Elli found herself answering him sometimes, too, saying, “He kissed our sworn enemy, he’s dead to us.”

Even though God and everyone knew that wasn’t true. Shea would never be dead to her, no matter how hard she tried. She couldn’t get him out of her head. There wasn’t a day that passed where she didn’t think about him, and miss him.

After cleaning up and making sure Adler was good for the day, she made her way out the door and to her truck to leave for the studio.

She only hoped the day would get better.

Elli was working on scheduling some of her regular clients when Harper walked in. She held a coffee for Elli and one for herself as she sat down in the chairs in front of her desk. Elli smiled, hanging up the phone and taking the coffee from her.

“It’s good seeing you behind your desk again, Elli. I didn’t realize how much I missed seeing you there.”

Elli smiled, rolling her eyes, “It’s your desk, Harp. Thanks for letting me use it. I’m almost done.”

“Take your time,” Harper said, taking a sip of her coffee, “So how are things over at the headquarters?”

“Good. Doing a lot of paperwork, trades and junk like that. Jakob came in to sign his contract last week. That was probably the highlight of my week.”

Harper nodded, “Yeah, he said he saw you. He also said you looked tired, which you do.”

Elli looked up at her. Harper wasn’t there to visit, she was there to talk. Shit.

“Um, well, I haven’t been sleeping much.”

Not like she could if she tried. Her DVD didn’t put her to sleep anymore. Shea had ruined that for her.

“Why not?”

She exhaled loudly, “Harper, you know damn well why not, so just let it go. I’m okay.”

“You don’t look okay, Elli.”

“I’m fine.”

“Why do you lie to me? I’ve been your best friend since we were five. I know you’re not okay.”

“I’m fine,” Elli said, a little sharper than she meant to. Harper glared over at her, and Elli just shrugged her shoulders, “I’ll be okay, it’s just gonna take some time.”

“I don’t know why y’all are doing this to yourselves, it’s not healthy. You can’t sleep or eat, for that matter, and Shea drinks himself into a stupor!”

Elli’s head shot up, “What?”

“Shit, I wasn’t supposed to tell you that,” Harper said, her face turning red with guilt.

“Well, you might as well go on with it.”

Harper looked down at her hands, running her finger up and down the handle of the mug. She didn’t look up at Elli as she said, “Jakob has had to go get Shea a few nights a week from the bar. Jakob says it’s kinda scaring him.”

“Shea’s drinking?”

“Yeah. A lot, apparently.”

“Wow.” Elli was shocked. Shea took such care of his body. No wonder he had been a little slower lately. Elli was probably the only one to notice, but he was lagging, and the drinking was the reason for that.

“Yeah. So here’s my question: why don’t you just call him, and try to work something out? It’s obvious y’all aren’t doing good apart.”

Elli took a deep breath, shaking her head.

“I don’t want him back, and I don’t want to talk to him. I’m fine. I’m getting over him.”

“You’re such a liar, Elli!” Harper stood up, slamming her coffee cup on the desk, causing Elli to scoot back some. Harper was kind of crazy sometimes, and just in case she started swinging, Elli wanted to be able to dodge them.

“I’m your best friend, Elli, and I have seen you a total of two times outside of work in the past two months. When you are here, you don’t even talk, you just lock yourself up in an office and do paperwork. I can’t even talk to you because I’m scared I might say something to upset you, or piss you off.”

She reached into her pocket, pulling out something shiny. When she slid it onto her ring finger, Elli couldn’t breathe as she realized what it was.

It was an engagement ring.

“I’m engaged, have been for a month, and I couldn’t find a way to tell you. How is that fair, Elli? We are best friends. Aren’t we supposed to be able to tell each other things without worrying about the other’s stability? Because now that I’ve told you, I’m worried you might go home and kill yourself.”

Elli shook her head, stood up and came around the desk. “I’m not going to kill myself, Harp. Have a little more faith in me. But I am going to knock you senseless for not telling me!”

Elli took Harper’s hand in hers, taking in the beauty of the ring that Jakob had probably spent months picking out. It was a perfect round diamond in a gold setting with small diamonds along the band. It was gorgeous, but not as gorgeous as Harper.

“It’s beautiful.”

“Thanks. It’s a little earlier than planned, but, um.” Harper looked down at the ground, then back up at Elli, “But I’m pregnant and we wanted to be engaged before we told our families.”

She was pregnant!? Oh, come on!

“Wow! Gosh, Harper! This is crazy,” Elli gushed, trying to keep the tears at bay. She couldn’t cry or it would prove Harper right, that Elli was a basket case and Alder should probably hide the knives before Elli got home. Harper was pregnant and going to be married before her! What the hell!?