“You’re lucky I’m not on the same continent as you right now because your time is up,” he chirped.
“What time?”
“Your ‘woe is me, I miss my stupid hot fake boyfriend’ time. It’s been five days. The acceptable mourning period is over. You are officially being reborn as New Naomi.”
Being reborn sounded like a lot of work.
“Can’t I just wither away as Old Naomi?” Old Naomi had spent the last few days putting on a fake smile for Waylay and library patrons, then spending a few hours a day half-heartedly trying to clean up the wreckage in the cottage. All while avoiding thinking about Knox.
I was exhausted.
“Not an option. It is six thirty a.m. your time. Your day starts now.”
“Why are you so mean?” I groaned.
“I’m your mean fairy godfather. You have a transformation to begin, my little caterpillar.”
“I don’t want to be a butterfly. I want to smother in my cocoon.”
“Tough shit. If you don’t get out of bed in the next ten seconds, I’m bringing in the big guns.”
“I’m out,” I lied.
He said something derisive in French. “In case you need a translator, that was French for bullshit. Now, I want you to get your lying ass out of bed and go take a shower because Liza reports that your hair is greasier than the deep fryer at a sports bar on wing night. Then I want you to open that Sephora order I sent you and snap the fuck out of this funk.”
“I like funks.”
“You do not. You like game plans and to do lists. I’m giving you both.”
“Having friends who know you really well is overrated,” I complained to my pillow.
“Okay. Fine. But I want it on record that you made me do this.”
“Do what?”
“You have an eleven-year-old girl looking up to you. Do you really want to teach her that when a boy hurts your feelings, you give up on life?”
I sat up. “I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Why can’t I wallow?”
It was more than hurt feelings, and he knew it. Knox had warned me. He’d told me not to fall for him, not to mistake his actions for real feelings. And I’d still fallen for him. That made me an idiot. At least with Warner, he’d tried to hide his true self from me.
It was an excuse, not a great one, but an excuse all the same.
But there was no such excuse with Knox.
I loved him. For real loved him. Loved him enough that I wasn’t sure I could survive the anguish of being tossed aside.
“Because all that ‘I’m such an idiot’ and ‘how could I fall for him’ negative self-talk is a waste of time and energy. It’s also setting a shitty example for Waylay, who’s had enough shitty examples to last a lifetime. Get your ass out of bed, take a shower, and get ready to show Waylay how to burn an asshole’s life to the ground.”
My feet hit the floor. “You’re really good at this pep talk thing.”
“You deserve better, Witty. I know somewhere deep down you don’t think so. But you deserve a man who’s going to put you first.”
“I love you.”