Page 23 of Lovestrung

“What?” I asked when she frowned, her hazel eyes cautious.

She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “Right, my turn to talk.”

I waved my hand at her, silently telling her to go ahead.

“Okay, so Ethan was a douche canoe for saying those things, but bottom line is that he and your Gramps are right, Pippa.”

My eyes bulged.

“What? I’m not skin and bones!” I exclaimed.

She tilted her head at me.

“No, you’re not, but you’ve been dropping weight for the past few months, and I hate to say it, girl, it’s not looking good on you.”

Shocked, I sat back in my chair.

“I can’t believe you’re telling me this,” I muttered. “You’re my friend.”

“And as your friend, it’s my job to tell you the truth, even when it hurts.”

She leaned closer toward me and grabbed my hand.

“I’m not saying it to hurt you,” she continued, “but you have to start taking care of yourself. You’ve been running yourself ragged the last few months, preparing for your trip, taking care of your grandfather, and running your blog while working at your Dad’s firm all at the same time.” She squeezed my hand when my gaze drifted away. “You have to find a balance, Pippa.”

I nodded as I took her words to heart.

“Being driven is good,” Ella whispered, “but it’s not worth making yourself ill over. Nothing is.”

Sighing, I nodded again before meeting her gaze.

“You’re right,” I whispered back. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” she huffed. “Just promise me you’ll be careful and start eating regular meals again.”

“I do tend to forget the time when I feel passionate about things.” I grinned weakly at her. “Guess there’s nothing like a brutal wake-up call to make you realize you’ve been a fool.”

She winked at me and released my hand.

“Glad to help.”

I looked out the window and we people watched for a while. I was grateful that Ella let me alone with my thoughts and now that she’d had her say, I couldn’t believe how stupid I’d been, failing to give my body the nourishment it clearly needed.

“The first thing I’m going to do when I arrive in Rome is to find the best trattoria I can find and order the biggest pasta dish on the menu.” I looked back at her and smiled.

She burst out laughing, and I joined in soon after.

“Good,” she giggled, “and now that the hard part of our conversation is all over and done with, I need details.”

Confused, I shrugged while she rubbed her hands in glee.

“You’ve lost me.”

“Ethan!” she squealed. “I need to know what happened when he turned up last night.”

“I already told you.” I put my arm on the table and rested my head on the palm of my hand. “Nothing really happened, except we decided to start over.”

She rolled her eyes in disbelief.