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“He may need some ice. I need ice for my hand,” Tori said and went back inside. Just when she took a step, Mimi jumped in the way to block her.

By the snarl, narrowed eyes and flare of her nostrils, the woman was about to explode. “I am so sick and tired that every time I turn around you’re throwing yourself at my fiancé. Why don’t you get it in your thick head? Tobias is over you.”

A good friend to the end, Allison attempted to intercede. “Mimi, you’re mistaken. Tori does her best to stay away from Tobias. Besides, they always fight.”

“They fight because she’s always up in his face,” Mimi insisted, not taking her eyes from Tori.

Tori wasn’t about to take the woman’s crap. If the furious woman tried to hit her, she was going to lose it. “Get out of my restaurant. I don’t throw myself at Tobias. You need to talk to him, not me, about boundaries.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Mimi leaned forward and pointed a finger in Tori’s face.

Tori slapped her hand away, immediately regretting it when pain reminded her of why she needed ice. “You need to leave now,” Tori gritted the words out past clenched teeth.

“And if I don’t.”

“Oh my God. This is ridiculous. I am not about to fight over some idiot.”

There was shuffling behind her. Taylor walked in and looked to Mimi and then to Tori who was cradling her hand against her chest. “Mimi, you need to go see about Tobias. His nose might be broken.”

Tori’s eyes rounded, but she didn’t say anything.

Thankfully, Mimi left after giving her one last glare.

“Maybe I should take you to the clinic,” Allison said. “Your hand is swelling.”

“Why is this happening?” Tori sank into a chair. “We’re in our forties. Why is some guy’s girlfriend in my face? We left high school twenty years ago.”

“Try over twenty,” Taylor quipped.

“Let’s go.” Allison patted Tori’s shoulder. “We better get that looked at.”

Tori nodded and looked at Taylor. “Is Tobias going to press charges?”

“Nope, said he deserved it.”

Her hand wasn’tbroken, but it was badly bruised. After wrapping it in an Ace bandage and recommending over the counter pain medication, she was sent home. In the waiting room, she was annoyed to find Mimi sitting with Allison. The blonde pretended not to notice Tori, which suited her just fine.

“I’ll take Tori home. See you later,” Allison said to a morose Mimi. “Call if you guys need anything.”

Once outside, Allison let out a long breath. “She is such a bitch. Taylor said she yelled at Tobias the entire way to the clinic. Now, she’s demanding they move to Billings immediately.”

“He’s the one that wants to marry her. Should have taken time to know her first.” Tori couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to the Hamilton land and the effect on the family if he left. Tobias was an idiot for all of this. If he loved Mimi, he had a strange way of showing it.

Allison waited until they were on their way back to the center of town before she began to talk. It was only a ten-minute drive to the clinic, so Tori couldn’t allow herself the luxury of pretending to sleep.

“Tori, you need to step back and look at the obvious. Tobias is coming to you because he wants you to talk him out of getting married.”

Her heart skipped all over itself and Tori held out her left hand. “Oh, no. Don’t go down that road. Everyone’s tried to talk sense into him. Luke, Taylor, Eric, and even Ernest. If Luke can’t talk him out of getting married, what makes you think I can do it?”

“You’re our last hope.” Allison sniffed. “They’ve asked me to talk to you for weeks, but I agreed with you. It’s his stupid choice…and well…”

“Well what?” Tori kept an eye on the road. Allison was an emotional person and she wasn’t in the mood to get into a car wreck. No more injuries for her.

Once again, Allison sniffed. “I see now what Taylor tried to tell me. You and Tobias. You have a lot of anger and resentment to get through. The reason neither of you have been able to form a good, stable relationship is because you’re ruined. You ruined each other.”

Ruined.

She repeated it and the word stuck in her throat and she fought to keep from gasping for breath. So she kept silent, unbending even when Allison asked her to say something.

Finally, when arriving at her house, she practically jumped from the car.

“Thank you for the ride, Allison. I’ll talk to you tomorrow…or the day after. I’ll probably stay in bed tomorrow.” She walked into her house, locked the door and went directly to bed.

The sooner she fell asleep, the faster she could pretend none of this had ever happened.