She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
I sighed. “I have to remind myself that I’m probably imagining all of it because I want it so bad.”
“You aren’t. And even if you are, it’s okay to want things. It’s okay to hope. I hope for both of your sakes that it works. The two of you seem so much happier.”
“But we’re happy until we’re not. What if I’m still doing the same thing with him in ten years? What if he can’t commit to anything more?”
“Have you asked him?”
“After just a few weeks of dating? I mean he did just claim I was his girlfriend, but that was in the heat of the moment. Honestly, I don’t even know if we are actually dating.” I groaned and looked up at the ceiling of the restaurant.
“Oh, you’re dating. Jett’s made it clear to Bastian. Very, very, very clear.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Bastian told Jax and Katie, I guess.”
“Katie’s still seeing Bastian?” I asked way louder than I intended to. “That must be why she hasn’t returned my calls.”
“She’s in a weird place. I think something is going on with her and Rome, honestly. Don’t say anything but I think they slept together.”
I physically winced at her confession because, truth be told, I knew they had. I walked in on them fighting about it and they couldn’t deny it.
Brey studied me and then nodded. “So, you knew? You didn’t tell me because I’ve slept with him too?”
I didn’t know how to answer that. “Honestly, Brey, you went through so much last year, you didn’t need to know that the guy you’d slept with also slept with one of your best friends.”
“We sound so messed up,” she sighed.
“Aren’t the best of friends always messed up?” I smiled at her.
“I like to think we’ll figure it out one day. Until then, I guess we get to see how awkward Thanksgiving dinner is going to be.”
“It’ll be fine. I’m just a friend. Nancy loves me.” Nancy—Mrs. Stonewood—loved everyone and everyone loved her. She could have run the world with her charm had she wanted to. Instead, she let her overly driven husband go live in the city so she could raise her kids in a small town, away from the chaos that was Stonewood Enterprises. The media followed them—after all, they were the American equivalent of the British Royal Family. Yet in Chicago, and their small hometown, people normally left them alone. They were the town’s royalty and their natives. They were respected, revered, and probably feared too.
Brey nodded. “Nancy will be so happy you came. She’ll wonder though.”
“I’m going to need to drink a lot to get through this holiday, aren’t I?”
Brey shrugged. “Depends on if you act like you’re actually seeing the man. You could just be tagging along.”
“Yes!” I jumped on the idea. “That is perfect. I drove home with him because we got off work at the same time, and we thought it would be fun to have me tag along because I wasn’t going home.”
“As long as Jett—”
“He doesn’t care.” I waved her off. “It will just make everyone more comfortable. No awkward vibes.”
“It probably—”
“Thank you. I was worried. I didn’t know what to think. When he asked … I just thought … Does he normally bring women back for Thanksgiving?” The words flew out of me before I could stop them. It’d been the question on my mind for the last few days. I recoiled at my own outburst. “Oh, God. Don’t answer that.”
“It’s probably something you should just ask him, Vick. He’s never been too closed off.”
“Just blatantly open and honest and straightforward even when it’s painful. The answer could be really, really excruciating at this point.” I waved the waitress over, knowing we needed to get back to work and also not wanting to discuss how easily I could get my heart broken.
“If that’s how you feel, then you need to tell him. You need to be just as candid with him.”
“I’m not sure I can be.”