I wait in the lounge at the airport, feeling numb.

I’m angry at myself for thinking for a second that sleeping with Dane would be more than it’s been with anyone else for him.

I told myself I would never be one of those women that thought they could change a man. Watch their behavior with everyone else and think, it’ll be fine…I’m different.

I didn’t think I thought that way. Nothing in his behavior felt like it was fake…did it? Had I glossed over his behavior that night because I wanted him so badly?

“Miss Banks?” I look up at the Sky Lounge attendant, remembering I’m not alone. There are people all around me, minding their business and dealing with their own troubles.

“Yes?”

“I have a call for you.” She gestures for me to follow her to the bar area and I do, wondering who the hell ignored my message to just let me take some time. I turned off my phone after I sent it, so I wouldn’t have to deal with the questions.

“Hello?” I narrow my eyes as if whoever’s on the other end of the phone can see me.

“So you’re just running away?” I should’ve known it would be Mickey.

“I’m taking the vacation everyone wanted me to take.”

“I can’t believe you thought you’d send some very vague text and just get the hell on?” Kaija questions.

“You told her?!” I moan, and Mickey scoffs.

“We don’t hide things from each other anymore.”

“I’m going to chop his balls off and feed them to him.” Kai threatens, and I laugh, even though my eyes tear up a little.

“It was my dumb mistake. It’s not like I didn’t know he doesn’t trust people. I just…”

“You just saw the man. It’s easy to forget everything else sometimes.” Mickey says quietly, but I don’t push her on it. She’s obviously got some things going on that she isn’t ready to share.

“Him having a daughter threw me completely for a loop.”

The line goes quiet.

“Now you’ve lost me.” Kaija breathes, and I hear rustling. She must be sprawled across her bed, eating Cheetos. Same habits with that one.

“Damn, I just thought he was an inconsiderate douchenozzle.” Mickey whistles and I hear a lot of background noise.“Girl, I would run too.”

“I’m not leaving because he has a daughter…it’s not something I would ever want to fault him for. It’s just…everyone’s right. I need the time away, I need something different.”

“Need an even hotter fling to take your mind off him.” Kaija chimes in, and I shake my head.

“I need to not see another man for a few weeks. Michael’s been leaving voicemails that I haven’t listened to.”

“It’s okay, Kai. I’ll make sure she loosens up.” I whip around, because not only do I hear Mickey through the phone, it’s echoing like she’s in the same place.

And she is.

Part of me wants to snap at her for being presumptuous and thinking I’d want company, and another part is really, really grateful that she does whatever the hell she wants to do.

“You are so damn annoying.” My voice hitches, and I hear Kaija laughing.

“I learned from the best.” She smirks.

“Have fun you two, I’d go with you but…I’m not single like you bitches and I’d like to be here to support my man.”

“Are you really bragging right now?” Mickey plops into a lounge chair, holding her phone to her ear dropping her bags in the next seat. “Just for that, I’m not going to bring you back anything.”

“Don’t bring back any diseases either, okay? Safe sex for both of you.”

“Yeah, no thanks. Okay, I’m going to get off the lounge phone now, you weirdos. Love you, Kai.”

“Love you too, Key. Love you, Mickey. Safe travels.” Kaija makes a smooching noise and I hang up the phone, walking over to sit next to Mickey and still shocked that she’s here.

It’s no secret that I haven’t been the nicest person to her over the years, because of misplaced blame.

I stare at her, blinking hard because I really don’t want to start crying. I’ve been doing way too much of that lately.

“Thank you.” I grab her hand, covering it with both of mine.

“For what? And stop looking at me like you’re about to break into song. I don’t like it.” But she doesn’t pull her hand away. “Oh, I changed your ticket.”

“You what? I wanted to visit Sedona.” Oh my god.

“We are not going to look at some rocks, as beautiful as they might be, for the first vacation you’ve taken in like - ever.” She purses her lips, looking at me like I’ve lost my mind.

“So where the hell are we going?” I sigh. Honestly, anywhere but New York works for me. But because it’s Mickey…I’m not quite sure I’ll be able to keep up.

A devilish grin spreads on her face and pure glee sparkles in her green eyes.

Suddenly, I’m very scared.

“Mickey…”

“Just trust me. Can you do that, please? For once?”

I press my lips together, considering her.

“Just…no more pot brownies without me knowing.” I put up a finger, and then tick off another. “And no setting me up.”

“Deal.” She pulls out her laptop, tucking a slim foot under her body in the chair. She opens her mouth to say something but snaps it closed and I roll my eyes.

“What?”

She tilts her head innocently. “What about weed lollipops?”

Dealing with Mickey, I’ll be lucky if I recognize myself when this trip’s over.

Is that really a bad thing?