“Sort of crazy that I hoped you’d come around.” Aiden continued. “But I should’ve known better. You never change, Cameron.”

  I struggled to find a way to respond to him, but I was too tired to fight.

  “You know what? I just lost my appetite.” He stood up abruptly. “I’m going to cancel my order and pay for your lunch. Enjoy your time alone, Cameron. You’re probably used to it by now.”

  He stormed off before I could say anything. I was tempted to leave as well, but I hadn’t eaten anything since dinner the night before.

  Solo lunch was fine.

  I sighed and checked my email. Nothing pressing, but I had to blink hard when a new message popped up as I was sorting through them.

  The subject line read, “Letter of resignation.”

  From Felicity.

  “Damn it,” I muttered to myself.

  It didn’t matter how much bullshit had gone down between us, she was incredible at her job. And she loved it.

  Veritique needed her.

  I scanned the cursed message. Typical bullshit about how her time at the company had been a valuable work experience with her stating how much she appreciated the opportunity and promising a smooth transition for her successor.

  What successor? No one could come close to her.

  I fired off a quick reply, taking HR off the chain. A short, direct message.

  “Please don’t let what happened between us impact your career. You need to reconsider this choice.”

  I sent it off and waited, refreshing my inbox a few times.

  Nothing.

  An uncomfortable thought crept into my head. I’d done this to her. It was my fault she was quitting. Maybe if I’d handled her heart with a little more care, we could’ve come to some sort of understanding?

  Or maybe, just maybe, I’d been a little too quick to jump out of our relationship?

  Seeing Aiden so happy did something to me. If I put my thoughts about Megan aside and just looked at how happy he was, I could admit I’d been lucky enough to feel that way for a short time. Or at least close to it, because I wasn’t in love with Felicity.

  Right?

  I practically swallowed my lunch whole and called for Jimmy to come pick me up. I was in no mood to go back to the office. Maybe Tyler could get me out of my funk? He’d seemed more stable the few times I’d reached out to him since the Jerry nightmare, so I hoped he’d be in a good headspace when I showed up unannounced.

  His door was cracked open when I arrived. I assumed the worst.

  “Ty?” I knocked and walked in at the same time.

  “In here.”

  The voice that echoed out of his bedroom was surprisingly strong and coherent. I’d assumed he’d be napping the day away, but when I walked into his tiny bedroom, I found him packing. Suddenly, everything I was dealing with evaporated, because this wasn’t normal Tyler behavior.

  “Hey. What’s up?” I asked. “You going on tour or something?”

  He snorted out a laugh at me. “Sort of. I’m calling it ‘the great rehab experiment.’”

  I froze.

  “No, I’m not kidding,” Tyler said. He knew what I was thinking.

  “I’m…I’m blown away. Seriously?”

  Tyler placed a couple pairs of jeans in his duffle bag. “Yup. It’s time.”

  I’d been dropping hints about rehab for years now—looking up programs I thought would be good for him, researching what methods seemed to be the most effective. But every time I brought it up, he’d always shut the idea down. He’d claim he could handle himself, even though we both knew it was a lie.

  He grabbed his guitar case and threw it on the bed.

  “They allow you to bring that?”

  He nodded. “It’s part of the therapy.”

  “How’d you find this place?”

  “I didn’t. Nina did.”

  I was now shocked in a totally different way. The last time I’d seen Nina, I’d called Tyler a lost cause. I figured she’d get scared off and never try to contact him again, but she’d apparently done the opposite.

  “So you two have been in touch?”

  Tyler smirked at me because it was a stupid question.

  “Yeah, Nina’s been coming around, checking up on me. It all started with some soup.”

  I raised an eyebrow.

  “She showed up here with this giant container of barley soup, because she said she’d heard I was going through a rough patch. I wonder who could’ve given her that idea?”

  “I might’ve mentioned something to her,” I admitted sheepishly.

  “She wanted to drop it off and run, but I insisted she come in and share it with me. As a friend. So she did, and we talked. And then we…”

  “Tyler, seriously?”

  “Oh, come on. We wrote some lyrics together. Did you think I was going to say we had sex?”

  “I mean…maybe?”

  He shook his head. “I like her. I really like her. She’s an incredible person. But I’m not in a place where I can be a good partner to her right now. I’m still fighting some demons, and to start a relationship with my current state of mind would be a recipe for disaster. She helped me see that.”

  Any reservations about Nina evaporated. She’d done the impossible.

  “I’ve spent too long feeling like shit. No, scratch that. I made myself feel like shit,” Tyler admitted. “I did this to myself, and I need to acknowledge that.

  “So what’s the plan?”

  The corner of his mouth kicked up. “Well, I’m going to go to rehab where I’ll talk about my baggage, then I’ll get clean and sort out my life. After that, I’ll come back and make that girl mine.”

  Huh. Tyler had his life all figured out, and I was the one spiraling for a change.

  He stopped packing. “What’s wrong? I thought you’d be happy to hear the news.”

  “Ty, I am. You can’t even imagine how happy it makes me.”

  “I don’t believe you. You look like shit.”

  “You’re the second person to tell me that today, thanks.”

  “Sit down,” he pointed to a chair-shaped mound of clothing in the corner of the room. “Just throw all that stuff on the ground.”

  Normally I’d beg off getting into a deep discussion about my life. Tyler was usually the one in need of counseling. But this time?

  Yeah, I needed his help.

  I placed the clothing on the ground and eased myself onto the chair.

  “Talk to me,” he said.

  I was exhausted, and I didn’t feel like going into my mess, but there was something about Tyler’s face that struck me. He wanted to help me for a change.

  “Well, you know about the whole CamLicity fiasco,” I began slowly.

  He perched on the edge of his bed, studying me. “Yeah, I know that turned into a mess, but you’ve been through tough Veritique stuff before. It’s not just that.”

  “Well, there are memes calling me ‘Boss Baby,’ so I’d say this one hits a little closer to home than most.”

  He tried to stifle a laugh and wound up snorting. “Boss baby? Are you serious? That’s pretty fucking funny.”

  I frowned at him.

  “Sorry. Anyway, I’m not going to beg you to tell me what’s wrong, but I am going to sit here and stare at you until you do.”

  I opened my mouth to start talking but couldn’t figure out how to piece my racing thoughts together.

  “It’s Felicity, right?”

  I let out a long exhale. “Yeah. She’s quitting.”

  “Oh, come on, dude. Man up and admit what’s really bothering you. Yeah, it sucks that she’s quitting, but the way you’re moping has nothing to do with work. You’re pissed at yourself for what went down with her. At how you handled everything.”

  I nodded.

  “Cam, you’ve given me enough pep talks to last a lifetime. Now it’s my turn.”

  “Okay.” I gave him a wry smile. “I’m all ears.”

  “Here’s my summary: you’re being stupid. Just fucking admit you still care about her.”

  I struggled with the thought. I’d tried to deny it for too long, and look where it’d gotten me. I needed to try being honest, starting with myself.

  “…I do.”

  “Okay, now we’re rolling,” Tyler said eagerly. “Time to go deep, brother. Is it more than care?”

  I frowned harder at him. I wasn’t ready to go there, with him or myself.

  “I don’t think I can answer that question right now,” I said, starting to feel defensive. “Besides, she wants nothing to do with me. She won’t even respond to a work email.”

  I quickly checked my email on my phone and saw that I was right. No response.

  “Oh, please,” Tyler said. “If anyone knows about second chances it’s me. You have to at least shoot your shot.”

  I didn’t respond.

  “So you’d really be okay with letting her go? Not fighting for her? Try picturing her with another man. See how that feels.”

  My hands clenched into fists.

  “Pretty shitty, right?”

  “Yeah,” I finally admitted.

  “Cam, look at what the hell I’m doing in the pursuit of a happy ending. The one thing I swore I’d never do. Rehab. Me!” He grinned. “And it’s not even because she pressured me into it—it’s because I’m finally ready to take this step for myself. I think you need to do some work of your own. Figure your shit out. Deal with your ghosts. And remember, your past is not your future. Again, use me as your example. Because I’m about to win a blue ribbon for best rehab-er, and then I’m going get out and start my new life with Nina at my side.” He paused. “You can win like that too. All you have to do is try.”

  I leaned back in the rickety chair and crossed my arms. Damn it, he was right.

  I’d hate myself if I didn’t try. I had to.

  “So?” he asked. “Did my pep talk work? Are you feeling inspired?”

  I laughed at him. “Yeah, yeah, it worked. I’m going to see what I can do.”

  He punched the air. “Go me! Maybe I’ll give up this rock and roll shit and become a motivational speaker.”

  “Don’t you dare,” I growled at him.

  “You’re right, I’m pretty good at music.” He leaned over and grabbed his guitar. “Check this out. It’s the beginning of the song Nina and I worked on.”

  He strummed what was undoubtedly his next hit and started singing about finding strength in the one you loved.

  Yeah, I knew what I had to do.

  27

  FELICITY

  “This is fine,” I said, thinking about the meme of the dog in a hat sitting inside a burning building.

  I was in my new glass-walled office in Brooklyn, which looked out on the common area that featured multiple creatively designed work nooks, a bean bag pit, and a foosball table.

  The little incident in the park and my subsequent follow-up video had turned me into something of a marketing rock star. I’d wound up with too many work options and found a new job within days of beginning my search. But the problem was I got overwhelmed and picked the one that seemed the most different from Veritique—an upstart sneaker company named Ideal.

  The initial days had been fun and frenetic, but I assumed it was just the nature of being a young company. Sure, the CEO had forgotten we had a meeting scheduled on my first day, and the HR guy had lost my paperwork, but whatever. They were figuring stuff out. The problem was that the lack of attention to detail was a constant for them. No matter how hard I pushed for the absolute basics of running a marketing division, like formulating our SEO strategy and creating posting milestones, they resisted. They claimed rules restricted creativity, so I was left pivoting and trying new concepts every week.

  The good parts of my new job? The office was basically an arcade, my fellow employees looked and acted like baristas who’d just graduated, which meant I could live in my comfy pants, and I was given unlimited free sneakers.

  But I hated it.

  The messiness made me miss Veritique’s structure. We had a plan, even if the last one blew up in our faces. But still, everything flowed. We worked well together.

  Okay, not all of us.

  Although Cameron was trying to make up for the disaster in the park.

  He’d started off with an email campaign to me, but he probably assumed email was too easy to ignore, so he’d moved on to calling me once a day and leaving messages. When I ignored those, he’d switched to texting.

  I didn’t want to talk to him, and he knew it, which is why he leveled up his game.

  I glanced at the coffee sitting on my desk. Each morning, I woke to find a cup of Dutch chocolate mocha waiting for me outside my door. No note, but the only person aside from Nina who knew I drank them was Cameron. I’d mentioned it to him once, the first time we’d met about the CamLicity campaign, and he’d obviously never forgotten.

  And other little gifts kept showing up. A Levain cookie delivery with so many boxes Nina and I had to freeze the extras. A Veritique bracelet with the Infinity symbol, to match my necklace. A small crystal bottle of bespoke perfume named Felicitous that smelled like wildflowers and sunshine.

  And today, I’d posted on my private Instagram account about being excited for the flowers of spring, and a stunning wisteria topiary had shown up at my office. The exact flowers that ringed the window during our first date.

  He didn’t include cards with the gifts, but he didn’t have to. Each one was a way of him letting me know he’d paid attention to everything, down to my preferred coffee drink.

  The gestures were thoughtful, but I didn’t let the gifts move me. Sure, they were creative and probably expensive, but it was easy to throw money at heartbreak and expect it to mend the fracture. I was still too raw, and honestly, I wasn’t sure Cameron was capable of giving me what I needed. Buying presents was easy. Being a real partner took work, and he’d shown me he wasn’t capable.

  My phone rang, and I saw that it was Nina.

  “Hey, what’s going on?” I answered.

  “Um…can you get away for lunch, like, right now?”

  I checked the time. “I guess. Are you okay? You sound like something’s wrong.”

  “I can’t get into it now. But yeah, I’m good. Just meet me at Opa Grille.”

  It was an odd choice for lunch—much closer to home than to where either of us worked—but I was used to following her whims.

  I glanced around the office and saw half of my colleagues deep in a foosball tournament. “Yeah, sure. I’ll be there.”

  I could tell something big was going on the minute I saw her pacing around on the sidewalk outside the restaurant.

  “Hey,” I wrapped her in a quick hug. “You okay? You look pale.”

  “I need to show you something.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me down the block, coming to a stop outside a vacant building.

  It was a beautiful space with two giant windows beneath a green-striped awning.

  “Pretty,” I said. I peered in and could see that the space stretched deep, with a shiny, worn-looking wood floor that signified it had been well-loved. “Should we add it to our list of possibilities?” I pulled out my phone. “I’ll look up the details. What’s the address?”

  “801 East Callaghan,” she answered, reaching into her pocket. “But it might be easier if we just go in.”

  “Huh?”

  She walked past me jingling a key, slid it into the knob, and walked inside.

  “Nina, what’s going on?” I asked, following her into the space. “How did you get a key? Did you schedule a viewing? Shouldn’t we be with a realtor?”

  I shut my mouth the minute I crossed the threshold because it was even prettier inside, with clean white walls and a bright vibe that was exactly what we were looking for. I felt like I’d walked into Treehouse Books.

  “I don’t know who you talked to in order to get that key, but now that I see the size, I know we can’t afford this place. I don’t even want to look around; it’ll only break my heart when I find out how much it’s going for.”

  “No, take a peek with me,” she said. “This way.”

  “Neen, no,” I groaned. “This is going to make me sad, and I don’t need more sadness in my life right now.”

  She spun around and gestured upward. “Look how high the ceiling is. Can you imagine how tall the shelves can be? We can get one of those Beauty and the Beast ladders!”

  “Stop,” I pleaded.

  “Over here,” she ignored me and walked backward, pointing to a small side room, “can be our children’s book section. Plenty of space for it, then we can transition it to young adult right here.” She pointed to a long wall nearby. “And look how much room we’ll have for author events! Maybe we can even do other stuff too? Poetry jams or open mic nights? There’s tons of space to get creative!”

  “Nina, enough,” I commanded. “I don’t know why you’re going on and on, but we can’t afford it. This is a fantasy space—not reality. Maybe we can find something similar that’s actually within our budget?”

  She walked closer to me wearing a little smile. “We don’t need to find anything similar because it’s ours.”

  She took my hand and dropped the key in my palm.

  I shook my head as if it might settle the thoughts racing around in my brain.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “C’mere,” she hooked her hand over her shoulder and walked to the front room, taking a seat on the wide windowsill. “We need to talk.”

  “I’m so confused…” I answered, following behind her.

  She took a breath and looked at me wearing a mischievous expression. “Cameron reached out to me.”

  “No,” I whispered. “When? And why didn’t you tell me? I can’t believe you’d keep that sort of secret. Whose side are you on? You should’ve hung up on him!”

  She pointed at me. “This is why I didn’t tell you. I knew you’d freak out!”

  I tossed the key on the windowsill and fumed silently.

  “I don’t want to feel like I owe him anything,” I finally said. “I want nothing to do with him, you know that.”

  “But why? He keeps reaching out, and he’s been sending you all those thoughtful gifts. It’s obvious he still cares about you.”