Elastic Hearts (Hearts #3)(72)

I nodded. He glanced at me again.

“I’m going to leave because this is the responsible thing to do,” he said. “If I was careless, I’d stay.”

“That’s . . . good to know,” I said. And it was. Maybe not now, but someday there would be a future for us. Maybe someday we’d work out.

If I was careless, I’d stay.

When he left, I drank my soup, picked up Bonnie, and then headed to my dad’s. Meire didn’t even let me knock before she opened the door and pulled me into a hug.

“Your dad is not very happy. He’s not even going to the office tomorrow.”

My heart dropped. I was afraid of that. I let go of Meire and started walking toward his study, where I knew I’d find him.

“There’s soup for you in the kitchen. I’ll warm it up,” she called out. I didn’t bother to tell her I’d already had some. I could have another bowl.

“Thank you,” I called out, cursing my teenage self for all the times I’d talked shit about her for marrying my dad. I wasn’t one to welcome new people with open arms. I was always cautious about letting people in because I’d seen so many people get burned by loved ones, and I just never wanted that to be me. The irony.

I knocked once on my dad’s office door before walking in. He was sitting behind his desk with his hand on his forehead.

“Hey, Dad.”

His head snapped up. He smiled softly. “How are you feeling?”

I shrugged. “Like shit.”

“Nicole.”

“Like crap,” I said. I never understood why crap was accepted while shit was frowned upon.

“Can you please explain these to me? I’m having a hard time understanding them,” he said, waving the pictures of Victor and me around. I took a deep breath and let it out as I sat across from him.

“There’s nothing to explain. It was windy and we were trying not to be loud so the realtor wouldn’t hear what we were saying about the house. End of.”

His brows rose. “You’re sure?”

“I’m positive,” I said, but the more his blue eyes searched my face, the more nervous I felt. Every time I lied to my dad I felt like I was going up against the Supreme Court justices and pleading my case. Technically I wasn’t really lying. There was nothing going on between Victor and me anymore.

“Okay,” he said with a sigh. “I was worried I’d have to let him go.”

My heart lurched. I leaned forward in my seat, suddenly feeling all the energy come back to me at once. “Let him go? Why?”

“It doesn’t look good if a lawyer is involved with his client. I’m sure I don’t need to explain that to you.”

I tried not to roll my eyes. He’d met Meire when she’d hired him as her estate attorney after her husband died. Not the same, but close enough, and Dad had made it very clear that their relationship didn’t start until after her things were taken care of and she was no longer his client.

“I know, Dad. Like I said, nothing is going on. We are friends, though. I don’t think that’s against the law.”

“It’s not, but you need to steer clear until this blows over. Victor is very serious about his job and I don’t want anything interfering with my making him partner.”

“I won’t.”

“Are you dating somebody?” he asked suddenly.

“No,” I said, and it pained me to say it. Physically pained me as I thought of Victor and his smile and his grouchiness.

“Well, find someone.” He paused. “Well, that’s probably a good thing to be single at this point. Probably good for you too. I’m having a company party to announce Victor’s promotion in a couple weeks.” He paused. “I’m not trying to pimp you out, love, but if you want to bring someone as a friend, do so. I’m just trying to make this,” he holds up the pictures again, “go away for everybody’s sake. I’m sure he will bring a date, so I won’t have to worry about him. People will see you guys with other people and this will be erased.”

“I hear you,” I said.

And I wasn’t lying. I heard him loud and clear. It still didn’t help the deep cut I felt at the idea of Victor dating another woman. Someone he didn’t have to worry about being careless with. I excused myself and left his office, not even bothering to get my bowl of soup before I went to the guest house. I face-planted onto the plush queen-sized bed and let out a single sob before I fell asleep.





“WHY WOULD YOU invite her to your birthday party?” I asked my sister, who looked at me like I was an idiot. It had been a couple weeks since I’d seen Nicole and I was doing pretty good at avoiding her as a whole. The only time I communicated with her was through Corinne, and it was solely about the divorce and the agreement she had with Gabriel to attend an event with him.

“Because I like her, and I was handing out invitations the day I met up with her to talk about Sunny’s wedding dress. Or did you forget that you practically begged me to call her to see how she was feeling when she was sick?”

I blinked. That was beside the point. I couldn’t call her after I took the soup to her house. I was being a * but I was man enough to admit that the sound of her voice would break me if I wouldn’t be able to touch her or see her. Estelle waved an envelope with my name on it and jerked me out of my thoughts.