It turns out that three days was nowhere near long enough to heal a broken heart. Of course I wasn’t foolish enough to think that it was long enough but I was something far worse than foolish. I was hopeful. Hopeful that when I woke up each morning, I would do something other than wonder if today would be the day that Zeke came running back, apologetic and ready to commit. I was hopeful that, barring his return, I would suddenly fall out of love with my accidental husband.

So far, all I had was hope.

And a bad attitude, at least if my assistant’s wariness was anything to go by. She’d been walking on eggshells and looking at me like she was waiting for me to blow up or burst into tears. Neither option was all that out of the ordinary. “I’m done for the day, boss. Need anything else?”

I blinked as her words pulled me from my own morose thoughts and I shook my head and tried for a smile. “No thanks, Lisa. I’ll take care of everything else. Go and enjoy the rest of your day.”

She beamed a smile that only a twenty-something who’d been given the rest of the day off could and with a short finger-wave, she was gone. I shouldn’t have felt relief at that because Lisa’s presence was no hardship. In fact, she’d been a massive help, so efficient that I had the time and energy to launch my line of evening dresses. But her sympathetic looks and attempts to cheer me up only served to remind me of why it was all necessary.

And that was pretty annoying.

The bell above the door pulled me from my thoughts again and I fixed a professional smile on my face and hoped like hell it reached my eyes since chances were good that the next customer was someone I knew. “Hi and welcome to…oh, it’s you.”

Vivi’s smile was wide and bright, never wavering even in the face of my less than kind greeting. “Great to see you too, bestie. I’m great, thanks for asking.”

“Sorry, Vivi. I thought you were a customer.” Judging by the glint in her eye, I’d have been better off if it were a customer.

“I can buy something if it’ll make you feel better. Now that I think about it, my new boobs deserve a few new bras. And since I am a paying customer, you can’t avoid me any longer.” She arched her auburn brows, daring me to deny her accusation. “That’s what I thought. Now, hold Ty and tell me what’s going on.”

That was the easy part of her order, snuggling Tyson with his newborn baby scent and his soft downy hair that had just recently begun to turn red. Bright red. “He’s gonna be a full on fair-skinned ginger,” I told her absently stroking his soft locks.

“Don’t change the subject,” she said with a maternal wag of her finger as she locked the front door. “We’re doing a private shopping sesh to chat. So…chat.”

“I didn’t think you could get bossier but motherhood has turned you into a drill sergeant.” She’d called me every single day since I picked up Max from her house, refusing to let me get away with keeping to myself. At least for a few days, she had.

“Talk.”

I pressed a kiss to Ty’s soft head and held him close, watching as those big blue eyes slowly closed. “It seems like you already think you know something, Vivi. So tell me what you want me to tell you.” It was a bitchy answer but I didn’t want to talk about Zeke. Or New York.

“I know you went to New York with Zeke and I know you came back two days early with a sad bastard set to your shoulders and heartbreak in your eyes. Oh, and I know that he’s been sleeping above the business the past few days.”

Okay so she knew a lot. “There’s nothing more I can add to that,” I told her honestly which worked out perfectly for me because I’d decided, for the sake of my sanity, not to think too hard about what happened in New York. Or why. It was the same way I ignored the pain that squeezed my heart when each day ended without word from Zeke. It was effective.

For now.

I should have felt better about leaving him in New York. Lord knows he deserved it but I couldn’t bring myself to have that kind of sobriety, but I wasn’t there yet. I was still hurt. And angry. Frustrated with myself for giving my heart to yet another person who didn’t want it. For falling for another man who did think I was worth fighting for. But just like with Preston, it was my fault for giving it away too easily. “He said you left him,” she said with accusation in her voice.

I sighed because it was true and because I’d struggled with that the whole plane ride back to Louisiana, but the truth was that he’d abandoned me first. “He’s right, I did. I figured it didn’t matter since he let his parents rip me apart and didn’t come to defense not even once. I’ll bet he didn’t bother to tell you that, did he?” I didn’t care even if he did own up to it, the fact that he’d done it hurt like hell.

“He didn’t tell me any of that, but he did say that he deserved it. All of it.” My best friend stared at me a little too long, her look a little too insightful so I buried my face in Ty’s neck and inhaled deeply. “My question for you, best friend dodger, is can you forgive him?”

I managed to tear myself away from Ty’s powder fresh scent and leveled Vivi with a look. “He hasn’t asked for it so there’s no point thinking about it.” It was a copout. Maybe. Possibly. None of it mattered anyway. “I haven’t spoken to him since we were at his family estate and that tells you exactly what it tells me. Zeke and I are over.” Over before we really even began but I shouldn’t be that surprised because we were fooling ourselves. Just because things had worked out with Vivi and Nash didn’t meant lightning would strike twice.

It so rarely did.

“Now it’s time for both of us to do the adult thing and get quietly divorced so we can all get on with our lives.”

“Is that what you want?”

“It’s reality Vivi and that is all I’m interested in at the moment.” Maybe there was a tiny little part of me that hoped Zeke would magically get over his family issues and come running to me, but that was the silly hopeful part. Not the grownup, single parent, business owner part of me.

“Bullshit,” she spat. “I’m gonna say something right now and I know you won’t like it,” she began and I rolled my eyes and steeled myself for some of Vivi’s patented tough love. “Stop being a scaredy cat.”

I glared but she was undeterred. “I’m not.”

“You are and you damn well know it!” With three lacy bras in one hand, she pointed at me with the other. “You like Zeke and if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say you’re halfway in love with him already and that has you running scared.”

“I’m not running scared,” I assured her as calmly as I could. Not just because being emotional would make her question my feelings but because I didn’t want to wake Ty. His soft, baby weight felt so good. So comforting. “What I’m doing is learning when to cut my losses, Vivi. The same way you did in Chicago. To save yourself.”

“From Zeke?”

I nodded and sighed, turning to put Ty in his stroller since it was clear Vivi wouldn’t let this go. I took in a slow, deep breath and turned to her. “You didn’t see him, Vivi. From the moment he found out his sister was in town, he changed. Turned into someone I didn’t know and hadn’t seen in all the years he’s lived in Belle Musique.” She opened her mouth to defend him, I was sure and I held up a hand to stop her. “I get it. Of all people, I get how family issues can scar you and change how you live your life. And that is exactly why I can’t stick around and hope and wait for Zeke to break my heart.”

“Shit,” she said, her voice full of surprise. “You don’t just halfway love him, you all the way love him.” Her green eyes were wide and genuine shock written all over her face.

“That’s some mighty fine wordsmithing, you should think about being a novelist.”

She laughed but Vivi had a determined expression fixed on her beautiful face. “So you decided to break your own heart before he could?”

“It’s not broken,” I insisted. “A little bruised and cracked, which is preferable to what would happen if I didn’t step back now. It would hurt more later.”

“And what about Max?”

“I am thinking of Max, Vivi! I’ll explain to him that Zeke isn’t going to be living with us anymore and-,”

“No. What I mean is what about Max’s relationship with Zeke. Are you going to sever that one too for the sake of his heart?”

Shit. She had me there. “No, I won’t. Zeke agreed that he would continue to see Max when he could, and if he does then it won’t be an issue.” I crossed my arms as I mentally kicked my own ass for ignoring my first instincts about this fake marriage. “As much as it pains me to say it, Max is as used to being let down by men as I am. He’ll be sad for a while but he’ll understand.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

I shrugged. “Then you should hope that Zeke keeps his word about that, anyway. If he does then we’ll do like every other divorced couple. Share him. Amicably.” I didn’t believe it but that was okay since I didn’t think Zeke would be too eager to play stepdaddy to a kid who wasn’t his.

Vivi grinned and placed a hand over her heart in that, bless your heart, expression all southerners knew well. “You’ve got it all figured out, don’t you Maddie?”

“No, Vivi, I don’t. But I’m trying my best.” And that was all I could do.