California Girls(111)

Ali spent Monday morning moving into Paul’s office. The owner of the company had surprised her with new furniture and carpeting, which was unexpected and nice. Paul would stay on as a consultant for a month, to make for a smooth transition. With the new responsibilities came a nice raise. Ali had run the numbers and figured she would be out of debt in six months. After that she could start saving and figuring out what she wanted to do about her living situation.

Daniel was a big piece of that. While he hadn’t said the L word again, she thought about it a lot. She wanted to say it back to him, but before that, she wanted to be sure. Given what had happened with Glen, she wanted to be super, super sure. Her feelings for Daniel were totally different and they got along so much better, but was that—

“Hello, Ali.”

She looked up and saw Glen standing in the entrance to her office, as if thinking about him had conjured him.

“What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to you.”

Well, I don’t want to talk to you. Words that were both petulant and immature, she told herself.

She motioned for him to take a seat, then carefully closed the office door before returning to her chair.

“What’s up?” she asked.

He looked around. “This is new.”

“The promotion? It is, but it’s all good. I’m excited about the opportunity.”

He looked the same as always. Funny how she now saw him as a lesser version of Daniel. Lighter hair, lighter skin, thicker through the middle. She’d never cared about appearances, but having spent time with Daniel... Well, it was hard to think about going back.

He pushed up his glasses. “I went by your apartment over the weekend. You don’t live there anymore.” His tone was faintly accusing, as if she’d done something wrong.

“Of course I don’t live there. I gave notice because I was going to move in with you, remember? I’d already sold half my furniture when you dumped me. When I tried to get my apartment back, I couldn’t because they’d upped the rent to the point where I couldn’t afford it and they’d already leased it out to someone else. So I was stuck with nowhere to live.”

She paused for breath and to dial down the energy. She wasn’t mad at Glen, exactly—it was more that he simply didn’t seem to get all he’d done to her.

“You dumped me without warning,” she said, her voice more calm. “You didn’t have the decency to tell me yourself or give me an explanation. To this day, I don’t know why you ended things. You didn’t handle one single detail. Instead you left everything to me. I had to do it all, Glen. I had to make the calls and let our friends know and give away a wedding gown that wasn’t returnable. I did everything because you just disappeared.”

He shifted in his seat. “You don’t have to make it sound so awful.”

She was just about to shriek at him, then told herself it didn’t matter. Getting angry was too much energy and honestly, she didn’t care. Not anymore.

“It was awful,” she told him. “All of it, but that’s not why you’re here. Tell me what you want.” So then I can ask you to leave, she thought to herself.

“You have a new apartment?”

The question was so at odds with what she’d been thinking, it took her a second to figure out what he was asking. “What? No. I’m living with Daniel.”

She realized a second too late she should have phrased that differently, but oh, well.

“What? With Daniel?” His face flushed. “I knew it. He always had a thing for you. He wouldn’t admit it, but I could tell. I should have guessed he would do this. He’s so damned sanctimonious all the time while he was planning on stealing you away from me. That bastard.”

“Hey,” she said, her voice icy. “Stop it. There was no stealing. I’m not a vase on a shelf to be stolen. As for what happened, you ended our engagement and didn’t have the balls to tell me to my face. Daniel was a good friend. He helped cancel the wedding—something you couldn’t be bothered to do.”

“I’ll bet.”

She had figured out Glen was a jerk, but until this exact minute, she’d never realized how jerky. She’d been lucky that he dumped her. Lucky to get out in time.

While Glen got worse the more she learned about him, Daniel was the complete opposite. He was kind and thoughtful and sexy and funny and smart. When she was around him, she felt good about herself. They brought out the best in each other. He was... He was...

Ali half rose out of her seat, then sank back down. Holy crap, she was in love with him. Completely in love with Daniel.

“What?” Glen asked.

She smiled. “Nothing.” No way she was telling jerk Glen before she told Daniel. “You never said why you were here. It can’t be about the ring. I gave that back to your mother.”

“She told me. It’s not about the ring.” He leaned toward her. “I thought we could try again.”

Words genuinely failed her. She stared at him and could not make a sound, which apparently he took as a positive sign.

“Ali, I know this has been hard and I had some part in it. I felt really trapped and I wasn’t sure we were right for each other. You were always so meek and you did everything I wanted.”

“What a horrible thing to have to deal with,” she said, her voice returning.