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Grady said good-bye and walked into the restaurant, leaving her alone with Gray and Maggie.
Rose held her friend for a long moment. “I’m sorry he broke your heart. I know you know it’s for the best, but it still sucks because you loved him, and it hurts because for a while it was good and you’ll miss that part of it. You lost what you thought you had together. You put your whole heart into it. That’s what matters. That’s what counts. He blew it. He lost the best thing that ever happened to him. Because you are kind and beautiful and strong and so much more than he deserved.” Rose leaned back and looked Maggie in the eye. “You deserve every happiness. I know you’ll have it, even if it feels like it slipped away again.”
“How do you know exactly what I need to hear?”
“Because I am and will always be your best friend.” They hugged again. “And that means, when you’re ready, we’ll drink,trash-talk Marc, probably cry, and definitely laugh and eat a ton of ice cream, and I will be right beside you no matter what while you grieve what could have been and decide what will be your future.”
“Promise?”
Rose hugged her tighter because Maggie needed it. “Promise.”
“I’ll buy the booze and the ice cream and not complain a bit when she’s with you and not me,” Gray pledged.
Both she and Maggie turned to Gray and giggled. “Deal,” they said in unison.
Maggie turned to her. “I’m so happy that you and Gray found each other.”
“Because of you.”
Maggie’s eyes filled with tears. “What are friends for?”
Rose touched her forehead to Maggie’s. “You are going to be okay.”
Maggie leaned back. “I know I am. But right now, I have a lot of emails and calls to make.” Maggie turned to Gray. “Take care of her.”
“Always,” he swore, taking Rose’s hand and bringing it to his lips for a soft kiss.
Maggie took Rose’s other hand and squeezed it. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”
“Whenever you need me. Any time. Day or night. You know that, right?”
“You’ve always been by my side.”
“I always will.”
Maggie swiped away a tear, turned, and headed back intothe restaurant. Rose took solace in knowing Maggie’s parents were in there waiting for her. They’d shower her with love and hold her close tonight.
For the first time, Rose had someone to do that for her, too.
Gray cupped her face and made her look up at him. “We’ll go back to my hotel. I’ll order room service. You can take a hot shower and get some rest.”
“That sounds so good.”
Gray put his arm around her and they started down the path back to the parking lot. They stopped short at the sound of Marc’s voice calling out to them. “Wait.”
They turned and found Marc rushing toward them, his father and Peg and another woman who had to be his mom frowning behind him as they tried to catch up.
Marc reached for Rose, but Gray stepped in his way before he touched her. The deep wound on his head had stopped bleeding, but it had swelled quite a bit and definitely needed stitches. He didn’t look angry like before but desperate. “Rose, you need to tell Maggie that I’m sorry. We can work this out.”
Hell no!
Rose didn’t even think about herself but about the hurt, embarrassment, and humiliation he’d caused Maggie. He’d stomped all over her best friend’s heart without any care or thought for poor Maggie, someone he supposedly loved.
Surprisingly, it was pity that rang in her words. “You don’t deserve my help or my best friend. It didn’t have to be this way. You could have been the guy Maggie thought you were, the man she loved and wanted to marry. You didn’t have to be theliar and cheater I met.” Even more surprising, she found some compassion, though he didn’t deserve it, but he was Gray’s family. “I hope someday you really do change.”
Marc’s father and Peg arrived, and both of them nodded a greeting to her, their smiles weak but compassionate and understanding. “Leave her be, son. We need to get you to the hospital.”
Gray didn’t bother to say anything to his cousin. He barely spared his uncle and Peg a halfhearted good-bye nod before he turned with Rose and walked her to his car. He held the door for her. She slipped into the seat and waited for him to close the door and take the seat beside her.
“I’m really sorry everything turned out this way and your family is in turmoil.”
Gray stared out the windshield and watched Marc get into his mother’s car. Marc’s father and Peg got into another. “Marc did this to all of us. And the sad thing is, he probably won’t learn from it.” He laid his head back against the seat, turned to look at her, took her hand, and interlaced their fingers. “The only thing that really matters to me is that I have you right by my side.”
“Always,” she assured him, because being with him felt like a perfect fit.
