed me the martini I hadn’t realized she was mixing.

I took a sip. “I still can’t believe Tala did that. Or that my boss approved it. She didn’t even ask why the article was so different than the one I’d proposed. And she was perfectly happy to soil my reputation because she knew the controversy would generate traffic.”

“Good for you for quitting,” Sophie said. “They don’t deserve you.”

“Thank you. And this thing with Dex is just a stupid misunderstanding. But the big old jerk won’t talk to me.”

“Perhaps he feels the need to cool off for a period of time,” Hazel said.

Everly nudged her. “We’re supposed to be on her side.”

“I am, I’m just being logical.”

“No, Hazel’s right.” I set down my glass and stirred the olives around. “He probably does need to cool down. But it still irritates me that he walked away like that. And now he’s who-knows-where, assuming I wrote all those things and they’re about him. That I sucked up to Riley to get in his pants and I don’t care about him beyond his ability to give me orgasms.”

Another car drove by. Still not Dex. For fuck’s sake, were all my neighbors coming home in the same half hour?

I took a big swallow of my drink and set the glass down. “Let’s go out. I’m making myself crazy here. What do you think? Girls’ night out? Can you all come with me?”

Hazel adjusted her glasses again. “It has been too long since we had a proper girls’ night.”