Breaking Through (The Breaking Series Book 3) (36 page)

She tried smiling, but it was forced and only lasted two seconds. “Thanks, Hilary. You’re the best person I know.”

***

I decided to go in an hour early to the studio on Tuesday to compensate for having taken the day off yesterday. My plan was to go in an hour early and leave an hour late every day this week.

The elevator doors opened and I was about to enter, but I saw Gui inside and froze. He stared at me while I stared at him. The doors began closing before I could react. Gui shoved his hand in the way, making the doors open again.

“Are you coming?” he asked, his tone flat.

As if he had slapped me awake, I stepped into the elevator and stood beside him, facing the closed doors.

The elevator started moving down, and the awkwardness reached a new high.

It didn’t help that he wore sweatpants, a T-shirt, and sneakers, with his earphones around his neck. He was either going running or working out.

Inhaling my pride, I decided to be the bigger person here. “How have you been?”

“
Bem. E voc
ê
?”

“Me too,” I answered. Automatic questions and answers.

The doors opened to the first level and Gui walked out. Before the doors closed, he reached out and put his arm in the way, causing them to open again. I had a terrible case of triple deja vu.

“About Amanda,” he started.

I lifted my chin. “I don’t want to know.”

“Nothing happened,” he continued, even after my comment.

“I don’t care,” I insisted.

“But I do,” he groaned. What the hell was that supposed to mean? “Nothing happened. I sent her away right after you left.”

“Okay,” I said, trying not to read between the lines.

He stepped back, taking his arm from the doors. “I just wanted you to know that.”

The doors closed, and I stared at them with my jaw hanging open.

I wanted to yell, what was that supposed to mean?

Instead, I swallowed my comment and, at the underground level, walked to my car as if nothing had happened. Because it didn’t matter if Gui had done something with Amanda; it shouldn’t matter.

On the drive to the studio, I shoved Gui out of my thoughts by focusing on Evie and her situation. I had spent yesterday afternoon looking for a new place for her to live and other necessary things.

The small apartment I had found—far away from Mike’s place—would be available on Thursday. I planned on taking the afternoon off again to help her with the move.

As long as she stuck to our plan, Evie would be okay.

At the studio, I sat down at my desk and my phone rang.

“Hilary speaking,” I answered.

“Good, you’re here,” Fallon said. “Meet me in fitting room three, please.”

She hung up and I trudged to the assigned room. Fallon stood in the middle of the place, admiring the many dresses and tuxedos hanging from poles placed around the room.

She smiled at me. “I wanted to check on these with you, but mainly, I just want to congratulate you on a job well done. These are incredible.”

I blushed. “Thanks.”

“I confess I was a little skeptical when your mother called and asked me to consider you for an internship,” she said. I gaped at her, but, still looking at the dresses, she didn’t acknowledge my shock and went on. “But you surprised me the moment you walked into my office. I loved your portfolio then, and I love it even more now. Keep that up and I’ll hire you to work for me every summer.”

She patted my shoulder and left the room.

My knees weakened and I almost fell on my butt.

My mother did
what
?

After a long time—I wasn’t aware of the time passing—I sat down on one of the white leather couches in the fitting room and called my mother.

“Good morning, Hilary,” she said, her voice poised and firm as always. “How are you?”

“Not very well since I just found out you asked Fallon White to give me my internship!”

“Well, I asked her to consider you for an internship,” she said matter-of-factly. “She wasn’t obligated to hire you. She started with an interview, didn’t she? She could have said no.”

“An interview on a day you knew I had a test with a lenient professor, who would allow me to take the test another time.”

“I told her when you could be available for an interview, so what?”

I gasped. “You can’t interfere in my life like that.”

“I’m your mother. As long as I live and breathe, I’ll help you, or as you say, interfere in your life, as much as I want. Besides, Fallon called yesterday. She said she’s impressed with you, that she was glad she hired you, and that you will go far. Even if I nudged her to give you this internship, how well you did was all up to you.”

Damn, she was right.

Fallon could have said no after the interview, or she could have hired me, hated me, and fired me in a week. Or she could have said nothing this morning about how well I was doing. Still, it hurt a little knowing my mother had gotten me this internship. How would I be able to look at Fallon again knowing that?

I swallowed my pride. “I won’t say thank you … yet. But you’re right. Fallon could have hated my work and apparently she doesn’t.”

“She loves your work, Hilary.” I didn’t say anything, because I wasn’t ready to thank her yet. I had to get my pride in check first. So, my mother broke the ice. “I’ll see you Sunday for our lunch at the club, right?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Great. And Hilary?”

“Hm?”

“I’m proud of you.”

A small smile spread across my lips. I could thank her for that. “Thanks.”

***

“So, what do you think?”

Evie stepped into the living room of the small apartment, looking around. “It looks … great.” She offered a small smile. “Better than great.”

Well, I wouldn’t say it was better than great, but I was good for an apartment I whipped up in three days. I scoured the internet on Monday morning, after seeing Evie at the women’s center. I found a few possible options and went to check them out. I chose the nicest, cleanest one—it was small, a living room and an open kitchen with a high counter that served as an eating area, and two small bedrooms and one bathroom. I already signed the documents. The agent said it had never been done so fast, but I was offering to pay six months rent in advance, plus a special fee for how fast he could do it all. Then, in the afternoon, I went furniture shopping. I bought simple things and had them delivered on Wednesday, a couple of hours before some handymen came to assemble everything. Then last night, I went grocery shopping and stocked the kitchen, and, knowing she would leave in a hurry with only one or two suitcases, I bought her some new clothes and shoes.

However, in my opinion, the best feature was the distance from Mike’s place: far away.

“It’s a starting point. I know that, with time, you’ll do better.”

She turned to me with tears in her eyes. “You have no idea what this means to me. I can’t even begin to describe it.” She wiped her hands on her cheeks. “It’s amazing, Hilary. You’re amazing.”

I smiled. “You’re welcome.” I sat down on the couch and opened my laptop. “Now let’s go looking for a new job for you.”

She sat down beside me. “My job is fine.” She made a face and I laughed. “Okay, okay. I agree. My job stinks. Let’s look for a new job.”

***

The limo waited in front of the building.

Hannah screamed as we stepped through the front door. She smiled at me, and then ran to the limo. Bia, Gabi, Lauren, and Iris—all dressed in pretty party dresses—were beside the limo, waiting for us. They let Hannah and I enter first, then followed suit.

The seats in the limo were arranged in a rectangle, leaving the middle open, except for a small table where the champagne, the chocolate, and the strawberries lay in pretty crystal vases.

“This is so cool,” Gabi said, reaching for a strawberry.

“
Por favor
, tell us where we’re going,” Bia asked.

I just shook my head.

Hannah couldn’t sit still. She bounced her legs and looked from side to side, taking in everything.

Lauren grabbed the champagne bottle and popped it open. “How about we bet?”

“Bet what?” Iris asking, holding the crystal flutes for Lauren.

“Where Hilary is taking us,” Lauren said.

“You’ll never guess,” I said, smoothing the flowy skirt of my black dress. I rarely wore only black, and black to a bachelorette party seemed a little depressing, but I thought it was fitting for what I had planned for today.

Bia shot me a fake glare. “Let us try.”

I smiled. “Be my guest.”

They bet on everything possible: stripper club, normal club, hotel room with strippers. There were always strippers in their guesses, but they all got it wrong.

The limo took us to the outskirts of Los Angeles, to a big stadium and track.

“Oh …” Hannah said. Her eyes were wide as she took in the place, and her mouth was turned into a little O.

“So, was it a surprise?” I asked as we enter our little VIP box. The girls faced the track, all with their mouths hanging open. “I’m guessing you’re all surprised, right?” It was funny, really, how they all stared at the track, then at me, then at the track again. I knew going to horse racing wasn’t a usual spot for bachelorette parties, but we all loved horses and I wanted to do something different. I fished a check from my purse and showed it to them. “Here’s my father’s gift for us. We can bet on all the horses all day if we want.” The check was absurdly high, and Hannah gasped in surprise when she saw it.

The fun began. And I really mean it. I hadn’t had that much fun in so, so long. We bet on horses that won and horses that lost, we ordered fancy food and drinks, we yelled and whistled and laughed, and some of us drank too much. And, for the three hours we were there, I was surprised to realize I hadn’t thought of Gui once.

Okay, that was a lie. I thought of him often, but I didn’t acknowledge it.

After the horse racing, the limo took us to a Brazilian Steakhouse, where I had reserved a private space with handsome guys dressed as
gaúchos
served us—the closest we would get to strippers all night. The girls drank more and flirted with the guys, and I laughed and laughed.

It was two in the morning when the limo took us home. Most of the girls had passed out in their seats.

Half asleep, Hannah reached for me and entwined her fingers through mine. “Thank you. My bachelorette party was perfect. I mean it.”

I leaned into her and rested my head on her shoulder. “I’m glad you liked it.”

“I really did.” She kissed my head.

Ten seconds later, I could hear her soft snoring.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Even though I promised my mother I would go to Sunday lunch at the club, I tried getting out of it. Without luck. She wouldn’t have it, and then Hannah said she would go too, along with Bia, Gabi, Lauren, and Iris.

I was certain we all looked like shit after such a long, fun night, but nobody commented on it.

Of course, Reese was there and he joined us after lunch. I wanted him to leave before I did, so he wouldn’t try to walk me to my car, but I had no luck there either. I had agreed to meet Evie at her new apartment at four, and it was now three and I still had to stop by my apartment to grab some things I had bought for her.

Groaning on the inside, I excused myself from the post-lunch coffee, and Reese stood with me.

Once we had left the balcony and were out of earshot, he turned to me, without his usual smile.

“I take it you still don’t forgive me,” he said, his tone flat.

“Actually, I think I have.” It had been so long, I didn’t really think about him or the rumors anymore. However, people were looking at us now. We might be initiating new rumors at this exact moment.

“Oh.” A small smile took over his lips. “So, that means you might want to go grab a coffee with me some time?”

I sighed. “I really don’t want to hurt your feelings, Reese, because you seem like a nice guy, but no. I forgave you, but I don’t want to go out with you. And not just because I’m not ready to start dating. I don’t like you that way.”

“Ouch,” he muttered.

“Sorry.”

He tsked. “It’s okay. I admire your honesty. I just didn’t think it would hurt this much.”

“Sorry,” I repeated, feeling bad. I shouldn’t have said anything, but then he would always think there was hope that something would happen between us and that wasn’t true. No, I was doing the right thing. He might be hurt now, but he would be okay soon. At least one of us should be okay soon.

“No need to apologize, really.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “Your answer was so sure and ready, I have to ask, is there someone else?”

I glanced at the spot where usually Gui parked his Jeep—it was empty now. The guys had had their bachelor party last night too. I bet they were all still sleeping or nursing a hangover.