know, right? He still drives me a little nuts. He’s such a perfectionist.”
“The way you are with numbers, you should understand,” I chided her gently.
Her brown eyes twinkled as she looked over at me. “True. Plus, having kids has chilled him out. You can only keep the house so clean.”
I looked around, feeling another pinch in my heart, an almost stinging sensation over my breastbone. I ran my knuckles over it, quickly dropping my hand as soon as I realized what I was doing. I was jealous of a messy living room with toys scattered on the floor. I wanted this kind of disorder in my life, the loving mess of a family.
“Are you okay?” Susie asked, her voice bright.
Of course she noticed I was feeling melancholy. She knew me too well. Good friends were wonderful, but sometimes you wanted to hide from how much they saw through you.
“I’m fine,” I replied with a light shrug. I took a sip of the water I’d left on the table earlier, hoping Susie didn’t press.
I should’ve known better. She always pressed. She had the kind of personality that charged ahead, no matter what it was. “You’re not fine.” She closed her laptop, giving me her full attention. “What’s up?”
My nose itched, and I rubbed my knuckles over it, masking my nervousness and discomfort. “I don’t know. I feel like life is leaving me behind,” I finally said.
Susie looked at me quietly for a moment before asking, “You’re not still worried about what happened, are you? There’s no way you could’ve known.”
I bit my bottom lip, dread coating the insides of my stomach. My last attempt at a relationship had exploded in my face. When the man I thought was fine turned out to have an entire family in another town, and his wife showed up at my coffee truck with the kids in tow to rub it in my face that I was nothing more than a stupid cheater, well, it messed with my head in a big way. That had been months and months ago, but it still stung.
“I should’ve known,” I protested.
“How? If you had somebody do a background check on him, it wouldn’t have mattered. He gave you a fake name, so even doing a random online search wouldn’t have helped. Sweetie, you can’t go through life blaming yourself for not knowing he was lying. That’s just crazy. It’s a miserable way to live.”
“Maybe. I thought I was falling in love with someone, but it turned out he had another whole family. I feel so stupid and awful.”
“He hasn’t called you again, has he?” she asked, her tone low.
Susie was a fiercely protective friend and would probably beat this guy up if given the chance. I loved that about her, but sometimes, it was a bit much.
“No. I’ve blocked him from every channel possible and changed my number. I just feel awful. I’m not that kind of person. I’m not an affair person.”
“And everybody who matters knows that. He lied to you too. I hope for his wife’s sake that she figures the whole story out at some point.” She paused, tilting her head to the side as she regarded me. “You know what?”
“What?”
“We need to have a girls’ night out. It’s been months. Life has been so busy, we haven’t made the time. How about tomorrow?”
“What if I have plans?” I countered, simply to be difficult.
Susie glared at me as she reached for her phone on the table.
“I’m sending a group text. You do not have plans. Well, now you do. With us.”
“Where are we going?”
“You pick. The lodge restaurant, or Sally’s.”
I pretended to think about it for a minute. “The lodge. I want the yummy cider.”
Her grin was wide. “Perfect. I’ll drive, so you can get sloshed.”
“If it doesn’t work for tomorrow, let’s make sure to make it happen soon,” I said as I stood from the table. The group text she’d just sent to some of our friends flashed on my phone screen. I did want to spend time with friends, but I still felt glum and wanted to shake the feeling loose.
Susie followed me to the door, her eyes worried. “I feel like you’re not bouncing back from this, Cammi. I don’t know what to do. You’re like a car I can’t jump-start.”
“I’m a car?” I returned, exasperated at the comparison.
“Obviously you’re not a car, but you get my point.”
I looked at my friend’s familiar face—her wide brown eyes and her freckled cheeks. Her bubbly