Page 102 of Fake it With Me

So I did. I told her everything. Well, not everything, but the parts I could talk about without breaking the NDA. I told her everything had seemed perfect until the morning when it all fell apart.

Katie listened without interrupting, occasionally handing me tissues from a box she kept in the center console.

“That’s rough,” she said when I finally finished. “But if you don’t mind me saying, he sounds like an idiot.”

That startled a laugh out of me, though it came out more like a hiccup. “He’s not an idiot. He’s just… scared.”

“Scared idiots are still idiots.” She shrugged. “Look, I’ve been married twenty-three years. You know what I’ve learned? Men panic. They get scared of their feelings and they lash out and push away the very thing they need most. It’s like they’re all programmed with the same stupid default setting.”

“Maybe. But he made it pretty clear he wants me gone.”

“Did he though? Or did he just say a bunch of stuff he didn’t mean because he was freaking out?”

I thought about the coldness in his voice and the way he wouldn’t even look at me. “He meant it.”

Katie studied me for a long moment. “Where are you planning to go?”

“I don’t know. Back to New York, I guess?” I pulled out my phone with shaking hands. “I need to book a flight.”

I opened the airline app and started searching. Portland to New York. One way. Leaving today.

The prices made my stomach drop.

Eight hundred dollars for the cheapest flight. Over a thousand for anything with a reasonable departure. I didn’t have that kind of money.

“Look, I know we just met, but I have a little cabin I rent out during the summer season. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s on the beach and it’s empty right now. You can stay there for a while if you need to. I’ll give you a good rate, whatever you can afford until you get yourself sorted out.”

“I can’t ask you to do that.”

“You’re not asking. I’m offering. And before you say no, just know that my daughter went through a bad breakup a few years ago and some stranger helped her out when she needed it. I’m just paying it forward.”

So that was how I ended up in a tiny beach shack on the outskirts of Cloudhaven, living in what was charitably called a cabin but was really just a renovated shed with plumbing.

That had been a week ago.

The cabin was small, basically one room with a kitchenette, a bathroom the size of a closet, and a futon that doubled as a couch during the day. But it had a little deck that looked out over the ocean, and Katie had been true to her word about the rate. Fifty dollars a week, which was ridiculously cheap and I knew she was giving me more than a little break.

It was a far cry from the mansion I had left behind. In fact, the walk-in closet was bigger than the entire cabin. I missed the gourmet kitchen and the dock and the boats and the life I thought was going to be mine. But that was a Cinderella story. I was not Cinderella. I was in the real world.

So, while the cabin was pretty shabby, I was grateful for it. I had a place to stay while I figured out what the hell to do next.

I spent most of the week outside on that little deck with my laptop balanced on my knees. I told myself the peace and quiet was exactly what I needed to cobble together my dissertation notes into something coherent. It was hard to focus. Every few minutes, my mind would wander back to Darek and Daisie. I knew their schedule and I found myself thinking about what they would be doing at any given time. Breakfast. School drop-off. Dinner. TV with pizza.

I checked the time and decided to call Janice. I had been avoiding her calls because I was ashamed of making the mistake of falling for the man.

I took a deep breath and hit call on Janice’s number. She picked up on the second ring.

“Finally! I’ve been trying to reach you for days. Where the hell have you been?”

“Maine. Still in Maine, actually.”

“Wait, you’re still there? I thought the job was supposed to end last week. Did they extend the contract?”

“No. The contract ended. Things just got complicated.”

There was a pause. “Complicated how?”

And then I word-vomited everything. The custody hearing, the whale testimony, the victory, the incredible sex, the morning everything fell apart, Della’s messages, Darek’s accusations, getting kicked out, and lastly Daisie crying as I left. All of it came pouring out in one long, rambling confession.