“The cabin you won from the dickhead?” Gretchen asked.
Haley smiled, remembering how angry Gretchen had gotten when she’d shown them the video of Eric
cheating on her. Gretchen had wanted to put a serious hurt on him at the time. Haley had talked her out
of it by explaining that if any of them interfered, it could cause her serious problems with the divorce.
Gretchen hadn’t been happy, but she’d relented.
“Yep, same one. Anyway, I met someone. A neighbor.”
“Oooh, sounds yummy already,” Janice said with a gleam of delight.
“His name is Jay, or Jeremy rather, and he’s absolutely the hottest, sexiest, nicest, most caring man I’ve
ever met. He’s a police detective. I swear, you guys, he’s everything I ever wanted in a man. I’m
hopelessly in love.”
Page 52
Everyone went quiet for a moment, then Candace spoke.
“He sounds pretty great, hun. Why the long face?”
This was the hard part. The part where she had to explain that Jay had sent her away. She felt like some
silly schoolgirl shooed away by the older, popular guy. It was humiliating and it hurt that he wouldn’t
admit what they’d had was more than a weekend romp.
“I told him I loved him. He sent me packing. End of story.”
“Jerk,” Gretchen said, her hands fisting on the table as if she imagined strangling Jay herself.
“No, it wasn’t like that.” She paused, thinking back to when she’d gotten her divorce. “You know, once
Eric was out of the picture for good, you guys all seemed pretty intent on fixing me up with Mr. Right. At
the time, I wasn’t ready. I’d just gotten away from one mess and I wasn’t in the mood for another
emotional rollercoaster ride. I was too wired and unstable for anything other than a little mattress
bouncing. But with Jay…” Haley hesitated, attempting to put into words how she felt about a man she’d
known only a few days. “I don’t know. He’s different. Other men pale in comparison.” Haley
strengthened her spine and her resolve. “Still, I knew what I was doing. I’m a big girl and he made no
promises. It was a casual weekend fling. It’s just my dumb luck to go and fall in love.”
“What exactly did he say?” Janice asked, looking serious and concerned all at once.
“He said he wanted me to think about my feelings. He didn’t want
me rushing myself. Then he gave me
two days to think it over before he comes knocking. Today is supposed to be that day.”