Chapter 16: The Printout

Lydia walked into Pawprint on Tuesday at noon, carrying two paper cups of tea and wearing her kindest face.

The waiting room was full.

A woman held a cat carrier on her knees.

A man had a spaniel in a cone.

Moose the bulldog was back for a recheck.

Jodie looked up from the computer.

I watched her take in the cream coat and the tea and the smile.

Then she looked at me, and I gave her the smallest shake of my head.

"Willa," Lydia said, and she held out a cup. "Chamomile. Nothing in it that isn't safe. I looked it up."

"Thank you."

"Can we talk? Just a minute. I'll sit right here."

I sat down on the plastic bench beside her.

The whole room was watching, and I wanted them to see me listen.

She took a breath, and her eyes filled. It happened fast. It always had.

"I owe you a real apology," she said. "I've been horrible."

She pressed a tissue to her nose.

"I stood up at that brunch and I couldn't stop. I've felt sick about it since."

"Okay."

"I want you to know I didn't plan any of it." She pressed her fingers under her eyes. "Okay, that's not true."

"Go on," I said.

"I knew about you and Preston before the restaurant. He told me about that Tuesday, and I was so angry."

"And?"

"I told him you would never leave. I told him he could do anything and you'd stay."

The man with the spaniel stopped pretending to read his phone.

"So I pushed him," Lydia said. "To ask me. Because I thought you'd stay."

I kept my face still and my voice level.

"That's a lot to say in a waiting room," I said.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Fated to My Flash-Married Billionaire from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.