Strong Enough to Love (Jackson Hole 1.20)

“That must be a hell of a new vibrator, then. I’ll need the make and model, please.”

An image of Brian, naked and boxed and wrapped in a bow, flashed through Eve’s brain. “It’s not... He’s not...”

Grace raised an eyebrow, and Eve slumped in defeat.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she whispered.

“Oh. Hey.” Grace’s grin disappeared and she stepped forward to put a careful hand on Eve’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. I thought this was just about sex.”

“It is,” Eve insisted, but her voice was too desperate to fool even the dullest friend, and Grace was sharp as a razor.

“Eve,” she scolded, but the word was mostly worry. “Are you okay?”

She wanted to say yes. She meant to say yes. But instead she told the truth. “No, actually. No, I’m not okay.”

“All right.” Grace scooted around the long counter and locked the door. Then she turned the sign to CLOSED.

“What if we have a customer?”

“It’s March. The only customers are locals. We’ll reopen in a few minutes and they’ll come back.”

“Fine.” She followed Grace into the office and dropped resentfully into a chair.

“What’s going on with you?” Grace demanded, then seemed to realize her tough-girl attitude was the wrong call and softened her voice. “I mean... What’s wrong?”

Eve opened her mouth. And she closed it. She shouldn’t have admitted anything. She should have kept quiet. But the words pushed at her from the inside. She’d never been able to say anything to anyone. He was married. People had known his wife. Eve’s heart had been breaking, her dreams in turmoil, and all she’d ever done was keep working. Keep moving. Because if she’d ever stopped, it would have caught up with her.

But now she wanted it out.

“I fell in love with a married man,” she blurted, then pressed her fingers to her mouth to stop the sob of shock that followed her words.

“Oh, sweetie, no.” Grace wrapped a hand around Eve’s elbow.

“I didn’t mean to.”

“Hey. Listen. Everybody screws up sometime, okay? It’s going to be all right. I swear.”

Tears spilled over Eve’s cheeks and she ducked her head.

“Don’t cry,” Grace urged as she scooted closer to wrap her arm around Eve’s shoulder. “Don’t cry.”

“I can’t talk to anyone,” Eve sobbed.

“You can talk to me. You know I won’t judge you. You didn’t judge me and that was one of the best gifts I ever got from anyone. You can talk to me, Eve. Please.”

She shook her head, half because she was afraid to let it out and half because her throat was so tight, she couldn’t.

“Are you still seeing him or did you break it off?”

Eve shook her head again.

“Oh, Eve, you’re not pregnant, are you?”

“God, no!” Eve yelped. “No! It’s not like that. We never... That is... We never took it that far.”

“Oh.” Grace looked slightly disgruntled when she sat back.