Cecilia, present day

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She woke with a gasp, hating that the old memories had arisen again now that Colin had flown home to Scotland.

During the day, it was easy to pretend everything was different and better, but without him, without the other half of her heart, old doubts began to creep in and make her uncertain. Was it inevitable that things would eventually go bad between them again? Would he misjudge her?

Would she end up all alone again?

Sighing, she glanced at the clock and saw that it was just before four in the morning. Too early.

But her friends should be available, Heather depending on which time zone she was in, of course.

CeCe opened the text chain and scrolled back up, past the Outlander gifs teasing her for finding her very own Jaime, past the pictures she’d sent of the croissant she’d devoured that morning and the very long line she’d waited in for admission to the Louvre. She kept going back until she tracked down Heather’s travel plans.

And upon seeing that her friend had returned to San Francisco after brief stops in Rome and Madrid, Cecilia sent the S.O.S.

Immediately, texts began pouring through.

The screen of her laptop lit up and within a couple of seconds, each of her friends’ faces was staring back at her from a different corner.

“It’s the middle of the night in Paris,” Abby said. “Why are you awake?”

Cecilia rubbed the aching space between her eyebrows. “I had a bad dream.” Bec smirked, but CeCe waved her off. “Not like that. I dreamed about the day Colin and I . . . well”—she sighed, knowing that she was going to have to dish all. Their relationship status took It’s Complicated to a whole new level—“We were supposed to get married.”

“You’re getting married?” Seraphina shrieked and clapped her hands together, her beautiful face shining brightly with joy. Sera loved happy endings. “That’s amazing! That’s—”

“Not what’s happening,” CeCe interrupted. “Colin and I were supposed to get married six years ago.”

Sera clamped her mouth shut. Heather said, “Hmm.” Abby’s eyes widened. But Bec said in typical rough and ready East Coast Bec fashion, “Well, fuck, the newest to our corrupted quintet of dirty old women has been holding out on us.”

Already, Cecilia felt better. “I didn’t expect to see him again. We . . . obviously, we didn’t part on good terms. His family kind of conspired to break us up, and he believed them over me. I was hurt, so damned hurt, that I left and never looked back.”

“And then what happened?” Abby was perched on the end of her chair, clearly riveted.

All the girls were as she detailed the plane ride, the hotel in London and Colin following her to Finland. Her life had all the drama required for their very own CeCe-centered romance novel.

“How’s the sex?” Bec asked with a cackle.

Cecilia’s cheeks went red-hot. But she answered anyway. “Incredible,” she said, unable to hold back her sigh.

Seraphina giggled. “I’ll take what she’s having.”

Heather spoke for the first time. “So it seems like everything is going good and that you worked out a lot of your issues. Plus, he couldn’t keep his eyes—or hands—off you at dinner. What’s going on now that has you doubting him?”

“I’m not doubting necessarily . . .” she prevaricated.

“Try that line on a different group of horny old women,” Bec said.

“I resent the term old,” Abby said.

Bec waggled her brows. “But not horny?”

“Clearly not.” Abby pointed at her slightly rounded belly.

“Ladies,” Heather interjected. “I know you think you’re amusing, but CeCe needs to answer the question.”

She flopped back onto the bed, staring up at the gorgeous antique ceiling. It was coffered and the swirling white woodwork was so gorgeous that she physically ached for her sketchbook. “I’m not doubting his intentions.” She groaned. “I’m just doubting our . . . I don’t know, our staying power, I guess. I mean he’s been sweet before, and now he’s not here and what if it all goes to shit again? I can’t—I don’t know how—”

“You miss him,” Sera said.

“Yes,” she wailed. “And now he’s back in Scotland and what if his family gets their claws into him again?”

“Then he’s a fucking idiot,” Heather said bluntly.

“And we cut off his balls with rusty scissors,” Bec added.

CeCe sat up, nose wrinkling. “Why rusty?” she asked.

A shrug. “Because that’s worse.”

“Okay,” she said, not able to disagree with that logic.

“Why not just fly to Scotland?” Abby asked. “If you’re not going to enjoy your solo time in Paris, you might as well visit him and spend some more time together.”

“And hot sex,” Bec said. “She needs more of that.”

Seraphina nodded. “I agree. This will give you both a chance to flush away those bad memories and move forward. It’s not like he can avoid his family forever.”

“I bet he wishes he could,” Heather grumbled. “Family is a giant pain in the ass—”

“Hey!” Abby said with a glare.

“Present company excluded,” Heather said, smirking. “But his business is also based in Scotland, so he’ll need to go back regularly. If you can’t get over that . . .”

Heather didn’t finish the rest of the sentence, but Cecilia heard it anyway. If she didn’t get over her discomfort with Scotland—going there, him returning home, his family—they would be stuck in this same painful cycle forever.

It was better to rip off the Band-Aid.

“I guess I’m going to Scotland.”

“You pack, and I’ll get Jordan’s assistant to book you on a flight,” Abby said. “I’ll text you the details.”

“What’s it with billionaires and assistants?” CeCe muttered.

Abby just grinned. “You know you love it.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. I do.” A glance at her friends. “You guys are amazing. Thank you.”

“Pish,” Bec said.

“Love you!” Seraphina called.

Carter ran onto the screen and waved at CeCe. “We love you too,” Abby called over his chattering.

“Remember,” Heather said. “Our demons only drag us down if we give them the power to do so.”

Cecilia’s breath caught, she opened her mouth to respond—

Bec beat her to it. “Fuck, that was deep.”

“Language!” Abby chided.

Sera just smiled as Heather shook her head, hand reaching forward in her little corner of the screen. “Talk soon.” CeCe’s laptop screen went black.

“I guess I’m doing this,” she said and headed for the bathroom to shower.

Scotland, here I come.