She felt an ache deep inside her. For a moment, she imagined a different kind of life. A life that was balanced and varied. Instead of coming home half-dead from exhaustion with nothing left to give, coming home to someone who cared about her.
And what? She saw herself doing that with Jordan?
This whole thing with Jordan hadn’t been real.
It had been one night, not a whole life.
Her phone pinged and she saw a message from her sister.
Guess what? I’M GETTING MARRIED
Katie closed her eyes. Relief made her weak. Thank goodness. She didn’t know the details, and she didn’t care. All that mattered was that it was going to be okay. She hadn’t ruined her sister’s life. She felt a rush of emotion so powerful it almost knocked her flat.
She blinked back tears as she texted back.
So happy for you both.
The wedding was going ahead. Which meant she needed to pull herself together.
She needed to smile, and focus on being happy for her sister. She could figure the rest of it out later.
It was Christmas. This was her favorite time of year.
So why did she feel so low?
She was going to close her eyes for five minutes and see if that helped.
She was halfway to the bedroom when there was a tap on the door.
“Oh for—” She turned and saw Jordan standing there.
Her heart lurched. She wasn’t sure she could handle him right now.
She wanted to tell him to go away, but if she did that he’d think she was brokenhearted or something equally embarrassing, and she’d suffered all the embarrassment she could handle for one day.
She waved him in. “Hi, Jordan. Is something wrong?”
“Dan and Rosie seem to have fixed whatever was bothering them.”
“She messaged me.”
“I’m guessing you had something to do with the fact it’s back on.”
“If you’re asking if I spoke to Dan, yes, I did, although it was more of an apology really, since it was my interfering that almost broke them up in the first place. But in the end they fixed it themselves. Was there anything else or did you just come to talk about Rosie and Dan?”
“I didn’t come to talk about Rosie and Dan.” He closed the door behind him. “There are some things I need to say.”
She was too tired for this.
“Let me save you the effort. I interfere, I know I do. Am I sorry? A little, maybe, for the way this played out but I am never going to stop looking out for my sister, so it would be disingenuous of me to pretend I’m going to change much. I know I’m not your favorite person, but we have a wedding to get through so I vote we suspend hostilities until the celebrations are over. After that I’ll fly home, and you never have to see me again.”
Jordan stood there. “Are you done?”
“Yes.”
“Good, because now it’s my turn. About last night—”
“I’m stopping you right there.” She raised her hand in a stop sign. “You played me at my own game.”