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“Sure, I do.” She smiled. “I’ll see you later.”
And then she was gone. The café felt so much emptier without her in it, and I really wished we had some more customers to take my mind off Reed and the game. Nicole was doing inventory out back, so I couldn’t even chat with her to fill the silence. That left me alone with the many thoughts I was trying my best to avoid.
I decided to wipe down all the tables again to pass the time. And once that was done, I went over the chairs and menus too. I was interrupted by just one brave customer who had ventured out in the storm for a cup of coffee. They must have been the only person within a twenty-mile radius not at the hockey game. But serving them was a nice distraction, and I was relieved that all they wanted to talk about was the weather. Once they left, the silence returned, so I decided to clean and organize the storage shelves. This place was going to be sparkling before my shift was over.
When the bell above the front door chimed, I turned, hoping to see another customer, but I was surprised to find Paige bursting into the café.
“Paige?” I gasped. “What are you doing?” The big game had already stated. Surely, she should be at the arena watching Grayson and the other Darling boys play.
“What am I doing?” she said through panted breaths. “The more important question is, what are you doing?”
“Uh, I’m working.”
“Obviously,” she said. “But why aren’t you at the game?”
“Uh…” I was still getting over the shock of seeing her here. “Because Reed and I aren’t together anymore.”
“Yes, I heard. But he’s playing terribly, and I know it’s because you guys broke up. I don’t know what happened, no one will tell me, but I’m guessing he messed up somehow. Is there any way you can forgive him? I think he needs you there.”
I paused as I considered the best way to answer. I wasn’t sure how much Paige knew about my arrangement with Reed, but at this point there was no point in hiding the truth.
“There’s nothing to forgive. Reed and I were never really in a relationship, Paige.”
The way her eyebrows pulled together in a confused frown told me she’d been completely in the dark about our deal. “What do you mean?”
“We were only pretending to date.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Well, you might think it sounds ridiculous, but I needed to show my ex I’d moved on, so Reed agreed to help. And Reed…” I hesitated as the words stuck in my throat. “He had his reasons too.”
“Which were?” Paige prompted.
I didn’t know anymore. Reed had originally said it was to keep his adoring female fans off his back, Jeremy had told me it was for revenge, and just yesterday, Grayson said it was because Reed had liked me all along. I knew which one I wanted to believe, but that wasn’t the one I thought was genuine.
“My ex is the captain of the Sunshine Prep Saints, Jeremy Hoffman,” I said “Reed never mentioned it, but I recently found out he and Jeremy have a nasty history. I thought Reed was pretending to date me to ward off other girls, so he could concentrate on hockey, but I now know the real reason was to get back at Jeremy.”
Paige’s expression shifted back and forth between confusion and thoughtfulness as I spoke.
“Get back at him for what?”
“I guess Reed and Jeremy both liked the same girl a while back, but she chose Jeremy.”
Paige shook her head and then let out a hushed laugh. “Are you talking about what happened with Natalie?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, that’s not the way it went down,” she said, softly smiling at me.
“It isn’t?”
“No, not at all.” She leaned forward on the counter and placed her hands on mine. “Reed and Natalie started dating in freshman year. Reed was totally head over heels for her. It was really cute.” She laughed again at the memory, but then her face fell.
“It didn’t take long before Jeremy got jealous,” she continued. “I don’t know why. Maybe he didn’t like sharing his best friend. Maybe he genuinely liked Natalie. Or maybe the friendly competition on the ice that had been the basis of their friendship for years finally boiled over.”
She was watching me closely as she spoke, like she was trying to gauge my reaction. I kept my face as neutral as possible, but my heart was beating at a record pace, and my mind was racing even faster.
“If you ask me,” Paige said with a shake of her head. “Jeremy’s just a dick. But whatever the reason, he went after Natalie. They ended up getting together behind Reed’s back, and he didn’t find out for months. Reed was heartbroken when he eventually caught them.”
