“Do people really act like this?” Fisher asks, interrupting my thoughts.
“Huh?”
He points at the TV. “The gray-haired one. She’s so snooty.”
“Snooty?” I laugh at his word choice.
He closes the case on his iPad and plugs it in on his nightstand. “I couldn’t handle anyone talking down to me the way she does. It’s just wrong.”
“It’s the world of fashion. Eat or be eaten.”
“Don’t get me wrong, the world of tennis can be cutthroat, but this is especially ruthless.” He lays down and pulls the covers up to his chin, but his eyes remain glued to the TV mounted above the fireplace.
“You’re still watching it,” I point out, trying not to laugh.
“Shut up,” he gripes with humor. “It’s interesting.”
“Oh, so now it’s interesting,” I tease.
Reaching over, I flip the light off beside me and join him by burrowing beneath the covers.
“I like this,” he admits in nearly a whisper a few minutes later. “Doing simple things with you.”
I bite down on my tongue, swallowing down the response I want to give him ofI like it too.
CHAPTER 31
EBBA
The night before the wedding,the girls make their way to my suite for a last girl’s night of Sabrina being single. Fisher is crashing with Noah, and I’d love to be a fly on the wall to know what they’re talking about. Meanwhile, Maddie is staying with Sabrina’s friends Lucy and Alyssa. Despite the offer of a sitter, they wanted to crash early with their little one.
Sabrina sits at the table by the balcony, applying a face mask carefully to her skin.
“I can’t believe I’m Noah’swifetomorrow,” she says with a happy little sigh. A little laugh bubbles out of her and she adds, “To think he got on my nerves so bad at first and now I’m thrilled I get to call him husband.”
Whimsy laughs, applying a serum to her lash line. “I mean when I was Elias’s assistant he would ask me to go get him toilet paper because he’s so particular and I’d roll my eyes and now that man pays attention to my skincare and makeup and buys it before I run out and keeps track of the brands I like and buys new products before I have the chance to. In other words, they can be a giant pain in the ass but when they fall in love, they’re all in.”
“Speaking of all in.” Sabrina swings her gaze my way and I set down my tweezers, studying my brows in my handheld mirror. “How are things going with Fisher?”
“Better than I expected, not that I really had any expectations.” I bite my bottom lip, trying to decide how honest I want to be. But these are my girls and I’ve got to stop holding so much back from them. I’m not even sure why I’m] so tight-lipped. It’s not like I think they’ll gossip about me. Sometimes it’s just hard for me to open up. “It’s easy with him. Natural. Like we just ebb and flow together.”
“But?” Whimsy prompts, sensing there’s more I want to say.
I’m not sure why I keep withholding the truth from them. It’s not that I don’t trust them. But what happened with Grace is incredibly personal. Losing a baby has to be one of the worst kinds of pains in the world. That experience changed me forever, shaped me into someone new. I’m never going to be that version of myself before the loss ever again, so not only did I have to grieve my baby, but I had to grieve myself too.
Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I tell them everything. They sit quietly, listening as I start from the beginning of my relationship with Fisher and all the way to the end.
When I finish, they’re both silent and my stomach stirs with unease that maybe I info-dumped too much onto them.
Whimsy speaks first. “Wow.” She lets out a low whistle. “That’s … a lot. No wonder you pushed him away. I can’t believe he wasn’t with you.”
“He didn’t get my texts or calls until after,” I snap defensively and immediately slap a hand over my mouth.
What the hell am I doing?
I’ve spent years holding a grudge for that very thing and now I’m defending him? I’ve done gone and lost my damn mind.
Sabrina grins knowingly. “I don’t think you’re as mad at him as you claim to be.”