Page 16 of The Broken Keys

LIVIANNA/LILY

A Week Before Now

Tornado Thoughts & Beautiful Messes

On the outside, everything is pretty. On the inside, everything is a storm.

“Livianna?” Quinn strolls into my office. “Are you busy?”

“Buried, but I need a break. I’ve been trying to render these new designs, and I’m not getting very far.” I push away from my desk. “What’s up?”

“I thought we could hit a Pilates class before you take me to your new house.” She sits and starts braiding her hair to one side of her face.

“That sounds perfect. I need to work these knots out of my body.”

“Besides the Marcus Chen deal pushing you farther away from getting any sleep, what else is making you tense?”

My thoughts instantly go to Jax. “I got a text message from the guy, and now I’m confused.”

“Are you talking about Cash?”

“No. It was from the man I was seeing and falling for before he left.”

“Oh, that one.” She stops playing with her hair. “What did Mr. Opportunity have to say?”

I force out a huff. “That he misses me and was hoping to find a time to connect.”

“What did you say?”

“That some things had come to my attention, and I needed time to think about them before we talked.” I stand, meander over to the window, and look out over the city. “Quinn, I want to reach out to him, but I’m afraid I’ll be too hurt to make the exchange worth something meaningful.”

“Why are you worried about that? I don’t know much about him, but it doesn’t seem like he puts your needs very high on his priority list.”

My heart aches with her words. I wrap my arms around my waist and consider what she’s saying.

Jax has never lied to me about the importance of his work. I used to find that sexy and admirable, but now I wonder what it’s all worth if you don’t have someone to share your life with.

Quinn joins me at my side. “Where did you go?”

I peer over at her. “I was just thinking about my situation. On one hand, I had this relationship that was everything I wanted. On the other hand, there’s Callum. He’s trying so hard and allowing me to take my time to learn to trust him again. It’s confusing.”

“Except you weren’t in a relationship with this nameless man. You’ve told me a million times the guy was there to fulfill your ‘needs’ when you could fit him in. You and Cash were together for three years, and you broke up only because he was trying to protect you. Now that’s something to consider worthwhile.”

“Yeah, right.” I turn away.

Quinn has no idea Jax and I were playing house and living together when he was in town. I only had her over when he was away on business. She has every right to be skeptical about what he and I shared.

But if I’m being honest with myself, I’ve been with him for over two years, and it was magical. That’s why it’s tearing me apart that he wanted to take a break while he was traveling.

I thought we were both falling in love. Then he handed me his beach house as a consolation prize. My chest caves in just thinking about it.

I stride back to my chair and sink into it. “I wrote him an email expressing everything. It’s sitting on my computer waiting to be sent. I just haven’t had the guts to do it.”

“What did you put in it?” She adjusts a piece of material that’s on one of my dressmaker dummies.

“I told him how I feel. I said I understood why he wanted to take a break and I’d honor that, but I was disappointed.”

“So politically correct of you.” She faces me. “Sorry, Livianna, but this so-called relationship sounds a lot like an affair of convenience. Why are you confused? You have a beautiful specimen of a man wanting to make your world a dream. He’s been nothing but patient and kind to you since you two met up at Coachella.”