Feels Like Falling - Kristy Woodson Harvey Page 0,119

replied. “It will come to him little by little. He’ll have questions. You’ll be there. I’ll be there.” Then her voice took on an undeniable glee when she said, “Andrew will be there!”

We both laughed. Andrew would be there. He absolutely would. And for the first time in a long time—maybe ever—that didn’t make me feel conflicted. Not even a little.

CHAPTER 23

gray: the very best year of your life

It was the day I had been dreading. Only, as the sun came up and the water gleamed outside the window and Andrew was beside me, I realized that maybe it wasn’t going to be as bad as I thought.

Diana came by early and handed me a cake. “Before you get all sassy, I am still perfectly capable of making cake. I’m pregnant, not on my deathbed.” She winked at me. Then she paused, her face changing. “This is bad timing,” she said, “but can we forget it’s your birthday for five minutes?”

I crossed my arms. “I’m trying to.”

“I lied to you.”

I could feel my heart racing. Diana had become one of my best friends in the world. More than that. She had become my protective big sister, the mother figure I had needed so desperately.

“Bill Marcus didn’t fire me because of you.”

Ohhhhh. I put on my most confident face and could feel myself blinking really fast. “Well, I’m disappointed that you felt you needed to lie to me, but I’m ready to move forward.”

She studied my face. “Oh. So you did know.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She nodded. “Okay, so that’s how you’re going to play it?”

“It is indeed.”

“Thank you, Gray. I’m grateful. Truly.”

I could feel myself welling up, mostly because I felt grateful. She’d made me feel like I had somebody again, like I had a person to count on no matter what, to turn to with anything. But I didn’t have to say it because I knew she knew. And now I knew I could trust her. I knew I could get what I had been thinking off my chest. “Di, you were right,” I said.

She smiled. “Aren’t I always?” She paused. “But why now?”

“I was so mad at my mom.”

She nodded.

“I felt so abandoned by her. But you changed all that for me. You made me see that my mom wasn’t choosing to leave me. That’s just how it ended up. You and your mom made me see that I had to move forward from those feelings, even if it was hard.”

And it was true. “Well, good. That’s something, right?” She got up and hugged me.

“You have helped my heart so much,” I said.

“Okay,” she said. “Enough. Birthday back on! Am I the first to tell you happy birthday?”

A scantily-clad-as-usual Andrew entered the room and said, “Oh, believe you me, Diana, I made sure this one had a very pleasant entrance into her thirty-fifth year.”

I grinned at him. I wanted to tell him that I was actually beginning my thirty-sixth year, but that made me feel even older, so I let it go.

Diana said, “Gross,” but I could tell she was amused.

The back door flung open and Price, Marcy, and Quinn trailed in with three bottles of champagne, singing, “Happy birthday to you…”

And, as a familiar figure came in on their heels, I squealed, “Trey!”

I leaned over on Andrew, who wrapped me up and planted a kiss on me. “Is this happening?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s happening,” he said. “But if it makes you feel any better, I think your ass is tighter now than it was at thirty-four.”

“That would make me feel better,” Marcy said.

Quinn popped a cork and said, “Yay for thirty-five-year-old asses!”

“Guys,” I said, “I love y’all. But it’s eight a.m. Could you come back at, like, noon?”

Price looked at me like I had lost my mind. “You’ll need to be well lubricated by noon to ensure that the thirty-five depression doesn’t set in.” He handed me a glass of champagne and gave Andrew the up-and-down. “Jesus,” he said. “I think I’m pretty much the most amazing thing ever, so to say I’m in a deep depression right now isn’t an understatement.”

I looked at him, confused.

“You left me for that?”

I examined Andrew’s perfectly defined abs and muscular arms, precious dimples, and that gorgeous face. Damn, he was hot. It never got old. “It’s not only because he looks like a model,” I said seriously.

“Yeah,” Andrew said, yawning. “She loves me for my brilliant mind.”

We all had glasses. Quinn raised hers and said, “To my