Free Burn Out by Cheryl Douglas Page B

to
squeeze in a little more cardio on her days off. “There was an emergency at the
clinic right before I left and Jeff had already left for the day, so I had to
take care of it.”
    “Speaking of
Jeff,” Lena said, taking a long, coral silk gown off the rolling rack, “is he
still coming to the wedding?”
    “Of course, why
wouldn’t he?”
    Alisa, Brianna,
Lena, and Anna shared a look before Lena said, “Uh, when you left with Evan the
other night, we just kind of assumed that meant y’all were gettin’ back
together.”
    “We’re not!” She felt
the heat creep up her neck when she realized she’d been so emphatic. “It was
one night… that never should have happened.”
    “So you guys did
sleep together?” Alisa asked, grinning. Alisa was Evan’s cousin and Lena’s
business partner. Erika still considered Alisa a close friend, but she wasn’t
willing to share intimate details of that night with anyone, not even her
closest friends. It still hurt too much to think about.
    “Does Jeff know
what happened between you and Evan?” Lena asked, setting the dress over Erika’s
arm.
    “Of course, I have
nothing to hide.” She shrugged when Anna raised an eyebrow. “We were both free
to date other people and he of all people knows that I still have a soft spot
for Evan.”
    “If you ask me,
you and Evan would still be together if not for that guy,” Lena said, scowling.
    Lena and her
fiancée had never made a secret of the fact Jeff wasn’t their favorite person,
but they tolerated him for Erika’s sake. “I know you think Jeff convinced me to
break up with Evan, but that wasn’t the case.” She sighed when the four women
rolled their eyes in unison. “Okay, maybe I confided in him that things weren’t
going well at home and he convinced me to get out before I wasted any more time
with a man who was never going to change, but he was right, wasn’t he?”
    Alisa sat down in
an overstuffed armchair and pulled her legs up as she reached for her champagne
flute. “I beg to differ. I think Evan was just going through a period of
transition. I think things would have gotten better if you’d just given him a
little more time to sort things out.”
    It hurt Erika to
realize that her friend blamed her for the break up. “Really?” she asked,
turning to Brianna. “You work with Evan. Has he slowed down at all in the year
since we broke up?”
    Looking
uncomfortable at being put on the spot, Brianna said, “No, I can’t say that he
has. He is trying to delegate more responsibility to Ryan though.”
    “Probably so he
can free himself up to work on other projects,” Erika said, heading for the
dressing room. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be right back.”
    Anna touched her
arm as she made her way past her. “Hey, we love you and Evan. We just want you
to be happy.”
    “I know.” Erika
couldn’t be angry with her friends for wanting her to smile the way she used to
when Evan was a part of her life. Her pride wouldn’t allow her to admit it, but
nothing filled the void he left. Not a new man, a puppy, a home of her own, a
business she loved…
    Lena put her arm
around Erika’s waist and whispered in her ear, “I’ve known you a long time,
girl. I’ve seen you happy and I’ve seen you miserable.” She pointed at the
reflection of the two of them in the mirror. “You don’t look happy right now,
and you haven’t for a long, long time.”
    “You don’t think I
want to fix my life?” she asked, setting the long dress on a hook outside the
fitting room door. “I do. I just don’t know how.”
    Lena tugged on her
hand, leading her back to the sitting area. “We just want you to listen.”
    “I know y’all are
trying to help, but-”
    “Hush,” Alisa
said, handing her a glass of champagne. “You don’t get to have your say until
we’ve had ours.”
    “Why is this
starting to feel like an ambush?” Erika asked, bringing the glass to her lips.
    Lena inclined her
head toward an