Darcy knew from experience that ice cream was the one and only cure for a broken heart. It was sweet enough that it made the bitter taste coating your throat easier to swallow, and if you bought the low-fat kind, you only had to worry about going up one dress size instead of the ten you’d gain once you reached your fifth carton.
Oh, and you could eat it for breakfast.
Which was just what Darcy did when she stumbled into her kitchen on Sunday morning. She bypassed the fridge, opened the freezer, and a minute later, she sat at the counter, devouring a pint of triple chocolate mousse right out of the carton.
She hadn’t heard from Reed since Friday night.
She didn’t expect to hear from him.
Nope, he’d made it more than clear that he was finished with her. Like she was a piece of trash to him, easily discarded and unworthy of any further consideration.
Well, at least she’d learned her lesson—always, always, always listen to your mother.
Her mom had told her this would happen. She’d warned her not to date a man Darcy didn’t see a future with unless she was absolutely sure of that outcome. Though, in Darcy’s defense, she hadn’t seen a future with Reed, not at the start, anyway. It wasn’t until much, much later that she’d begun to question herself.
God, she was such an idiot. For one foolish moment, she’d actually believed there might be more to Reed Miller than met the eye, that he wasn’t a self-absorbed, sex-crazed playboy with a no-strings mentality and a thirst for the chase.
But yep, he was. He totally was. And being right had never felt so awful.
Darcy shoveled another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth and groaned with pleasure. “Oh, Ben and Jerry,” she mumbled to the carton. “What would I do without you? Why can’t one of you be my boyfriend?”
The carton did not respond.
But for a split second, she actually thought she heard it say her name.
It took a few head-scratching seconds to realize that someone was calling her name, only the voice was coming from the front door.
Frowning, she slid off the breakfast stool and headed for the hall, where she heard a loud rap on the door, then another irritated, “Darcy!”
She swallowed a groan when she recognized AJ’s voice. Wonderful. Had her ex-boyfriend decided to stop by to rub her breakup with Reed in her face?
No, she realized. No way would AJ ever do that. It wasn’t his style.
Besides, he sounded more angry than gloaty at the moment.
Darcy opened the door and glared at him. “What do you want?”
“Wow. That’s wicked rude,” he marveled. “I’m going to let it slide, though, because I’m about to be ruder.”
AJ pushed his way inside, his six-foot frame hovering over her as he folded his arms across his chest. “What the hell is the matter with you?”
Her jaw dropped. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” He shook his head in disapproval. “I’m really disappointed in you. Reed is a good guy, and to just throw him away like that? Dick move, Darce. Dick. Move.”
Shock crashed into her. “Are you serious? I threw him away? I hate to burst your self-righteous bubble, AJ, but it was the other way around!”
She spun on her heel and marched back to the kitchen, making a beeline for her Ben and Jerry’s. The nerve of him! To imply that she’d done something wrong? When it was Reed who’d been picking up another chick right in front of her Friday night?
Darcy stuck the spoon in the carton, scooped up some chocolatey goodness, and shoved it in her mouth. When she heard AJ’s footsteps in the doorway, she lifted her head so she could glare at him again.
“Your ‘good guy’ best friend dumped me Friday night,” she said through a mouthful of ice cream. “Get your facts straight.”
“He only did that because you decided he wasn’t good enough to be your boyfriend,” AJ retorted, accusation hanging from his voice.
She gaped at him. “That’s crazy.”
“He heard you, Darce.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Setting down her spoon, she matched AJ’s pose and crossed her arms.
Sighing, her ex-boyfriend approached the counter and propped his hip up against it. “It was total chaos after you left on Friday. Reed was moping around like the sky had fallen, but refused to tell anyone why, and then Skyler showed back up and flipped out on him, accusing him of some seriously nasty shit. Then Gage got caught in the middle, and eventually Reed just up and left the club—on our busiest frickin’ night!”
Darcy couldn’t conjure up even a smidgen of sympathy. “Gee, I’m so sorry.”
AJ scowled at her. “Anyway, he didn’t show up for work yesterday either, which is totally unlike him, so I went over to his place and found him shit-faced on his couch.”
The sarcasm continued to ooze out. “Oh no. Poor Reed.”
“Christ. It’s like dealing with children,” AJ mumbled, before his expression snapped back to somber. “Look, it took a while, but I finally managed to get the truth out of him.”
She faltered, the hard front she’d been putting on slipping slightly. “The truth?”