Manage My Heart (New Year New Me 2)

I meet his gaze coolly. “I’m looking at you.”

He hisses. “Adora.”

“What?” I place a hand on my hip.

His phone vibrates.

“Jesus Christ,” he growls, stalking over to the nightstand where he grabs his phone. “Of course he wants to get together before we met up,” he mumbles.

“You should go. Alby’s calling.”

He flinches. “We’ll talk when I get back.”

No, we really won’t.

“Take your key. I have souvenir shopping to tend to,” I say casually.

“Yeah. Okay.” He grabs his card off the dresser and casts a lingering glance at me before he leaves. I step into the bathroom, gather my toiletries, and add them to my suitcases. Removing the printed itinerary from my satchel, I place it on the bed along with my company credit card.

“Good-bye, Weston. I hope you find the happiness you seek.”

I call down to the front desk and order a car, explaining I need to catch an unexpected flight. Dragging my suitcase behind me, I place my key on the table and leave the past behind.

I STUMBLE INTO MY HOUSE nearly twenty-four hours later in a pair of over-sized sunglasses and clothes I’ve been in too long. My head aches thanks to lack of sleep and a little too much booze on the flight. I threw myself a pity party for one and wallowed in my misery, only for a short time. Hearing a clank from the kitchen, I freeze. My alarm beeps behind me, and I quickly reset it.

“Hello?” I call out.

“Sissy?” The voice belongs to the only person I want to talk to right now.

Dropping my bag, I rush forward. “Jenay?”

“You didn’t think I was going to let you go through this alone, did you?” she whispers, stepping from the kitchen with a carton of Ben & Jerry’s Marshmallow Swirl in hand.

Tears spill from my eyes, and I swipe them away. When she opens her arms, I step into them, grateful for her presence.

“What happened?” Jenay whispers.

“Everything and nothing,” I mumble. For a second, I was living my dream. In the next instant, I was crashing to Earth in a fiery blaze.

“Can you narrow that down a bit more?” Jenay huffs.

I stand up straight and meet her confused gaze. “Only if you hand over the goods.” After taking the carton and a spoon from her, I move to the couch.

“You said he didn’t feel the same in the text. I’m guessing you finally told him?” She sinks onto the couch beside me, and I pop the carton and take a giant spoonful.

“Sort of,” I say around a scoop of pure heaven.

“Adora.”

“It’s complicated.” I swallow. “The owner of Scott’s Software has a daughter name Priscila who has a serious crush on Weston. He’d been dodging her for months, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

Jenay’s nostrils flare.

“Alby encouraged him to date her. Weston needed an out, so he told him he was already involved in a serious relationship.”

Her face falls. “Shit. He has a girlfriend even you didn’t know about?”

“Please,” I snicker, “I’m practically dating the girls he sees with all the dates I arrange and the flowers I send. No. Alby got it into his head that I was that girl. And we decided not to correct him, at least until after the trip.”