Page 307 of Manhattan Bossholes

“I saw the way you two were together. It was different,” Stacy insisted.

I shook my head. “No, it was only a matter of time before this blew up. I just never expected it to be because I was trying to do something nice. I’m so stupid.”

“He didn’t deserve you, Tash.” Stacy took my hands, squeezing. “I could kill him for you. I will kill him for you.”

I worked up a smile. Maybe I didn’t give Stacy enough credit. Sure, in many ways it was better to only rely on myself. Certainly, it was safer. And yet, here she was, like a barnacle, latching on and wedging herself into my life, refusing to let me deal with this alone. “I don’t know how Dominic would feel about that. And I wouldn’t want to ruin things for you with him.”

Stacy hummed. “We wouldn’t have to tell him. I can keep a secret.”

For some reason that caught me, and the weight behind my eyes released, a few stray tears escaping.

“Oh, Natasha,” Stacy said softly.

I wiped my eyes. “I’m fine.”

“You’re not. Come here,” she said. She caught me in a hug, and this time, I didn’t fight her. The harder she squeezed, the harder the tears fell until I was sobbing into her shoulder. We collapsed on the couch, arms wrapped around each other as I left tearstains on Stacy’s pretty shirt. “This sucks,” she whispered, rubbing my back. “I’m so sorry.”

“I was really happy,” I managed to force out between the sobs. “Just yesterday I was really happy, and I’m pissed at him because he made me happy and then took it all away.”

“Good. You should be pissed at him,” Stacy said.

I pulled back, drying my face with the edge of the comforter. “And it’s not even just him I lost, but my job and my team and not having to worry about whether I’ll be able to make rent payments and Nana Dee and his friends and everything. In the blink of an eye, he made all that disappear, and I hate myself for getting used to having it all. For thinking I might actually be able to keep it.” If anyone could understand that, it was Stacy. She’d fallen for Dominic hard and fast, and I sincerely hoped things worked out better for her than they had for me. “It feels like I’ve got nothing left.”

“You’ve got me,” Stacy countered.

“And what if something happens to you?”

“Then I’ll come back as a ghost and haunt my costumes so I can keep you company,” she said, patting my leg. “You’ll be known far and wide as that weird girl who makes awesome furniture and who has a disembodied ball gown following her everywhere she goes.”

I chuckled a bit at that idiotic image. “I told you not to try and cheer me up.”

“I’m not,” she insisted. “I’m just trying to assure you that I’m not going anywhere. Tonight or any other night. So, I suggest we make ourselves comfy. We could watch a movie or something to distract us. No rom-coms, of course. I’m thinking action. Car crashes. Explosions.”

I hummed, unmoved by the idea.

“Or…we can go to your workshop so you can channel your feelings into your work?” she suggested. I just shook my head. “Okay, then. The other option is that we could sit here for a bit and just be sad.”

“I kind of just want to sit and be sad,” I admitted. “At least for right now. I’ll rally tomorrow.”

“That’s fair,” Stacy said. “Then I suggest we at least eat our feelings.”

“I like the sound of that.”

“Pizza?” she suggested.

“As long as it’s the cheesiest, greasiest pie in New York.”

“Of course. You’ll need the calories to fuel your big sads.” Stacy leaned over and hugged me again. “One heartbreak, men-suck, let’s-burn-the-world pie coming right up.”

TRENT

We’d been moved from the main waiting room to a small family room on the cardiology floor once Dee was transferred from the emergency department. I hated waiting in hospitals. All it did was remind me of all the hours I’d spent here with Papa Davis while he underwent his treatments, and then later as we waited for him to pass.

It was too warm, and the chairs were too hard, and the guys still shot me concerned looks every two seconds as we waited for an update from the doctor that had taken Dee’s case. Worse than all of that was that I could feel the heat of Jimmy’s stare from across the room. Every time I looked up, he glanced away hurriedly, but I could tell by the way his brow furrowed that he was frustrated.

“Hey,” I whispered to Aiden slumped in the chair next to mine. “Can you come grab me if the doctor comes back? I’m just gonna go talk to Jimmy.”

He sat up, nodding. “Sure thing. Where are you gonna be?”