She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know what you were supposed to do when your entire body hurt, and your eyes were dry and painful from having cried out every last tear in your body.

She was pretty sure she was in danger of being dehydrated.

And she was hiding.

Buried deep in her cabin, where no one could see her having such an obvious meltdown, because there would be no way she could hide the fact that she was in the throes of heartbreak.

Heartbreak.

She looked up at the ceiling and started to count the wood planks there.

She supposed she could look at it as an experience. Being heartbroken. She’d never been heartbroken before.

“Another damn first from Gabe Dalton,” she said to herself.

Yeah, she could have skipped this one.

The bastard.

She felt spiky, and harmed. And she didn’t know whether she wanted to find someone and fling herself into their arms, or hide for the rest of her life.

At the moment she was exploring the hiding-for-the-rest-of-her-life option.

There was a heavy knock on the door, and she cringed. She supposed that depending on who it was, her hiding option was about to be taken from her. If it was one of her brothers, she could always say she was sick.

Or maybe that she had cramps.

That would probably make them go away.

She crawled out of bed, keeping her blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She paused as she walked by the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror.

Oh, for the love of God. She had not considered this as a potential problem when she had begun wearing mascara on occasion. But there it was, her sadness tracked down her face in telling, black lines. Being a woman was dumb bullshit. She tightened her hold on the blanket and went to the door, jerking it open.

Then looked down slightly. Because it was Bea, her expression determined.

“Hi,” Jamie said.

“Hi,” Bea said. “Can I come in?”

“You’re going to come in whether I tell you you can or not.”

“Probably,” she said cheerfully, walking inside behind Jamie. Jamie shut the door and looked at Beatrix, who was wandering the perimeter of the room as if she half expected to see Gabe somewhere in the cabin.

“I was worried about you,” Bea said.

“Why?”

“Because we had a little barbecue last night, and Dane and I came over. And also, Dane and I came for breakfast this morning. You were at neither thing. That’s not like you.”

“Well, here I am.” Her friend just stared at her. Jamie sniffed dramatically in response. “I’m not feeling well.”

Bea narrowed her eyes. “Is that a euphemism for Gabe broke your heart?”

Jamie swallowed hard, turning away from Bea and trying to collect herself. “This is stupid,” Jamie said. “I haven’t cried so much ever in my entire life. Probably not even when I was a baby.”

“Yeah, love is like that.”