Aspen snorted, then blushed for making the sound. Pulling her hands from mine, she covered her mouth with them and laughed outright. “Well...thank you.”

I smiled because she was so freaking adorable. “Have I told you how glad I am that Noel introduced us?”

She dropped her hands from her rosy cheeks and smiled back. “So am I.”

Remembering the first few weeks I’d known Noel Gamble, I shook my head. “At first, I thought he was a creepy cheater who didn’t even bother to hide his wedding ring because every time he saw me reading on my break, he became overly interested, asking me all kinds of oddball questions about whatever story I was on.”

Aspen let out a delighted smile. “The first day he met you, he came home that night and told me about the new waitress working at Forbidden. ‘I think you’ll like her,’ he said. And all he added was, ‘she reads.’ So I told him that meant nothing. We could have totally different taste in books.”

“Well, he definitely made it a point to find out exactly what stories I liked most.”

With a laugh, Aspen pushed back from the table and stood before moving to the cabinets where she already had dough rolled out on the counter. As she started to cut it into strings, she said, “I told him one time—just one time—that I’d always wanted a friend, you know, like a girl friend I could shop with, or go to the salon and gossip with, maybe chat about books with. I had no idea he’d make it his new life mission to find me one.”

I nodded. “That explains why he once asked me what my favorite stores were and where I liked to get my hair done.”

Aspen dropped the knife on the counter and whirled to face me, her mouth hanging open. “He did not.”

“He so did.” When she merely blinked, I said, “I think it’s adorable that he started vetting women he met, testing whether they were good enough to make friends with his woman, just because she wanted one.”

“He’s definitely something,” she murmured as if ready to scold him, except something sparkling in her eyes told me how honored she really was by what he’d done.

“He loves you,” I said, feeling an ache rise from the pit of my stomach. “A lot.”

Aspen heard the yearning in my voice and smiled sadly. “Yeah,” she said, right before adding, “You’ll find that someday. You’re too amazing not to.”

I already have, I didn’t tell her.

I was kind of tempted to spill my great love story. I’d never told her about my summer six years before. I’d never told anyone. But Aspen Gamble really had become the best girl friend I’d ever had in the past few months, and if I were to confide in anyone, it would be her.

But something held me back. It probably wasn’t very tactful to mourn over one guy when you’d just been dumped by another.

Any other promises? I’d asked him that day, the last time I’d seen him before the sheriff had dragged him out of my life in handcuffs and I’d never heard from him again.

Yeah, he’d said, grasping a piece of my hair and winding it around his finger. Though fear lingered in his eyes and his lips trembled with apprehension, he’d grinned at me. Don’t ever cut your hair short.

I’d wanted him to ask me to wait for him. I planned on it anyway, but he’d wanted to be cute and try to say something to make me smile. I’d burst into tears instead, and my father and the sheriff had walked into the office where they’d had Knox tied up and restrained.

I have no idea what happened to him after that. Father had made Max and Garrett drag me weeping from the room.

Fingering my hair, I grew suddenly mad. Why was I still keeping my hair long for him? I’d stopped waiting for him two years ago, when he should’ve gotten out of prison. He’d made his own bed when he’d done what he’d done. So why was I still granting him this one last request? Why was I not even trying to fall in love with other men like Cam? Well, maybe not cheater men like Cam, but awesome, deserving men.

“Speaking of salons, I want to get a haircut,” I announced. “Like chop it all off. Make it super short.”

“Oh, but you have the most beautiful—” Something in my expression must’ve alerted Aspen not to finish her sentence. She tactfully cleared her throat. “Sure, whatever you want, Felicity. You know I’ll support any decision you make.”

I dropped my hand from my hair, feeling more defeated than before. “But I should probably find a place to stay for the night first.”

Man, my priorities were out of whack. I was such a mess.