“Yes. She knew three months ago. How am I supposed to get over that?”
“I have no idea, but you have to, because she’s your best friend and she loves you, Chloe. This has been killing her. Even I can see that.”
He was right about that, at least. Angry as she was, she could see how miserable Jenn had been for the past month, and jumpy and pale for weeks. She felt a surge of sympathy and shook her head against it. “How can I forgive her? She betrayed me.”
Max’s warm hands close over hers. “You know she didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“I guess.”
“So you’ll do it. You’ll forgive her. Maybe a little long-distance dating will work for you and Jenn, too. Time to get yourself together. A few late-night phone calls.”
“Just a few?”
His smile was like a balm on her wounded heart. “I was talking about Jenn, not me.”
“We’ll see. Maybe. Right now, I just… Well, I don’t know what to do now.”
“I’ve got two weeks free for a shore-leave affair. You know any promising candidates?”
“Depends. How do you feel about a crazy girl who’ll likely be called as a witness in an upcoming criminal trial?”
“You had me at ‘crazy girl.’”
This was not a promising start. Her life was complicated enough without adding a long-distance relationship with a man who had serious issues of his own. So why in the world did Chloe feel so damn happy?
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
JENN BIT HER LIP NERVOUSLY as she pulled into the alley behind Chloe’s apartment. She’d passed the point of worrying that she’d scrape all her lipstick off. Now she was worried about the state of her actual lips. But she couldn’t bite her nails while she was driving, so her options were limited.
She hadn’t seen Chloe since the day of the hearing, but they’d talked twice in the month since then. The first call had been tearful and halting. The second call had been a bit easier. Now they were going out to dinner. A real date, as Chloe had put it, and Jenn definitely had that level of jitters.
She’d changed her life in the past thirty days. Oh, she wasn’t loud and wild and bold, but she’d shored up some of her self-confidence. And she was being brave. Things with Elliott had progressed, and she was actually…hopeful. Hopeful that the relationship with him might progress, and hopeful that he might actually be a man who would live up to her expectations. Her new expectations.
That thought gave her a little boost of confidence, enough to get her out of the car and through the tall wooden gate.
A ball of fur and teeth and claws barreled toward her, snapping and snarling. “Oh, God!” she shrieked, scrambling backward so quickly that she hit the gate and shut it before she could escape. “Help!”
“Brutus!” an ancient female voice called, and the dog stopped in its tracks.
Jenn kept one hand out and pressed the other to her pounding heart.
“You’d better get on outta here, if you know what’s good for you,” the woman snapped.
Jenn tore her eyes from the beast for a split second to locate Mrs. Schlessing in the backyard. She was lounging in the shade of a tree, wearing gardening gloves and holding a cocktail glass.
“Mrs. Schlessing,” she panted. “It’s me. I’m Chloe’s friend, Jenn.”
The old woman tipped down the sunglasses that were half the size of her head. “You sure? That Jenn hasn’t been around in a while.”
Chloe’s door squeaked open somewhere above her. “Is everything okay?” she asked as she jogged down the stairs.
Mrs. Schlessing frowned at Jenn. “There’s an intruder.”
“Jenn!” Chloe gasped when she finally caught sight of her. “Brutus, you leave her alone. You should be ashamed of yourself!” Brutus slunk away, but Chloe aimed a glare at Mrs. Schlessing, as well. “How can you not remember Jenn?”
The woman shrugged, nudged her glasses back up, and sipped her drink.
“Are you ready?” Chloe asked. Jenn nodded, hoping her legs would hold her when she pushed away from the gate. They both slipped through, and then, miracle o