Who are you to decide what he needs?
A fresh round of tears sprang up as I remembered the look of fondness in his eyes when he walked into my office with those beautiful flowers, obviously intended for me. I’d watched it change from happiness, to confusion, and then worst of all— hurt. But Avery would be okay. He might not like me very much, but as sick as I’d felt standing there with them together in my office, I was sure he and Maya would hit it off. They would fall in love, and get married, and have babies, while I… got a cat. Maybe a few cats.
Oh my God, I’m so pathetic.
Again, I dissolved into tears, perching myself on the floor with my knees pulled up to my chest as I sobbed into my jeans. I don’t know how long I was in there before there was a quiet knock at the door, and then Melanie let herself in. She wet a towel with cool water, then kneeled in front of me, urging me to let her wash my face.
“You wanna talk about it?” she asked, when I’d calmed enough to give her a coherent answer.
I shook my head, swallowing another round of tears.
Mel sighed, sitting down opposite me on the floor. “Tori… you like Avery, don’t you?”
“What? No,” I adamantly lied, trying to look and sound outraged by the suggestion. The way my sister rolled her eyes let me know she definitely wasn’t buying it.
“Tori… why—”
I held up a hand to stop her. “Look, Mel. The only thing I’m concerned about here, is making sure my client ends up with someone who makes him happy, okay? I have a good feeling about he and Maya, something I haven’t had with any of these others girls. What do you think about her?”
Melanie curled her lip. “She’s alright, I guess.”
“Really? You don’t like her?”
“That’s not what I said. I said I guess she’s alright. There was already another girl I loved for Avery, but she was too damned stupid to see what was right in her face. Just silly as hell. Dumb as a damn box of painted rocks.”
I lifted an eyebrow at her. She hadn’t mentioned preferring one of the girls over another. “Who are you talking about Mel?”
She stared at me for a moment, then gave me an exasperated roll of her eyes. “Nobody, Tee. It doesn’t matter anymore anyway, because you got his match for him.”
I sucked my teeth. “What was the point of you telling me then? That wasn’t helpful.”
“Good, cause I wasn’t trying to be. Are you done with all of this crying and throwing up now? Or do you need me to cancel—”
“Tori? Oh my God! Are you ok?” We looked up to see Des standing in the open door, one hand resting against her bulging stomach as she peered into the bathroom with worry etched into her face.
I hadn’t spoken to Des since our blow up the weekend before, even though she’d called me a couple of times, and sent a few texts apologizing. With our disagreement still fresh on my mind, I hadn’t had the energy to deal. “Des! Uh… hey, yeah. I’m fine, just not feeling great. What are you doing here?” Usually, I would have been glad to see my friend, but with my current emotional state tied to something I couldn’t talk to her about, she was about the last person I wanted to see.
She seemed unsure of her herself, something I wasn’t at all used to with Des. “Well, I was coming to make you talk to me, and then when I got here, the door was open, and I overhead Des say you had been throwing up. Are you sick?”
I shook my head. “No, I think I may have eaten something that didn’t agree with me at lunch. I think I’m going to take the rest of the day off, and go home.
“Can I tag along?” Des asked, with a pleading in her eyes I couldn’t ignore. “We really need to talk.”