17. Mia
Chapter seventeen
Mia
I’ve been home from the living memorial for a couple of days now, but I haven’t mustered up the courage to talk to Will about our kiss—either of them. Instead, I’ve been pining about him to Chloe. Who has completely run out of fucks about it, if she ever had any to start with.
‘Just talk to him, you idiot,’ and ‘I love you, but you are a dumbass,’ are among the hot tips she’s been giving me.
To be honest, I’m most concerned that if we get ourselves into another compromising situation, I might not be able to keep my hands to myself.
I want to summon the fortitude to have a proper conversation with him, but instead, here I am, again, with Chloe, again, pouring my stupid heart out to her, again, while we window shop at lunchtime. At least that part is new.
“I’ll bet you anything you like, he doesn’t want to talk about it because he doesn’t want to put pressure on you,” Chloe says as we walk. “I’m happy to tell him he’s an idiot, if you want?” she offers.
“Thanks, Clo. That’ll help, I’m sure.” I roll my eyes, moving closer to her as a woman walks past.
"If it helps," she adds, unhelpfully. “You’re an idiot too. You like him. He likes you. Stop being a baby and talk to him.”
“We kissed.” I don’t know what more to say, other than dropping the bombshell.
“You kissed? You and Will kissed?”
“Twice.” Getting it out is a relief. At least now I don’t need to feel like I have to hide how I’m feeling about Will from her. It’s one thing to push down my feelings about the inheritance, and to not tell my friends the whole truth about that, but this is a completely different thing to try to hide.
Chloe looks less shocked than I thought she might. “And now what, you’re dating?” I shake my head. “For fuck’s sake, Mia. Have you even talked about it? I knew I saw something weird between you guys in those pictures from France.”
I shake my head again. “What if we try it, and it doesn’t work out? Everything could fall apart. Maybe we’ll all stop being friends.”
She turns, putting one hand on each of my shoulders. A woman pushes past us, tsking, and Chloe glowers at her. “Then it doesn’t work out. What if it does work out?” She drops her hands from me, smoothing down her already perfect dark hair, then veers into a shop. I trail along behind her. “I know it’s hard to imagine, but Mia, we’ve all been friends forever. It’ll work or it won’t. But neither of you are dicks. If it doesn’t work out, that doesn’t mean anything for the rest of us.” She spins around. “Who kissed who?”
I wasn’t even sure. Did it happen at the same time? “Him?" I guess.
She heads to one of the clothing racks and starts flipping through clothes. It’s easy for Chloe to think it might all work out. Say I do give things a go with Will, and say he’s into it. Then imagine it’s three years from now, and we can’t make it work. What if we can’t keep things civil? What if we implode our friendship? Even worse, what if we can’t even spend time together anymore and our friends have to pick sides, like some of mine had when Joel and I split? I’d be devastated to lose any of them. Why take the risk? Even if I really, really want to. It’s just not smart.
“Can you hold my bag? I want to try some stuff on.” I follow Chloe into the changing room.
I have bigger things to worry about than my relationship—or not relationship—with Will. I still haven’t decided whether I’ll sell the resorts. That’s the way I’ve been leaning from the beginning, but the more I think about it, the more torn I am. On the one hand, the idea of getting rid of them would be freeing. I don’t need the money, I have more than enough. I wouldn’t have to worry about living up to anyone’s expectations. But there’s something about getting rid of the only tie to my birth family that doesn’t feel right. They've been in the family for generations. My family. Who am I to change that? I don’t want to make rash decisions about my future. I promised myself that going into this. In a year, Bryce will have settled into his role, and I can sell the shares and figure out what I want to do with my life.
Chloe pulls back the curtain and steps out. “What do you think of this?” She’s stunning. The rich blue dress lands right under the curve of her calf, and the color is perfect against her pale golden skin. Her pin-straight, dark hair falls to her waist.
“You look stunning,” I say, taking it in. “I think you could go down a size though.” I pinch the fabric under her arm, considering. “Wait there.” I check the size label on the back, and bring the size down in the same color, and the same dress in royal purple.
She looks great in both. “Thanks for coming with me. I’m going to think about it for a couple of days, then make up my mind,” she says as we leave the store. Chloe always does that with large purchases. She’s the most careful spender out of our group, cautious not to give into her impulses. I almost buy the dresses for her, but she would be furious if I did.
“And you have to make up your mind about Will. It’s not fair to leave him hanging, Mia.”