Malone snickers. “You make it sound like I’m the wronged spouse. I’m your friend, dickhead. Not your wife.”

Truly reaches out her hand and clasps her brother’s. “You and I had an agreement. We had a pact, and I don’t want to do anything to ruin your friendship with Jason, so we wanted to be straightforward, even though we’re not together. And we’re completely fine not being together.”

Malone holds up his hands to slow this conversational train. “Wait. Are you two breaking up because you think it bothers me? Because it doesn’t, and I would also never tell either one of you not to be involved with each other. Not my place, not my role.”

Truly is intense when she answers. “I’m telling you because after what happened with Sarah, we made a deal that friends were off-limits.”

He sighs, his voice softening. “Truly, we made that deal when we were twenty-one or twenty-two. We’re thirty-five now. And Sarah was a lunatic, if you ask me. I know it hurt to lose her, and I’m not belittling that, but I don’t want some pact we made well over a decade ago to keep you from happiness.”

“I’m happy. I swear. So happy. So totally happy. Work makes me happy. It’s all good. Who has time for relationships anyway?” she says, laughing, underscoring my point—she’s on the same page, and she’s obviously ecstatic. Hell, she said she was happy four times.

Malone raises his hand. “I do. A lot of people do.”

She pats his shoulder. “And that’s great. But we’re in a different spot. The timing simply isn’t right.”

“The timing is rubbish,” I second, because how can he not get it? We’re doing the right thing here—being honest, being up front, and letting go of something that’s too distracting.

He leans back in the booth. “Let me see if I have this straight. You like each other. You’ve been involved, like we all thought you would be. But you’re not going to be involved with each other anymore because of”—he coughs like he can’t quite believe what we’re saying—“timing?”

But speaking of timing, I have work to do, so I cut in. “Listen, I’m glad you’re not pissed. You are truly a prince among men. But the reality is, Truly and I are fine with this decision. We both agreed to concentrate on growing our businesses.”

Malone nods like he has a surplus of them to dish out. “Right. Yeah. Growing your business is definitely the most important thing in life.”

I arch an eyebrow. “Do I detect a note of sarcasm?”

“You should detect about fifty thousand notes of sarcasm. Because the two of you are idiots if that’s the reason you’re not together.”

I jerk my gaze to him, staring sharply. “You want us to be involved?”

“If you like each other, you should be together. It’s really that simple. I’m not the barrier you might have thought I was. I’m also absolutely not surprised you’re in love. The two of you have acted like a couple for the longest time, and it has never bothered me. In fact, I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner.” He points to me, then to his sister. “But what does surprise me is how you’re both so goddamn stubborn and ridiculous. I can’t believe you’re claiming that timing is the reason you’re splitting up.”

Truly lifts her chin, clearing her throat. “It makes perfect sense for Jason. For me too. And right now, what makes perfect sense is enjoying a chicken sandwich and french fries. Let’s do that.”

With that slice of the knife, Truly ends the conversation.

When the check arrives, Malone lunges for it then says, “What I’d most like to do is bang your heads together, but all that would come out is hot air and a bunch of canned responses about work, work, work. So instead I’ll leave you with this: hope you enjoy curling up with your job tonight.”

When we’re through, I’m so damn relieved to get the hell out of there, because he just doesn’t get it.

46

From the pages of Truly’s Drink Recipe Book

Get Your Ass Back in The Saddle:

One Shot of Tequila

Let’s say you lost out on a chance that was important to you.

Maybe you wanted something so badly, and it felt so right, but then you let it slip through your fingers.

But you had to.

You had your reasons. After all, you weren’t going to beg him to stick around. He clearly wanted out. And you know what that’s like. Hell, that’s why your last relationship ended. Over work. It would be unladylike to beg him to stay when you would have laughed in the face of a guy who did that to you. Letting him go gracefully is the right thing to do.

This way, you stay friends.

This way, he won’t know how much it hurt.

That’s why it’s time for a straight-up shot of gin.

But fuck gin.

The truth is this: you need a shot of tequila. You need something that burns.

Take one shot of tequila.

It will burn the ache away.

Chase it with the fire in your belly, and then get your ass to work.

Charlotte: Tell me everything.

Truly: I wanted to lean on Jason’s shoulder. He made it clear that shoulder was off-limits.

Charlotte: Grrrr.

Truly: He believes falling in love distracted him, and I’m not going to sit there and try to convince him otherwise. I wasn’t going to make a fool of myself and say no you idiot, that makes no sense. Instead, I said it sounded . . . brilliant

Charlotte: Let me make sure I have this right. Mister Modern Gentleman somehow finessed a breakup to make it seem mutual?

Truly: I suppose he did. Clever guy. But what was I going to do? It was clear he wasn’t ready. So I went along with it and said I agreed, and that’s what we told Malone too.

Charlotte: So you two made it seem like you preemptively broke up so you wouldn’t lose your focus even though your brother is and was totally fine with you two being the couple we all had bets you’d become?

Truly: And you all lost, I guess. Turns out we’re not a couple at all.

Charlotte: I’m sorry, sweetie.

Truly: It’ll be fine. Men, right?

Charlotte: I swear. They don’t always see what’s in front of them. And it sounds like he’s spiraling. His words. I’ve read his columns on it. He actually has given really good advice to men when they spiral, and yet, the ding dong is spiraling. He’s feeding this storm inside him.

Truly: Sounds like he might be, but it doesn’t matter now. Maybe it’s for the best. I can use this time to recalibrate. Figure out if I want to find a new investor, or something else.

Charlotte: So glad you’re diving right back into work and more work and hey, let’s have another serving of work.