Apparently, this was a common topic of conversation.
“Karl’s not that bad.”
“Oh, he is that bad.” Eden’s nose curled in distaste.
“Wow, guys, wow. Where is the love?”
Eden giggled. “We’re only saying this because of the love.”
Tessa’s demeanor shifted. “Then maybe you should support the decision I have to make.”
Half of me felt like an outsider who’d stumbled into a private conversation, the other felt as if this was exactly where I belonged.
As if I’d been destined to be here, too. That North Star guiding me to my special place.
I couldn’t help but be completely invested when Eden reached her hand over the table and took Tessa’s. “I’m sorry. You know I didn’t mean to put you on the spot like that. We just want better for you. We want you to find someone who deserves the amazing person you are, and that person is not Karl.”
Tessa deflated the smallest amount, and she looked away, out into the booths that were mostly vacant at this time of hour.
“It’s not that simple, and you know it.” She wasn’t looking at anyone when she let the whisper free.
“But fighting for what you need? Going after who and what brings you joy?” Eden squeezed her hand tighter. “You’re right. It might not be simple, but it’s worth it, even if it’s messy.”
“Life is always messy, especially when it comes to the things that mean the most to us.” Salem’s gaze shifted to me when she said it.
Unease quivered through me. It felt as if she were making a point to change the focus of the conversation.
I took a shaky sip of my mimosa and wondered why I’d agreed to this. I was a fool for trying to cling to what would never truly belong to me.
But I’d come…come because of Logan’s encouragement. Because he wanted me to be a part of his life.
Because I wanted to be a part of it, too.
Hopelessness sank into my spirit when I thought of it. How hopeless all of this really was.
I mean, what was I thinking, sitting here as if I wouldn’t be dragged back to Los Angeles, one way or another—either by Jarek or my father?
Consigned to a life I didn’t want.
Eden and Tessa both noticed it, but it was Salem’s words that held me like a trap. “I was from LA, you know.”
It stalled me out, and a short breath left my lungs.
Intensity swirled through her expression, and the woman gazed across at me as if she were studying a familiar picture.
My hand was trembling so uncontrollably when I set the flute onto the table that the glass clattered against the wood, barely remaining upright.
I tried to breathe, to steady myself.
What the hell was this? An intervention? Were they stepping in to protect Logan from me? Would I blame them for doing it?
Wanting to protect him was the entire reason I had to guard myself from falling any further than I already had.
“You know me.” I lifted my chin when I said it. I might as well face this head on.
Jud and Trent had most likely let their wives in on my identity, anyway. Why wouldn’t they?
But somehow…somehow who I was felt like an ugly, dirty secret.