Page 133 of Everything She Wanted

“Thank you for offering to discreetly share about the break-up so no one asks me about it.”

“I’m here for you, always.”

I squeeze her arm back in gratitude.

“Let’s sit.” I gesture to her chair and take one beside her.

“What’s up?”

“I wasn’t completely honest with you when you asked about Nick a couple of weeks ago.”

Her eyes go wide, and she places her hand on mine. “Please don’t tell me he has been harassing you. That on top of everything with Eshaan—”

“No, it’s not that.” I pause, not sure how to be open about this.

“The thing is, Nick’s feelings for me weren’t one-sided. I was falling for him as we worked together.”

She gives me a knowing look. “I thought that might also be the case, but you didn’t say anything.”

“I know. I wanted to tell you, but I was scared. If Eshaan ever found out, it would have been bad.”

“I get that.” She gives me a nod.

“To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to make of everything with Nick either.” I’m still not sure what we were. I take a breath and continue. “The night you saw us, Nick was trying to deal with the fact that I was getting engaged, and we were both trying to move on. It was just harder than we both thought to stay away from each other.”

“Oh, that’s so romantic.” She beams at me. “But now, things are different, right? You’ll figure things out.”

I shake my head. “No, I don’t think so.”

“What, why?” She turns more fully to face me.

“All of this crazy shit happened because I rushed into things with Eshaan. We haven’t even told our families yet that things are over and that’s going to be a gong show. My mom’s going to be so disappointed, and his parents went all out for the party, so they’ll be devastated. I don’t even want to think about what all the hundreds of guests will be saying about me.” My heart starts hammering just thinking about my mom’s reaction. “I’m not sure if I can trust myself or my feelings after all this.”

“Nish, you’re being too hard on yourself. It was a complicated situation, and you did the best you could. Don’t give up on your chance at happiness because of what happened. Who gives a shit about what anyone else thinks?”

Tears spring to my eyes. I’m not sure I deserve a happy ending.

“Where did you leave things with Nick?”

“We said our goodbyes after the engagement got moved up, but then he showed up to the ceremony.”

“OMG, what? You didn’t mention that this weekend.” Her mouth hangs open as she processes this.

“You’re telling me. All this time I spent wondering how Nick really felt about me and then as I’m about to get engaged he confesses his love, and it was all so confusing.”

“Confusing? It sounds epic! Better than Netflix.”

I laugh even as my heart plummets. I obviously didn’t make the right choice, but what else could I have done? Ride off into the sunset with him?

Sorry, Mom. I know how much you wanted this for me, but I fell in love with someone else. It wasn’t part of my plan or your plan for me, but Mom, I love him.

It was an impossible choice.

She pats my arm. “You’ve been through a lot. Take the time you need and I’m sure everything will fall into place.”

I try to let her reassurance calm me, but truthfully, I’m not sure I believe in happily ever afters anymore. Those were just meant for the movies.

Eshaan calls me later that afternoon, his voice filled with sadness.