Suddenly One Summer (FBI/US Attorney #6)(84)

After unpacking her briefcase, she realized she’d forgotten to check her mailbox on the way up. Sticking her keys into her back pocket, she headed down the hallway and waited for the elevator while scrolling through all the work e-mails she needed to catch up on over the weekend.

Ding!

As the elevator doors opened, she looked up from her phone and saw Ford standing inside.

With an attractive blond woman next to him.

It took Victoria a moment to find her voice. “Hi.”

“Victoria—hi.” He smiled awkwardly at her while holding the elevator door open for the blonde, who gave Victoria a polite hello as she stepped out.

Ford followed the blonde out of the elevator, then—always the gentleman—he held the door open for Victoria, too.

“Thanks.” She stepped inside, and then turned around and looked at Ford.

As their eyes met, the elevator doors slid shut between them.

Swallowing, Victoria pushed the button for the ground floor. Then she looked up as the elevator descended.

Her lip began to tremble.

Shit.

Her stomach rolled. Covering her mouth, the instant the elevator doors opened she bolted out and pushed through the front door. She ran straight to the alley behind her building and dry-heaved while holding on to the brick wall with one hand.

Afterward, she leaned against the wall, catching her breath.

She couldn’t go back to her place. She couldn’t risk that she would hear them laughing, or—God—hear the bed squeaking or banging against the wall, or the blonde moaning his name, or worst of all, Ford moaning as some other woman touched him, kissed him, stroked him, and figured out all the ways to drive him crazy, like Victoria once had.

She pushed herself off the brick wall and started walking.

Several people passing by on the sidewalk did a double take when they saw her. Victoria ignored all the looks, for once not giving a shit what anyone else thought. Seven blocks later, she walked into Rachel’s boutique shop, ringing the chime on the door.

Standing behind the counter while tagging a dress, Rachel looked over. Her eyes widened. “Oh my God, Victoria, what happened? Are you okay?”

Victoria caught sight of her reflection in the mirror behind Rachel. Thick black rivulets of mascara streamed down her face, mixing with her tears.

She gave her friend a wry smile. “I think it’s safe to say I’m definitely not okay.”

* * *

AUDREY ARRIVED AT the shop ten minutes later with a bottle of bourbon in hand.

“Holy shit, Rachel wasn’t kidding. You are a mess.” Audrey sat down next to Victoria on the couch by the dressing rooms. “What happened?”

Victoria went for a joke. “Well, for starters, apparently I do like Ford.”

“Oh.” Audrey smiled. “I hate to break it to you, sweetie, but Rachel and I figured that out at the barbecue.”

Rachel came out of the back room with three coffee cups and set them down on the table in front of the couch. “He brought home another woman tonight.”

Shocked, Audrey turned to Victoria. “What?”

“I ran into them at the elevator,” Victoria said.

“And then she puked in the alley,” Rachel added.

Audrey’s head spun. “You puked in the alley? Wow. You must really like him.”

“Oh, God. Don’t say that.” Victoria bent her head over her knees and took slow, deep breaths.

“The vomiting seems to be her way of expressing her feelings toward Ford,” Rachel told Audrey.

“Aw. And they say romance is dead.”

Her head against her knees, Victoria groaned. “Don’t make me laugh—my stomach already hurts enough.” She sat up. “I keep picturing him with that other woman, and thinking about what they might be doing right now.” She looked at her friends. “I did this.”

“You? Um, no, he did this,” Audrey emphasized. “He’s the *, bringing home another woman while you two are seeing each other.”

“We’re not seeing each other anymore. I ended it almost two weeks ago,” Victoria said.

Now it was Rachel’s turn to look surprised. “You did? Why?”

“Well . . . that’s kind of a long story.”

Rachel reached out and squeezed her hand. “We have all night.”

Audrey held up the bottle. “And we have bourbon.”

That got a smile out of Victoria. “Okay.” As the three of them sat there, drinking bourbon out of coffee cups in the middle of the store, she proceeded to tell Audrey and Rachel everything: the flashback she’d had during the break-in, her mom’s attempted suicide, her panic attacks, the therapy with Dr. Metzel, and, ultimately, her breakup with Ford.

“It’s a lot to take in, I know,” Victoria said.

“Why didn’t you tell us about all this earlier?” Audrey asked gently. “Vic, we’re your best friends. My God, after my divorce you moved me into your place and let me stay there for almost a month.”

Victoria smiled sheepishly. “I’m good at handling other people’s problems. Just . . . not so much my own.”

Rachel put a hand to her heart. “I’m still stuck on the part when Ford carried you off the train.”

“It was either that or leave me there, clogging up the aisle at his stop,” Victoria joked. When Rachel gave her a look, she turned more serious. “I know. He was really sweet and I . . . freaked out and pushed him away.”