“You’re dating my brother and I love you both, so I’m trying to let you two work it out without my involvement.”
“I love him, too.” Admitting it out loud made Taylor’s heart fracture. Damn Royce and his stupid breakup flowers.
Gia’s smile lifted her cheeks. “Really?”
“Yes. But he doesn’t love me. He broke up with me yesterday.”
“What? Why? Like he can do better?” Ire washed away her friend’s smile. What was left was Mama Bear Gia. But then her tone softened and she leaned forward a smidge. “Honey, are you okay?”
Taylor shook her head, tears causing her vision to swim. She wiped her eyes beneath her sunglasses. Gia noticed and was next to her in an instant.
“I am going to kill him. I swear.” She stroked Taylor’s arm. “I already threatened his person if he hurt you. So he should expect it.”
“Maybe we were never a good match from the start,” Taylor said around a sob. “We were good together, but I want a future that he says he can’t imagine. He can’t see past CEO. I deserve better than that.”
“Damn right you do.”
“I’m incapable of being as pragmatic as Royce. I can’t outline our relationship in a flow chart. I can’t form an opinion based on past occurrences. I fell in love with him. That had nothing to do with pragmatism.”
Gia sighed. “Don’t I know it, hon.”
“Anyway.” Taylor sniffled. “He didn’t fall in love with me. That’s hard to accept. But even worse was that he wasn’t willing to try.”
Despite Gia’s assurances that Taylor deserved better than someone who had to “try” to love her, Taylor felt like her heart was in pieces at their feet. Or at the bottom of Gia’s swimming pool. Today, despite her best efforts, she wasn’t going to be able to enjoy the sunshine or her pink drink or her friend’s plucky sense of humor. Today she was going to have to sit with her heavy emotions and deal with them the same way she would be dealing with them in the future.
Alone.