Micah looked away, guilt flickering across his expression. “She meant nothing by it.”
“Oh, please. Your girlfriend was being condescending. But then it doesn’t surprise me. She’s absolutely your type.”
If he could have fried my ass with the heat of his glare, he would have. “What the hell does that mean? I don’t see you in years, and I get this shit? What the fuck is that?”
Don’t ask me where my bravery came from or why I decided to put it out there … all I knew was that I’d had enough of Micah pretending to be someone he wasn’t. A perpetually good guy! He wasn’t. I’d had enough pretending that he hadn’t hurt me. “It means that the whole time I’ve known you, you’ve always been attracted to style over substance.”
“That’s not true.” He took a step toward me. If the air crackled before, it was snapping and angry and electric now.
“Yeah?” I stepped toward him too. “I like to think I’m a pretty great person no matter what you or my parents think. I’m good, I’m kind, I’m hardworking, and I don’t shit on people to get ahead in life. But that still wasn’t good enough for Micah Green. All of it didn’t come with long legs, a shitty attitude, and lethal ambition.”
Just like that, he froze. The color bled from his cheeks. His voice sounded hoarse when he said, “What are you talking about?”
I was on a roll. The word vomit kept pouring. “Oh, come on. You knew. Everyone knew. Even my parents knew I was in love with you. But you made it clear which side of the fence you were on in that situation, didn’t you? It was perfect for all of you. My parents got the kid they always wanted, and you got rid of the pathetic girl who made you uncomfortable mooning over you all the time. Because that’s what I was to you—a chubby failure. God forbid Micah Green think with anything other than his dick when it comes to women.”
I gestured to the changing room to emphasize my point. “The girlfriend—I barely even know her, and I can already tell you that her beauty is only skin-deep, baby. Have a nice life with that.” I marched into the stock room, leaving him gaping at me in disbelief. I trembled from head to foot, but I felt triumphant.
I felt like a weight had been lifted off me.
I’d finally said, in less than two minutes, everything I’d ever wanted to say to him.
Everything he never thought I’d have the guts to say to his face.
After explaining to Mindy I needed her to cover the store because Micah was out there, I headed up to our apartment above it.
No more internet stalking. No more pining for a guy who was never really the right guy.
It was time to date again, this time with conviction.
I wasn’t sure Ville would be Mr. Right, but at least this time I’d give a guy a real shot.
Chapter Seven
MICAH
AGE 27
“Oh, come on. You knew. Everyone knew. Even my parents knew I was in love with you.”
I shook my head, trying to get Valentine’s voice out of it.
I couldn’t.
It had been three days since our altercation in her store.
Three days since my whole fucking life got turned upside down.
“Because that’s what I was to you—a chubby failure. God forbid Micah Green think with anything other than his dick when it comes to women.”
Squeezing my eyes closed, I tried to shove her words away.
Tried not to care.
But this ache in my chest, deep and gnawing, wouldn’t shift.
“You look like you’re in physical pain.”
Opening my eyes, I found my best friend and roommate, Wells, standing at my side. It amazed us both the same firm offered us jobs after we graduated. We’d interned at Watkins & Holtz but never expected we’d both get something permanent there. Their firm specialized in making eco-living beautiful and interesting, an aesthetic Wells and I sought to achieve in our designs.
“I think I am.”
He sipped his champagne, following my gaze to Elizabeth. She was across the room, elegant in the chic black dress she bought from Valentine. When Valentine’s business partner, Mindy, took over for Val in the shop, she’d told Elizabeth the dress was Valentine’s design. I swear Elizabeth wasn’t going to buy it when she heard that, but her better side won out.
And whatever Valentine had said about Elizabeth, she did have a better side.
Problem was, that side of her was never fully engaged.
I hadn’t just come to this conclusion because of Val’s split-second judgment of my girlfriend. Elizabeth’s attitude had been bothering me for months. Yet I felt caught. I’d made the stupid mistake of saying yes to a date with the daughter of Richard Meyer, a partner at the firm. He set us up. I thought it was a great idea. Elizabeth was sexy as hell, smart, and independent. However, for the last few months, I’d pushed her snide comments about almost everyone to the side.
She had her moments of kindness too.
Elizabeth did a lot of work for charity organizations.
“You can break it off with her, you know.” Wells turned to me, a knowing look on his face. “Richard won’t fire you. Look, I saw it in Peru, man. The woman is gorgeous, but she can be downright nasty. And controlling. Every time she swapped out the food you ordered for a salad, I thought my head was going to explode. Cherry can’t stand her. She almost left Peru because of her.”
Cherry was Wells’s girlfriend, a sustainability expert we’d met through our work.
We’d spent three weeks in Peru touring the country to study the architecture. Our firm had actually let us do it as research. It was supposed to be the time of our lives, but tension had seethed among the four of us toward the end of the trip. I hadn’t realized it was all down to Elizabeth. “You should’ve said something.”
“I didn’t think I needed to.”
“I saw Valentine,” I blurted out.
Wells knew all about Valentine Fairchild. And how I’d felt about her. His eyes widened. “When?”
“E saw her store online and wanted to visit. I didn’t know how to say no.”
“More like you didn’t want to say no.”
I shrugged. “Okay, I admit I wanted to see her.”
“And?”
I felt like I was going to throw up. “While E was in the changing room … Val let me have it. Basically implied I’m a shallow piece of shit because I’d rather have someone like E than someone like her.”
“What the hell?”
I looked him straight in the eye. “She outright said she used to be in love with me … and she said I knew it. That everyone knew it. But I didn’t want her because she didn’t meet my shallow standards.”
Wells looked like he’d been punched in the gut for me. “Fuck, man. What did you say?”
“I didn’t say a thing. I was in shock. And then she walked out.”
We were quiet a moment as we watched Elizabeth move through the crowd of employees and their other halves, a born hostess.
Then Wells said, “It’s not on you. She obviously doesn’t know you that well, after all.”
“I pushed her away because of her parents. I called her a screwup. I cut her out of my life when she married that prick.” My heart hammered. “I could have prevented all of it if I’d just grown a pair and told her how I felt. So it is on me.”