Chapter 264

The only person who seemed totally chill about the whole Maeve situation was Joanna.

She was in high spirits, chatting and laughing with us on the way home.

Kathy and I exchanged glances and shared a knowing, weary smile.

We had no idea how to break the news to Joanna...

When we got home, we sorted out the stuff we bought, and Joanna was still talking about what had happened earlier.

"I didn't expect things to go so smoothly when I got Maeve to help Brandon... Now that I think about it, she really knows what she's doing."

I thought to myself, of course she does.

After all, she even managed to hook up with Ronnie.

Joanna and Kathy were helping me out, standing on either side of me, gossiping away.

The conversation gradually shifted from Maeve to the men she had been involved with.

Kathy, either intentionally or unintentionally, said, "When you got Maeve, who was she seeing at the time? To seduce Brandon, did she have to ditch her other guys first?"

Joanna laughed heartily, "If you put it that way, Maeve is definitely a hot commodity among those guys."

"But when she went after Brandon, she didn't seem to have any men around... Or maybe, her relationships were all in the shadows. They couldn't exactly tie her down, right?"

That made sense.

The three of us chatted while cooking, completely forgetting about our hunger.

When it was finally time to eat, Kathy and I exchanged another glance.

Honestly, just thinking about Maeve's condition made me feel a bit down.

Especially since the two of them had been talking about it non-stop, which made me worry about Joanna's situation even more.

Today, we had to get Joanna to open up about what was going on with her and Ronnie.

During dinner, Kathy's phone kept buzzing with messages, and Joanna and I teased her about having some new developments.

"Did you start dating someone these past few days?"

Kathy put down her phone and rolled her eyes at us, "You guys are ridiculous."

"It's just work messages. I'm replying to them."

Busy bee, I thought.

But then I remembered the situation with Yvonne. Could she be causing trouble again?

I quickly asked, "It's not Yvonne giving you trouble again, is it?"

Royce had told me he had cut ties with Yvonne and wouldn't let her bother us anymore.

But knowing Yvonne, if she found out that anything she did would be reported to Royce, would she turn her anger towards Kathy instead?

Kathy shook her head, "Don't worry, it's not Yvonne this time."

Hearing us mention Royce's name, Joanna raised an eyebrow, "Why are you suddenly talking about Royce?"

She looked at me with a gossipy smile, "Speaking of which, Caroline, how are things with you and Royce lately?"

I felt a bit helpless.

Considering how Royce had been pursuing me and trying to explain things...

Just thinking about it made my heart race a little, "We're the same as before."

Kathy's eyes widened, "So you two made up?"

Joanna frowned, "What do you mean 'the same as before'? You two haven't even defined your relationship yet."

Kathy turned to me, "Wait, what do you mean by 'made up'? Did you and Royce have a fight?"

Their questions came at me one after another, leaving me a bit flustered.

"I didn't come here today to let you guys gossip about us..."

I tried to steer the conversation away.

But they wouldn't let it go, "Then why did you want to meet up?"

"Yeah, we're friends, aren't we supposed to talk about these things?"

Kathy even gave me a knowing look.

I suddenly realized something.

If we wanted to get Joanna to open up today, I had to start by sharing some of my own relationship stuff.

Just like before we started cooking, we had already touched on the topic, and Joanna seemed ready to talk about some specifics.

But we thought it was too early and weren't prepared, so we didn't continue.

Now might be the right time.

With that in mind, I organized my thoughts, "If you really want to hear it, I guess I can tell you."

"Of course we want to hear it," Joanna and Kathy said eagerly, their eyes fixed on me.

One was eating a sandwich, the other was munching on chicken wings, but both had the same gossipy expression.

I sighed and started from when Yvonne showed up at the party.

"Kathy knows about this too."

I had Kathy fill in some details.

Kathy nodded, "I'm telling you, Joanna, I knew from the first time I met Yvonne that she was trouble."

Yvonne's behavior that day had already hinted at her true nature.

It was only later, when she did something outrageous, that we realized there were so many details to the story.

"Basically, she sent me some really nasty texts, calling me an old woman, and sent pictures of her and Royce together to make me jealous."

Kathy added, "And on my end, she pretended to be a customer, placed an order, and then canceled it last minute, demanding a refund."

After hearing our stories, Joanna's mouth dropped open, "No way... Yvonne is shameless."

"Royce looks at you like he's about to burst with love, and yet there's still a woman who would go after him!"

Joanna's words made my heart flutter a bit.

So that's how Royce looked at me?

I had never noticed.

Although his persistent attitude over the past few days had moved me, making me feel like he cared about me.

But honestly, maybe because of all the past disappointments, I couldn't bring myself to believe that someone's love for me could be pure and untainted.

I said softly, "If you put it that way, I don't feel it at all."

"I know he likes me, but after everything I've been through, I just don't trust my own judgment anymore. What if this time, it's the same..."

Kathy quickly interjected, "Caroline, what are you talking about! You can't give up on love just because of one bad experience!"

"Look at us now, isn't there a happily married person sitting right here?"

Kathy gestured towards Joanna.

I knew this was Kathy's plan, the moment to get Joanna to talk.

Joanna was sitting across from us, just picking up another chicken wing, and looked at us as Kathy spoke.