weekend getaway plans. For God’s sake, all I did was ask for two measly hours, and he refused even that. Don’t tell me you agree with him?”
“I didn’t say anything like that, so don’t bite my head off. That Gus guy spouted some seriously stupid crap that belittled what’s important to you, and that would piss anyone off,” Alice nodded while Joelle glared at her. “I’m just trying to calmly point out that the way you’re reacting right now, to the point where you’re even lashing out me, is a tiny bit extreme.”
Joelle hissed. “What the hell does that mean?”
“From the moment I picked you up at the airport, you’ve been acting like the end of the world has already happened, so now there’s nothing left to live for.”
That explained her feelings in a nutshell. “So?”
“So, let’s get a little perspective here, okay? The guy said some stupid shit in the heat of the moment. He then followed you to the airport, and apparently bought an airline ticket he didn’t even need just so he could catch up with you at the gate so he could straighten out the things he said.”
“The horrible, stupid things he said. Things that no woman should ever put up with, I might add.”
“Then,” Alice went on with a maddening calm that made Joelle want to punch her in the face, “he abandoned his own private jet in California so he could personally accompany you back to Chicago, even going so far as to walk you to my car so he could open the door for you. Which, in case you were wondering, was kind of confusing to watch,” she added, shaking her head. “You said something about how awful he was, so I’d expected him to, you know, actually be awful, instead of gentlemanly.”
Joelle ran an impatient hand through her hair. “He crushed me, Al. He didn’t just hurt my feelings with some careless words. He crushed me.”
“That’s exactly my point. You’ve handled far worse in the past. Emerson what’s-his-name dumped you after a solid month of dating because you weren’t swimming in cash, right? Yet you didn’t shed a tear over him. All you did was get mad. But on the flipside we’ve got this Gus guy, whom you’ve known for approximately five minutes, and he manages to crush you with a few words over something as trivial as an interrupted date. So what’s the difference between these two guys?”
“The difference is that I didn’t fall in love with Emerson, okay? I didn’t love him.”
Alice’s jaw dropped. “Does that mean you love Gus?”
“I… yes.” There. She finally said it out loud. But it somehow only made her feel worse. “I told myself I was just starting to fall for him, or that it was just a crazy case of lust. But none of that is true. The moment Gus told me he’d been looking for me—like I was the missing piece to his life’s puzzle—that’s when it happened. In a heartbeat, I was lost.” She took a shuddering breath and raised miserable eyes to her foster sister. “I’m in love with a man who doesn’t value me, Al.”
“Oh, honey.” Alice pushed off the couch’s armrest to rest a soothing hand on her slumped back. “Maybe love at first sight is actually a thing—I wouldn’t know. But I do know that having total knowledge of another person right out of the gate is impossible. You two haven’t known each other long enough for either one of you to know what’s in each other’s heads. You don’t know what’s important to him, and it’s obvious he has no clue what’s important to you. These are things that have to be learned.”
“Al, he basically laughed at my job, because it’s not as important as his—his view, not mine—and I don’t have to work to put food on my table. It’s cute and I love it, he said.”
“Yes, and that was a dumbass, patronizing thing to say. From what I can tell, in that moment he wasn’t getting what he wanted—which was your undivided attention—so he slipped into total dick-mode and threw a verbal tantrum. As a fellow woman, I’m proud of you for walking out on him. That’s exactly what he deserved.”
Joelle slanted her a leery glance. “Why do I get the feeling there’s a but at the end of that?”
“I’m just not convinced he’s a total loss. If what I saw at the airport was any indication, that man knows he fucked up, and he’s