While I stared at the ceiling, I saw the framed photo in Brock’s office. Why did he have that photo in his office? The urge to talk about him, to talk to someone, rode me hard. Ever since I left Philadelphia, I never spoke to anyone about Brock. Not even when I saw Abby and Katie, two people who knew just how much I cared for him.

Talking about Brock brought forth a lot of wonderful memories at the same time that it dragged up things I didn’t want to deal with.

Right at that moment, I heard a thump and looked over, brows snapping together. Rhage was by the wall, shaking his furry head. Obviously he’d attacked the wall and the wall won that battle. What a dumb cat.

“You still there, Jillian?”

“Yeah. Sorry.” I wrapped an arm around my knees. “Brock and I . . . Well, we were really close, but we kind of grew apart.” Okay. That sounded lame and clichéd, and I could do better. Avery deserved that. “All right. If I’m going to be honest, I was—I was in love with Brock and he thought of me as a little sister. He didn’t feel the same way, and our friendship . . . eventually imploded because of it.”

“Oh. Wow. You know who this reminds me of? Teresa and Jase.”

One side of my lips twitched. “It’s nothing like that.”

“Well, yeah. Kind of. You know, Teresa was super in love with Jase when she was younger, and he wouldn’t dare touch her because Cam would’ve murdered him in his sleep.” Avery laughed. Teresa was Cam’s younger sister and Jase had been his best friend since they were kids. “Anyway, look how that turned out. They’re married and—”

“And Teresa is about to pop out a baby,” I said. “I get what you’re saying, but Brock was never secretly lusting after me like Jase was for Teresa.”

“How do you know?” she asked.

I rolled my eyes. “Trust me, I know.”

“Hmm. I don’t know—wait. Wait. I better go. I hear Ava shrieking.” Avery sighed. “You’re going to come to brunch with Teresa and me on Sunday? You can tell me all about your date with Grady Saturday.”

“Wow. News travels fast,” I said, jolting a little at the reminder about the art show with Grady. I’d actually forgotten about that. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her I had plans, but Avery knew I never had plans, and I remembered I’d promised myself nearly two weeks ago that I could turn her down. I did that once since then. I wouldn’t do it again. “I will do brunch on Sunday.”

“Really?” Avery’s voice pitched with surprise.

“Yep. Looking forward to it.”

“Awesome. Okay. I’ll see you on Friday. Love ya!”