Page 13 of Love Expert
“Aria died?” My breath escapes on a shaking exhale. “They didn’t divorce?”
“Nuh-uh.” She peeks across at her beeping phone, picking it up and tapping out a fast response to whatever text came in, then she locks the screen and brings her focus back to me. “She gave birth to their beautiful baby boy. She even got to hold him for a few minutes and take a couple of pictures. But then…” She shrugs. “Things went bad.”
Tears sizzle in my eyes.
“They couldn’t figure it out,” she murmurs. “They tried. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. Her body just couldn’t heal the way it was supposed to, and the bleed wasn’t obvious, not even to the super-experienced doctors on staff. Ollie was young back then, still kinda new, but he still feels like her death was on him.”
“O-Ollie?” My breath comes heavy. Fast. Sickly. “I don’t know who you?—”
“Oliver Darling. Doctor,” she adds proudly. “He and Billy had been best friends since forever, and Ollie basically considered Aria another one of his sisters, so when they turned up at the hospital, and she was in labor, Ollie jumped in and did what he’d trained to do. Jeremy wasn’t the first baby he’d delivered. Not even the twentieth. When things got tricky, he called Doctor Dawes in right away, since Dawes had delivered hundreds of babies by that point. Even then, no one could figure out what was wrong.”
“This is just…” My heart aches. It swells and throbs and burns deep in my chest. “She died the day her son was born? That’s…” I shake my head. “Oh my gosh, Alana! I was so mean!”
“I’m sure you?—”
“I said she left his grumpy ass, and I was gonna call her to talk crap about his parenting.”
She grits her teeth. “Unfortunate.”
“I’m a monster!”
The bookstore door slings open, the bell above jingling noisily to announce Alana’s newest customer. “Who is a monster?” The person, the customer—the blonde—stalks in with a bright smile. “And why are they a monster?”
“I—I don’t…” Desperate, I bring my eyes back to Alana’s. “What?”
“You two technically haven’t met yet.” Alana gestures to the woman. “Eliza Darling, this is Maggie Sava.”
“Patrice Sava’s no-good, freeloadin’, gold diggin’ granddaughter.” She comes to a stop on my side of the counter and spins to lean against the heavy structure. “Hey there, Maggie Sava. Heard all about you from Jeremy already.”
“You…”Save me. Somebody.“Darling? Eliza Darling?”
“That’s my name,” she quips. “I usually charge folks a dollar each time they say it, though.”
Lost, I swing my eyes back to Alana’s.
“Ollie and Raquel’s little sister. She was an oopsie baby,” Alana snickers. “Twelve years behind Ollie.”
“I resent that.” Eliza pushes away from the counter and stops in front of the dessert display instead, folding at the hips and studying the offerings. “The things I would do for a jam donut, Lana.” She licks her lips and groans. “The nasty, nasty, hoe-girl things I would do just to taste it.”
“She… you…”Aria Sinclair died?!“I could buy it for you, I suppose. If you don’t have the money.”
She straightens her back and drapes her arms over the fridge, moaning deep in the back of her throat. “I got money. I don’t have clearance for jelly donuts.”
“C-clearance? From who?”
“Chris.”
“He’s your…”God. Why won’t my brain work?“Is a man controlling what you eat, Eliza? Because that’s not okay. If you want to eat something, you can. It’s your life and your bod?—”
“It’s a tragedy.” She blinks wide puppy-dog eyes and drops her lips into a pout. “He’s so mean to me.”
The door opens again; the bell screams in protest. “Who’s mean to you?”
“Fox,” Alana grins, her smile growing larger with each new addition to the store. “Meet Maggie. Maggie, meet Fox. She’s Chris’ wife.”
“You’re Chris’… you’re…” I study Eliza again. “Herhusband is controllingyourdiet?”
“Right?” She slithers my way and folds over my mutilated cupcake. Stopping with her nose a mere eighth of an inch from the dessert, she inhales so deeply, the cupcake actually moves. “Oh my gosh. Is this what heaven smells like?”
