Inked Obsession (Montgomery Ink Fort Collins #2) - Carrie Ann Ryan Page 0,42

at the same time and place as I was, getting through her issues as I tried to get through mine.

And if I were honest with myself, I was grateful that she was here. I’d come here to rest, to do what my family thought I needed to. Had I been alone for all of it, I would have figured it out, but I liked having someone to talk to who already knew me.

And I liked that I was here if Eliza needed me. Not that she really needed me for most things since she was so damn capable.

I knew she had to be hurting over everything, considering what she was going through, but she had laughed, and she had smiled yesterday. We had talked, and then she’d acted like the person I knew she had been in the process of becoming before she found out about the affair.

I liked Eliza. A lot. She was beautiful, brilliant, and talented. And I wasn’t going to think about her in any way but as my friend’s friend. And my friend. I couldn’t think about her in any other way. That would be wrong.

At least that’s what I kept telling myself.

I drank coffee that Lee had sent to my room through room service because he was more of a mother hen than a Montgomery and looked around. I should probably eat breakfast, but I wasn’t in the mood. Maybe I would go work out and then head to the beach. I could see what Eliza was doing and ask if she wanted to hang out. I frowned. No, I shouldn’t do that. She wanted time alone, didn’t she?

She didn’t need to hang out with me and all of my problems.

I shook my head and changed into my workout gear. I might be on vacation, but I’d still brought workout gear like a chump. I couldn’t help it, I needed something to do.

I headed out into the hallway and looked at her closed door. Should I knock and say, “Good morning?” Should I text? Or should I be the responsible one and just leave her be? I should probably do that. If she wanted someone to talk to, she could find me. Or maybe she’d find that guy I’d seen hitting on her earlier. She’d even smiled at him when we were heading over to get lunch. Who was he? And why the hell was I jealous? It wasn’t like she was mine. She never would be. I didn’t want anyone like that. And it sure as hell couldn’t be Eliza. She was just my friend. And here I was, talking in circles.

I shook my head and headed down to the gym. It was early enough that not a lot of people were working out. In fact, I bet most people would work out here by just hanging out at the pool or at the beach rather than hitting the gym. I wanted to lift a few weights, and later, maybe I’d run on the beach. I’d thought about waking up earlier and doing so in the morning, but I was still on Mountain Time. Running on the beach as the sun rose before the crowds really hit peak would be a little too early for me.

I lifted a few weights, rolled my neck, and then headed to the treadmill—just a bit of cardio to get the blood pumping and try to stop thinking about Eliza.

Why was I thinking about her at all? That was not why I had come here. I’d come to Florida to relax. To stop thinking about Brian and the shooting. I would be fine, damn it. I had already slept a whole night, and my family was right… I needed to talk to someone again. And I would. Annabelle had a good therapist; one she had started going to after the attack last year. I growled thinking that this probably wasn’t the best time to be thinking about that.

She had gone to therapy on and off after everything happened when she was a teenager. And she’d found a new therapist for her most recent issues, one that Jacob even went to after the horridness that was the incident.

Maybe I would book an appointment with them or someone they recommended and figure out what the hell I was doing. Because my family was right: hiding from everything that had happened and would happen wasn’t the smartest thing to do.

All it had done so far was hurt my family’s feelings and me