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Wiping the stupid tears from her eyes because they’d blurred her vision, she was deteroddairl As much as it hurt, her delusional heart needed this Furious with herself now, she clicked on every picture, staring at them even as she swatted tears away Of course, Nellie had been completely taken by him The man was beautiful and he said she was beautiful But the worst thing was that she was actually beginning to believe him Of course, he’d be into fitnessless? His body was perfection, and he ht champ So it made perfect sense that he’d seek out perfection, not some older divorcee whose husband had left her for her own damn sister!

"No!" she stood up with a sudden conviction, her eyes still stuck to the photo of Abel and Rachel eain as they reached the entrance of 5th Street "I am not just a divorcee, and I may not be a fitness , and she could aduilt she’d felt last night when she couldn’t bring herself to use the word to describe his eyes--they were beautiful And he see to her ieously the entire night and then said he’d really hoped to see her again before he left town--tonight

Picking up her phone, she ignored her shaking hand as she scrolled through her texts She slammed her laptop closed and started to her roo Without another thought, because she knew if she even hesitated that she e her mind, she responded

Sorry I slept in Just no this Does the offer to get together for brunch still stand?

Her phone beeped before it even hit her bed where she’d tossed it Infuriatingly, the tears were still co, and she continued to swat them away as she picked up the phone

Of course! I was still holding out hope that I’d hear from you and hadn’t made plans You feel like Mexican brunch? The place I hly recommended, and I was told I HAD to try before I leave Cali It’s a couple of hours away in La Jolla I’ at spending most your day with ling with the pain of those photos that were now burned in her ry tears now She just wasn’t sure who she was angrier at: Abel for being so good andfor it so hard Using the very words she once used on Abel, she responded

I’et ready

Sam told her to just text hireeing to do this, and she did al? An entire day with this guy? She hardly knew hiht of Abel and his fitnessfor her most provocative outfit that was appropriate for a brunch

Maybe she wasn’t fitness uy all to herself While Abel s, he couldn’t possibly be this good of an actor She did have it in her to turn on even an incredible guy like his a man couldn’t fake And as much as it hurt how quickly he’d run into another wo they’d had, a part of her still believed that he thought her beautiful He’d said it with such sincerity

She needed this now more than ever--needed to feel sexy, attractive to so it out of lust She was not about to fall back into the dark place that she’d spiraled into with Rick She refused She’d come too far and worked too hard for that Even her therapist had agreed that she was ready to stop her therapy At the ain--needed to be talked off this ledge--but she held her head high and stared in the ot this, babe," she sniffled "You’ve been through so much worse"

But had she really? She’d just established thisAbel would be a hundred ti? It’d be a ain, this didn’t have to areed to play it She had zero intentions of sleeping with Sao on this date with hi loose

Taking another rabbed one of her one-piece office dresses, the kind that Abel had told her more than once drove hiirl," sheup on the first guy you sleep with after your divorce isn’t exactly freeing shit"

Studying the dress, she chewed her lip, wondering how to sexy-it-up her heels than nor but sleeveless, she usually wore a coat over it Today she had the perfect thing to wear over it instead: a sexy black bolero that she’d been saving for a special occasion

As brave as she was suddenly feeling, she’d been privy to the Ayala teht to be a jerk about this, she reed significantly since then She knew she wasn’t is for her He just obviously wasn’t interested in anything exclusive He’d played the territorial card then, and since she hadn’t protested his behavior, she wasn’t sure what he’d do if he aiting for her when Sa pictures, there was no way she’d be keeping her dates froht to date who to make a scene just outside her front door, so she wouldn’t risk it