“Hey, excuse me. It’s me you’re talking to. Why do you keep forgetting about Scott?”

Bryce shouldn’t keep forgetting about Scott Zimmons and the pain he’d caused Vashti during their marriage. Nor should she forget about Julius LaCroix, Vashti’s first boyfriend and the guy who’d gotten her pregnant at sixteen. Both men had betrayed her in different ways. The main reason she kept forgetting was because Vashti was so happy now. Sawyer had come into the picture and eradicated all the pain both Scott and Julius had left behind.

“Maybe that’s what I need, Vash.”

“What?”

“A man who can help me forget the pain,” Bryce said.

“You ever considered that maybe there’s a reason you’re still carrying around all that pain after nearly ten years?”

Bryce frowned. “Yes, there is a reason. I made the man I loved such a major part of my life that when we broke up, I discovered I no longer had a life. At least not one to call my own. Then six years later, when I thought I was finally getting over him, he returns to town. Do you know what that did to me each and every time I saw him?”

“I think I do. When I married Scott, I honestly thought he was my forever-after. How do you think I felt when I found out he only married me so his boss wouldn’t find out he was having an affair with the man’s wife? Not only did I feel betrayed, I felt inadequate. For a while my self-esteem took a beating.”

Bryce remembered that time. She had flown to New York to spend a week with Vashti and had ended up staying for two. Her best friend had needed her. “At least you eventually met someone, Vash.”

“Hopefully you will, too. What about that guy you were meeting for coffee before class? Do you think you might have given up on him too soon?”

Had she? She honestly didn’t think so. An attraction between two people wasn’t everything, but in her book it had to be there somewhere. She wasn’t certain why she’d felt no chemistry where Jeremy was concerned. “I wasn’t feeling anything with him. I told you that.”

“Yes, but did you give yourself time to feel anything or were you too busy comparing him to Kaegan?”

Had she been? “You think that’s what I was doing?”

“Only you can answer that, Bryce. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see you and Kaegan together again romantically, but more than anything, I want you happy. Even if it means being happy without Kaegan.”

Bryce gave her an appreciative smile. “Thanks, but don’t you think you’re jumping the gun somewhat here?”

“How?”

“By thinking Kaegan could even be interested in me that way again? Just like I fell out of love with Kaegan, I’m sure he’s fallen out of love with me. How could he not when he thought the worst of me? I don’t think he’s any more interested in me than I am in him.” She was convinced the night of the ball when he’d suggested they get back together had been nothing more than his libido talking.