No One Else (The Ladies Who Brunch 2)

“She will,” I interject. “She has to reach her breaking point.”

“And have you reached yours, Amelia? What's going on with you?”

I take a deep breath and then stand up straighter. “I'll tell you when I’m ready, okay? But not right now. Not after what happened tonight and everything else going on this weekend, all right?”

Penelope and Noelle both nod. “Okay. That’s fair,” Penelope says calmly. “But I’m going to get another drink and then go back to my room and get some sleep. I’m exhausted.”

“I think I’m going to check out the pool and read for a bit,” Noelle says.

“I’m going for a walk and then pass out for the night as well. See you in the morning.” We all part ways as I walk in the direction that Charlotte went, hoping to find her so I can check on her.

It’s rare, but sometimes the four of us have our little tiffs, and we need some time to breathe before solving them. I love these women like the sisters I never had, but even sisters fight.

Sitting with her knees tucked into her chest on the beach, I slowly walk up to Charlotte so I don’t frighten her. “Hey,” I say as she looks up over her shoulder to find me standing behind her. “Mind if I sit?”

Turning back to stare out over the water, she shrugs. “I guess.”

I take a seat in a similar position next to her on the cold sand and sigh. “Penelope and you will get past this.”

“I don’t know, Amelia. She was pretty clear about how she feels.”

“Well, like you said, she has her own issues she hasn’t dealt with and is most likely projecting them on you. We all have things we like to brush under the rug.” Speaking from experience, Amelia?

She turns to me. “What’s going on? The girls said you aren’t yourself right now.”

A heavy sigh leaves my lips again, but maybe talking to Charlotte about it will help me process. “I sort of ran into a problem with my new office this week.”

“Oh shit.” She reaches up to rub my shoulder. “What’s going on? I thought everything was good to go when we return from here…”

I scoff. “Well, it was going well, swimmingly, really. But last night I met the guy who bought the other space in the same complex as my office.”

“And?”

“And he’s a divorce attorney.”

Charlotte’s eyes go wide. “Oh, shit.”

“Yeah. How on earth am I supposed to keep couples focused on repairing their marriages when just around the corner will be a reminder of the other solution to their problems?”

Charlotte rubs my shoulder. “Maybe it won’t be as bad as you think it is. Maybe you’ll barely see him. Maybe you two could team up, and he might actually help you with clients. He might be working with a couple and recommend they seek counseling before going through with their divorce,” she suggests optimistically.

“Ha. As much as I love you for trying to convince me of that, based on our first encounter, I’m going to say the chances of that happening are a big, fat no. He basically told me that I’ve already made him richer because my clients are going to walk right across the complex to him when they realize that what I do is pointless.”

Charlotte’s mouth drops open. “Oh, Jesus.”

“All I want to do is help people, Charlotte. It’s important to me given what I went through growing up.”

“You do help people, Amelia. This guy being there isn’t going to change that.”

I sigh. “You know what the worst part about him is?”

“What?”

“He’s hot as hell.” Just thinking back to yesterday and that curl of his lips, his tousled hair, and those dark-green eyes has my heart racing again. He looked refined, professional, sexy, and dirty all at the same time.

Charlotte laughs. “Wow. So you really do have yourself a little problem to deal with back home, don’t you?”

I nod. “See, Char? We all have things in our lives that cause us to make decisions we’re not necessarily proud of, or react to situations that we don’t know how to deal with, even me, the therapist.” I point a finger to my chest.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, you’re a sex therapist, so as long as you didn’t sleep with him, I think you get a free pass here.”

Her comment makes me smile. “Yeah, there is no sex going on with Ethan, nor will there ever be, so that logic works for me.” Then stop thinking about him fucking you over your desk, Amelia.

Yeah, that little scenario was one of the many going through my mind last night.

Charlotte sighs and then rests her head on my shoulder. “Thanks for coming to check on me.”

“Of course. Everything will be okay.”

“I’m just really mad at Penelope right now for being so blunt.”

“That’s valid. But when you’re done being mad, make sure you two talk. Tell her how she made you feel. It will make you feel better and help you process why you got angry with one another.”

“Man, what do other people who don’t have therapists as friends do in crises like these?”

“Live the same way you do. Just because I’m a therapist doesn’t mean everyone listens to me.”

That makes her laugh. “Well, I think they should.”

“I do too. But hey…I get paid either way.”