At Your Most Beautiful by Harper Bliss (book recommendations based on other books .TXT) 📕

Was that a flush of pink on Maya’s neck? “Just curious about you.” Maya still managed a confident enough smile. “Clearly, you’re doing well in your professional life. Not that I equate being in a relationship with having a successful personal life. How could I?”

“But you’re happy for Tommy that he has a family?”

Maya nodded. “I am. I can’t help it. I want to be open-minded, but on the other hand, it’s such a joy to me that he’s not alone.”

“How about you, Maya? Are you still… alone?” Quinn couldn’t picture it. Then again, anything was possible.

“Still single.” Maya shrugged. “But, for now, that only means I have more time for Ethan.”

“I bet Tommy’s happy with that arrangement.”

“He didn’t ask me to move here, if that’s what you’re implying. I did it of my own volition. I’m quite mature enough to make my own decisions.”

Zing. Maya hadn’t lost any of her sass. “It’s not what I meant to imply. I—”

“Tommy hasn’t seen me with anyone else since his dad and I divorced. He’s used to me being on my own. Not that he hasn’t tried setting me up in the past. At least he’s too busy being a dad for any of that foolishness now.”

“Let me guess. He tried to hook you up with a fellow accountant?” If only he knew what his mother had been up to with her all those years ago.

Maya confirmed with a nod. “More than one, although not at the same time.”

They both chuckled, and Quinn was glad that the earlier possible moment of contention between them had passed.

“Is that one of the other reasons you moved to New York? Because the pool of eligible bachelors is much larger here than in Milbury?”

“Yes and no.”

Quinn leaned back in her chair. “What does that mean?”

“I—I’m not sure I feel comfortable talking about that with you right now.”

“Fair enough.”

“If you want to talk about someone’s adventures in dating, why don’t you regale me with some tales of yours?”

“Again, fair enough.” Quinn ran a hand through her hair. If she’d known she’d be photographing Maya Mercer today, she’d have gone for a trim at the salon. She was overdue one. Her blond curls were sticking up at angles they shouldn’t be. “I’ve just come out of a… thing. Well, more than a thing. We were seeing each other for almost four years, but…” In hindsight, a good few months after she and Morgan had broken up, Quinn could so easily see that she’d wasted four years of her life—four of the very best years of her life age-wise, many a women’s magazine article would claim. “It didn’t work out in the end.”

“It seems to be a thing with us,” Maya said. “To meet after you’ve had your heart broken.”

“Morgan didn’t break my heart,” Quinn lied. “Or if she did, I’m over it. She’s not worth it. She strung me along for years.”

“Why? Was she afraid to commit? Four years is a long time to…” Maya left the sentence open for Quinn to complete.

“Please don’t judge me for this, although I know it’s hard, but Morgan was—is—married. We had an affair. She did, anyway. A long one. She kept promising she’d leave her husband, but she never did. Clearly. So there you go.” Quinn couldn’t keep the bitterness out of her voice. It still stung—mostly because she had been so willing, so fucking eager, to believe Morgan would choose her when it came down to it.

“I’m sorry, Quinn. I’m sorry that happened to you.”

“Well, it didn’t exactly happen to me. I was there. I knew she was married from the get-go. I can’t be absolved of guilt when it comes to that. Nor can I be absolved of being stupid enough to believe her when she promised me we’d be together.” Quinn expelled a sigh. “I should have known that a woman who can so easily lie to her own husband would have no trouble lying to her bit on the side.”

“Are you all right?” Maya leaned over the table and examined Quinn’s face.

Quinn shrugged. “It just sucks and it’ll suck for a while longer. Until it won’t.” She held up her wrists to Maya. “Radical acceptance, right? Of the good and the bad things that happen.”

“Is that what that means?”

“It can mean so many things. That’s why I had it tattooed on my wrists. So I can be reminded of it all the time.” She put her hands down. “I accept my own part in it but I also accept that the way Morgan treated me was not okay. Just as I accept that it’s more than all right to be majorly upset about this all for a while.”

“Hey.” Maya put a hand on Quinn’s. “It’s her loss. I hope you know that.”

Maya’s touch felt instantly comforting. Quinn stared at their hands for a beat. “Thank you, Maya. You’ve always been so kind.”

“Do you mind me asking…” Maya gave her hand a little squeeze, then removed her own. “How old was Morgan?”

“A gorgeous fifty-one.” Quinn didn’t know why, but she suddenly felt silly saying it like that.

“Was she at her most beautiful?” Maya asked.

“You remember.” Quinn felt a touch less silly.

“Some things are impossible to forget.” Maya leaned back in her chair as if she wasn’t going anywhere soon.

“How about another coffee?” Quinn asked.

Chapter 13

Quinn’s presence was as magnetic as Maya remembered. She might as well enjoy it for a little longer because she had no intention of seeing her old neighbor again after today—although she was curious as to how Quinn’s pictures of her would turn out.

Maya watched Quinn make her way to the counter. She was wearing the kind of high-waisted jeans that had been all the rage a few decades ago and had, as if by magic, become trendy again. Maya hadn’t made it to Brooklyn yet—she’d been far too infatuated with Ethan to tear herself away from him for too long—but she imagined Quinn fitted right in.

Flashes of their night together