Elastic Hearts (Hearts #3)(36)

I raised my eyebrows. “Well, that’s good, right?” I asked slowly. One could never be too sure when he was going to hit a nerve when it came to women and these sensitive subjects.

“I guess,” she said, shrugging. I rubbed my temple and looked at my watch. I had an hour to spare before I had to bolt to meet with Nicole, so I took a seat where I’d been before Corinne decided to turn into Bugs Bunny with her chewing.

“What’s the problem? Haven’t you been together for a while now?” I asked.

She started chipping at her nail polish. “Eight months.”

Oh, wow. Her boyfriend really jumped into that one. I didn’t comment, because nothing good would come out of my mouth. It wasn’t worse than Gabriel Lane and Nicole. Fucking Nicole. Instead, I nodded for her to continue. She glanced up at me, her eyes welling with unshed tears. Jesus, f*ck. I didn’t do well with emotional females. How did I get myself into this mess?

“I just don’t know if he’s the one, you know? I don’t know if he’s my forever,” she whispered, still chipping at her nails.

“Have you told him this? Maybe you should.”

“He’s a great guy. He makes me laugh, gets along with my parents, has a good job,” she continued, ignoring me. “He has his own place, and he wants kids.”

I tilted my head. So far I’d heard nothing but good. Throw in a vintage black Mustang, and I was about to marry the guy. I looked at my watch again.

“I’m assuming you’re going to get to the bad part soon?”

She wiped her tears. “I don’t know. I was with my ex-boyfriend for six years. I’ve only been with Daniel eight months. I feel like, I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Maybe I don’t even know him, you know?”

“Corinne, as I’m sure you know, I am not equipped to give relationship advice.” I paused and added, “At all.”

She nodded and sniffled. “I know, but you date a lot. How do you know they’re not the woman you want to marry?”

I let out a long breath and leaned back in my seat. That was a good question. How did I know? I frowned.

“I don’t,” I said with a shrug. She looked puzzled, so I continued. “I’ve never cared enough to continue any of those relationships, so I just assume they’re not the one.” She continued to stare at me at a loss for words, which made me keep talking. “I’ll let you in on a little secret: none of us know what we’re doing. We’re all winging it. Your boyfriend? He’s winging it. He’s proposing to you because he hopes you’re his forever. Maybe he believes it, I guess he must if he’s taking the plunge, but if you’re not willing to take it with him, you should probably pull him off that cliff before he does it, not when he does it.”

She nodded. “You’re right. Maybe I’m just having second thoughts because of all of these damn divorce cases we go through.”

I laughed. “I’m pretty sure that was in the job description when you applied.”

“People change,” she said with a smile.

Right. That again. I shrugged.

“You don’t think somebody will come along and change you?” she asked, frowning. I thought about that for a moment, my mind instantly going to Nicole. Again. I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

“I think the right person for me will want to keep me just the way I am.”

Corinne seemed to be satisfied with my answer. I gathered the papers and put them back in the folder.

“Are you done having your moment?” I asked. “Because I really have somewhere to be.”

Corinne laughed. “I think I’m done having my moment.”

Picking up the folder, I stood and walked toward the door. I patted her back as I passed her. “Don’t believe the hype, Corinne. Being single is overrated, especially when you think you’ve found someone you can stand to be with continuously.”

The drive to the address in Manhattan Beach was brutal. The traffic was insane. Apparently there was some kind of street market being set up, which closed off the major street I needed to take, and further pissed me off. Who in their right mind would willingly shut down all of those neighborhoods so they could sell shit? By the time I got to the house, I was barely containing my rage. I used the street parking four blocks away, left my jacket and tie in the car, and rolled up my sleeves. There was no way I was going to walk through the pits of hell in a suit. Fuck that noise.

I walked down the steep street and used the folder in my hand to shield my eyes from the sun when I got to the house. Through the window, I could see Nicole, wearing a tight flower-print dress. Her dark hair cascaded down her back in loose curls that she must have had done earlier that day. I admired her from afar, her curves, the way her toned tan legs looked in the heels she wore, and I took a second to imagine how she’d look out of that dress, out of those heels, legs wrapped around me. I took a long, deep breath and walked up the steps.

I could hear her laughing at whatever the person she was talking to was saying, and I smiled at the sound of it. She had a good laugh, not high-pitched or low, or snorty, or crazy. It was just right. A guy opened the door, and I instantly tensed. He had straight, long blond hair that reached his shoulders and was wearing a suit. I could tell he worked out. I could tell he felt I was interrupting something special going on between him and my girl. My CLIENT. Not my girl. Not my anything. My eyes landed on her when I looked over his shoulder, and she smiled. She had this small, tentative smile she used sometimes. One that didn’t give you the slightest inkling as to how fierce she was beneath it. She could claw her way into and out of anybody’s life and leave you with the afterthought that it’d all started because of that one smile.