“She and Gunnar are now man and wife,” I choked out. “Isn’t that just sweet?”

Sid’s face reflected pure pity. It would have made me utterly furious to be on the receiving end of that look from anyone but her.

Yeah, I was that loser. The one whose ex-boyfriend married my mother—that same mother who didn’t have the wherewithal to figure out that it might hurt my feelings, nor would she care if she did realize it.

The term “mother” could only be applied to her in the most scientific of ways, in that she carried me for nine months and then gave birth to me. Jennifer Alden probably hadn’t had two thoughts together in the same day about me from that point on.

“I’m sorry, Apes. He’s such a—such a—”

“Cock smooch?”

“Bad person! I hate him. And your mom sucks too.”

I raised my brow. My sweet Sid was very pissed to have used such vulgar language. Or maybe it had been my bad influence. April Weiss, the worst “bad girl” ever was now corrupting the purest, sweetest person I’d ever known… I blinked, suddenly overwhelmed again, my eyes stinging.

Her head tilted. “Oh, Apes. Please don’t cry. Ugh…if I were the violent type, she’d be in trouble. I’ve always hated the way she uses you. Like when she takes you on shopping sprees and pressures you to pick up the bill. She’s so gross.”

I forced myself to swallow the unshed tears and started stuffing essentials into my new Kate Spade bag—my laptop, phone, wallet and, of course, my e-reader for break time.

Sid watched me with concerned eyes. I could feel the weight of her gaze. When I straightened, my eyes met hers. She spoke with soft, sympathetic tones. “So after she called you…you went to the bar, got wasted and picked up Falco the Bounty Hunter?”

“Not…exactly.”

She raised a brow, wordlessly encouraging me to continue with the whole sordid story. I figured I’d better let it out now. Like ripping off a bandage—get the pain out all at once. I sighed in surrender. “I was at the bar downing one vodka gimlet after another, and the other interns wanted to know what was wrong.”

“The ‘other interns’…meaning Queen Meangirl?” We shared a look. Sid had met Cari once and they had not gotten along. It was understandable. Cari was an acquired taste. And many didn’t acquire it. Sid continued, “She is a mean girl. I don’t know why you hang out with her.”

“I’ve told you, it’s for survival purposes. She’s the type of person I’d rather have on my side instead of against me. Besides…I think some of that is just her own issues. I feel sorry for her because her twin brother was killed. It’s so horrible.”

Sid nodded. “Nobody deserves that, I agree. But sometimes I don’t understand why you put up with her behavior.”

I looked away, heat rising to my cheeks. A good half of the time, I wasn’t proud of how I’d behaved when I was with Cari. I’d done things that I wish I hadn’t done. Things I’d like to make up for. This was one of those times.

“Anyway, with all the alcohol in me, I spilled to Cari why I was upset, and she was consoling me and even said Gunnar didn’t deserve me. Then she said I was a bit too goody-goody and that’s why I couldn’t hang onto a man.”

“That was not consolation, that was a taunt. And I’m guessing that in your drunken stupor you thought it would be a good idea to go out and prove to the world that you aren’t a goody-goody?”

Her accurate assessment of the situation showed how well she knew me. Though we’d attended different schools, we’d been friends throughout our high school years and had roomed together the entire four years at college, as well.

Sid had been a bit of a loner at her high school. She’d had a small group of friends, but they were picked on often. I, on the other hand, was a social chameleon who’d had a knack for appearing to fit in without actually fitting in. I’d adopted it at an early age—a child who never fit in anywhere needed that special tool in her kit in order to survive. But it turned out that fitting in often meant not being true to myself.

“Yeah, she irked me. And yes, it was probably on purpose, but I was feeling low anyway and there was this hot guy at the end of the bar in a full costume and helmet.”

“How could you tell he was hot?”

I rubbed my forehead. “He could have had a gorilla face under the helmet, I don’t know. But his body was pretty smokin’. He was tall and solid.”