Page 64 of The Best Man Problem
“But when I told Lincoln, he…tensed.”
Pru tilted her head. “Tensed?”
“Yeah, and he… I can’t be certain because he didn’t really say anything, but I got the feeling he…”
“He what, sweetie?” Pru asked.
She glanced at her friends, her heart cracking as she spoke the words out loud. “I get the feeling he blames me for what happened.”
“That bastard!” Mo swore again. “Let me make him some of my special brownies, Lilly, please.”
Since she knew her roommate’s special brownies were not the kind sold in the dispensaries around Colorado but instead could be used for backed-up seniors at the retirement homes, she shook her head with a smile. She wouldn’t stoop to such an immature level. No matter how much she secretly wanted to.
“Thanks for the offer, Mo, but no. My first assessment was right.” Taking a fortifying breath, she lifted her chin. “Lincoln and I aren’t a good match.”
“So what?” Pru said. “Take a look at the three of us. Look how different we are. Would anyone ever think we’d be best friends?”
Pru had a point. She loved her best friends fiercely, but their personalities and interests were in direct opposition a lot of the time. “Friends and romantic relationships are different.”
“Says who?” Mo argued. “Both bring joy into your lives. Both are there to support you, encourage you, share ups and downs with you. The only difference with Lincoln is he satisfies your carnal needs as well as your emotional ones. Who cares if you don’t have every single thing in common?”
She wanted to believe that. So very badly, but… “We had some fun, but now it’s over. Time to move on. Better now than before any serious feelings started to develop.”
“Oh please,” Mo snorted. “That ship has already sailed, Lil.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You guys spark.”
“We what?”
“Spark.” Mo smiled, her eyes filling with excitement. “Any time you were in the room together. No, actually, any time you even thought about each other, everyone could see it on your faces.”
She scoffed but couldn’t stop from asking, “See what?”
“The spark of utter and complete happiness you ignited in each other.”
What a load of nonsense. “It’s called lust, Mo. It’s not real. A temporary chemical reaction people share when sexually attracted to each other. It fades and dies, usually not at the same rate for both parties, and someone ends up getting hurt. Just ask my mother.”
“Oh, sweetie.” Pru shook her head. “You know we would never say anything bad about your mom, but she’s not a good person to judge relationships on. She doesn’t have a spark with every man she dates. She has an inability to differentiate lust from love.”
Lilly bit her lip, clearing her throat as it clogged with fear and blinking back the tears threatening to spill from her eyes. “And what if I have the same problem?”
Mo laughed, not harshly but with soft love. “Lil, in all the years I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you lose your head over a guy like you have with Lincoln.”
“You always keep people at a safe distance. Even us, sometimes,” Pru chimed in. “And that’s okay,” she rushed to add as Lilly started to protest. “We know it’s hard for you to open up emotionally. We all have baggage from our past to deal with, but we love you and you love us.”
She nodded, a few tears slipping free.
“And as much as I was resistant to it before,” Pru said with a small smile, “I think you might care, deeply, for Lincoln?”
Again, she nodded. But she feared what her friends were leaving unsaid was true. She didn’t just care for Lincoln. She loved him. And that’s why his dismissal hurt and confused her so much.
Dang it! She had told her heart to stay out of this, and the damn thing refused. This was supposed to be a fun thing, not a falling-in-love thing.
Then why am I so sad it’s over?
No. Not sad. She was devastated. More than any other loss she’d felt.
