“No. No, Gabby. Don’t tell me you didn’t tell him!”

“I didn’t tell him.”

“Why the hell not? You’ve had days to tell him!”

“Because I was just starting to get my own head wrapped around it,” I reply and pace away from her, touching the pretty shoes she has displayed throughout the store. “And then he went to hang out with the boys last night. I was surprised he came home without any bruises.”

“What did the boys do?” she asks, surprised.

“I don’t know. Eli said they wanted to include him in a guys’ night with Beau, Dec and Ben.”

“Ben?” Her eyes go wide and she swallows hard. “And Rhys returned alive?”

“I know. I was a little surprised.”

“Why didn’t you tell him when he got back?”

“I pretended to be asleep.” I wince. If I’d known that it would be the last night I’d have with him, I wouldn’t have done that. I would have embraced him and let him make love to me. I would have talked to him all night, and I would have savored every smell, every sound, every moment. “I know, Char. I know I should have told him, but it didn’t exactly work out well for me the last time I had to tell a guy that I was pregnant.”

“Rhys isn’t that piece of shit Colby, Gabs.”

“No,” I agree and sigh. “I understand that not all men are Colby. But he still left. He didn’t even say goodbye to Sam. How am I supposed to tell Sam that he’s gone, and we weren’t important enough to say goodbye in person?”

“Where is Sam?”

“With Mama.”

She nods and leans on her counter, demolishing a paperclip as she thinks.

“And Eva is taking care of the inn?”

I nod. “I brought Sam into the city for school clothes and some new things for the inn. Eva’s taking over all day.”

“Wow, you took a whole day off that isn’t a Sunday.”

“I needed to get away and think.”

“You’ve been doing a lot of thinking, Gabby. It was time to talk.”

“It doesn’t matter. He’s gone.”

“You have his phone number.”

“Stop, Charly. I don’t know what I’m going to do.” I shake my head and feel the tears want to start again. “I need to not think about this for a while. I need to clear my head.”

“Okay.” Charly grins and points to a stack of shoe boxes. “You can display those. And wait on customers when they come in.”

That dries up the rest of the tears. “You want me to work for you?”

“Yep.”

“So much for a day off.”

“It’ll take your mind off of he who shall not be named, and I can keep my eye on you. Win-win.”

“What are you going to pay me?”

“Lunch.” She grins as a customer walks in and begins browsing through the shoes. “There’s your first customer.”

“I really wanted to spend the day wallowing in self-pity.”

“Too bad,” Charly says. “I don’t have time for that. We will work, and then we’ll wallow.”

“Why are you wallowing?”

“Because you are,” she replies, as though I’m just being stubborn. “Women wallow together, sugar. Now, go greet your customer.”

And with that, she walks through a curtain to the stock room.

I turn and smile at the blonde wandering among the shoes. “Good morning. Can I help you find anything?”

“Well, I’m not sure,” she replies and glances up to smile back at me. She’s beautiful with long, loosely curled hair and big blue eyes. She’s in a tank top, showing off some of the most amazing tattoos I’ve ever seen on her right arm, and she’s got a great rack.

“What are you in the mood for?”

“I’m in the mood to kick a man’s ass,” she replies and then laughs. “And shoes always make me feel better.”

“I know that feeling,” I reply with a nod. “Men are jackasses.”

“Amen.”

“I’m Gabby.”

“Callie,” she replies and picks up a pair of sexy red stilettos. “These are hot.”

“Super hot,” I agree. “And designed to make a man’s tongue fall out of his mouth.”

“Hmm, that wouldn’t be a bad thing.” She turns them over in her hands. “I’ll try an eight, please.”

“Sure thing.” I fetch the shoes and return to Callie, dying to ask her lots of questions. “Are you from here?”

“Yes, ma’am,” she says and slips her feet into the shoes, then struts around the shop expertly. “Oh, these are amazing.”

“They make your legs look six feet long,” I reply with envy. “And that peep toe shows off your pedicure.”

“I’ll take them.”

“Perfect.” Callie joins me at the register. “So, who are you trying to kill with these shoes?”

She laughs and hands me her debit card. “A man that makes me crazy. I either want to deck him or climb him. There doesn’t seem to be an in-between.”

“Well, these shoes are badass.”

“And I can wear them to work,” she says with a nod.

“What do you do?”

“I own a club just a few blocks over. I’ve walked past this store dozens of times and I’m addicted to shoes, so I had to come in.”

“Isn’t it in our DNA to be addicted to shoes?” I chuckle and bag her purchase add tissue paper, and walk around to pass her bag to her. “Thanks for coming in.”

Callie smiles and waves as she leaves the shop, and I mentally thank Charly. I need this distraction.

I didn’t think about Rhys at all for about ten minutes. The mental picture of his amazing arms and abs never once entered my brain. Or the way he would smile that smile that he reserved just for me. Or the way his eyes would drift closed every time he first pushed inside me, then whisper fucking hell, Gabrielle because it felt so damn good.

Nope, didn’t think about any of that.

Baby steps. That’s the key.

“I talked to Mama,” Charly announces as she joins me. “She’s going to keep Sam until Sunday’s dinner.”

“She doesn’t have to do that,” I insist, but Charly shakes her head firmly.

“They’ll have fun. And this way you can figure some stuff out and hang out with me for a few days.”

“You’re going to hang out with me?”

“Again, not letting you wallow alone, sugar.” She winks and sets a hat on my head. “That’s a good color for you.”

“I love you, you know.”

“I love you more.”

***

“I’d forgotten how nice it is out here,” Charly says as she swings opposite from me. She’s in a pretty sundress, lazily swaying back and forth. I’m in my usual spot, paging through the reservations coming up this week on my iPad, thanks to the cops for returning it to me. Cindy was fined and spent a night in jail for grand larceny.

And I’m just petty enough to find the thought of Cindy sitting in a jail cell very satisfying.

“I love how the trees make the house so cool,” Charly says with a sigh.

“Me too.”

“Have you heard from Rhys?”

“No.” I don’t look up. The sting of not hearing from him at all is still sharp. It’s like he left and immediately forgot about me. And I miss him, damn it. I got so used to having him here, laughing with him, being in his arms, feeling him next to me while we slept.

And now he’s just gone. And it hurts so fucking bad.

“Maybe you will,” she says optimistically.

“I doubt it.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s a jerk.”

“Oh, come on, sugar. It’s not like he knew you were pregnant and jetted. He didn’t know.”

“I trusted him, Charly. I trusted him with my son, with my heart. I let my guard down, and I don’t do that. I let myself feel something so big for him it consumed me. I knew he would leave eventually, so I put that on me. He didn’t make me love him, but I did all the same. He never said that he wanted to stay, but regardless, he didn’t say goodbye. He didn’t say anything. And I can deal with it when it comes to me, but not when it comes to Sam. Sam idolizes him and Rhys left as if Sam doesn’t matter at all. And that’s bullshit. So he can rot in hell as far as I’m concerned.”

“Gabby, you don’t know why he was called to Chicago, or even if he intends to stay there.”

“Why wouldn’t he stay there? That’s where his team is, his doctors, everything.”