She rose, hands shaking. She could ignore the door, but she wasn’t a coward. And if Ash had come all this way, the least she could do was tell him that she needed more time. Space.
Her heart beating a mile a minute, she wiped her hands and went to the door. Taking a deep breath, she opened it. Blinking in surprise, she took in the fact that it was not Ash at her door. Was it disappointment she felt? She shook that idea off and stared wordlessly at Mia and Bethany who wore determined expressions on their faces.
“You look awful,” Mia said bluntly. “Have you slept at all?”
“Stupid question, Mia. It’s obvious she hasn’t,” Bethany said.
“What are you doing here?” Josie asked faintly.
“To answer what will likely be your next question, no, Ash didn’t send us,” Mia said firmly. “To answer your first question, we’re here because we’re dragging you to lunch with us and don’t even think about telling us no.”
Josie’s mouth fell open. Bethany laughed.
“You may as well give in gracefully, Josie,” Bethany said, laughter still in her voice. “Mia is very determined and she’s kind of scary when she sets her mind to something. I’m sure Gabe will attest to that fact.”
Mia elbowed Bethany and scowled. Despite herself, Josie smiled, relief settling over her shoulders.
“Can you give me just a minute to clean up? I’ve, uh, been working,” she finished lamely.
“Sure,” Mia chirped.
“Come in,” Josie said hastily. “Have a seat. It’s kind of a mess. I haven’t unpacked or anything and as I said, I’ve been working.”
“Is this your new stuff?” Bethany asked softly when they entered the living room.
Mia and Bethany were staring at the two paintings she’d just finished. Josie rubbed her hands down her pants legs and nodded.
“They’re really good,” Mia said. “So much emotion in them.” She turned sympathetic eyes toward Josie. “And it’s obvious you’re very upset.”
Josie didn’t know how to respond to that.
“I’ll, uh, just be a minute, okay?”
Mia and Bethany nodded and Josie hurried into her bathroom to make herself more presentable. When she got a look at herself in the mirror she winced. No wonder they’d told her she looked awful. She did.
She splashed water on her face and hastily applied foundation and powder. She brushed her lashes with light mascara and then swiped on lip gloss. She wouldn’t win any beauty pageants but at least she didn’t look quite so washed-out and hollow. No amount of makeup in the world was going to fix the dark shadows under her eyes.
When she returned to the living room, Mia and Bethany were waiting and quickly hustled her outside and toward the car parked just down the street.
The two guys Josie had noticed earlier caught her attention once more and she frowned. No doubt, they were Ash’s men. Watching her. Even though he’d sworn to give her at least last night. She shook her head. Trust Ash to do things his own way. Just as he’d always done. In the back of her mind she supposed it was good that he was still protecting her, but her trust in him had been shattered. Now what should seem like protection was just one more sign of how controlling Ash was.
“We would have invited Brittany too but we worried it might be a little awkward since she’s Ash’s sister,” Mia said in a low voice once they were inside the car.
Josie winced. Okay, obviously they did know about her breakup with Ash and they weren’t just inviting her to lunch as if everything was normal.
Bethany slid her hand over Josie’s and squeezed. “Don’t look like that, Josie. Everything will be fine. You’ll see.”
Tears burned her eyelids and she battled fiercely to keep from breaking down. “I’m not sure anything will ever be okay again.”
“It will,” Mia said fiercely. “You can tell us all about it at lunch. Then we’ll figure out how to kick Ash’s ass.”
Bethany laughed and Josie just looked at her in bewilderment.