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“The business is great.”
I have to snap out of the stupor.
Her eyes drop to my left hand, and for some reason, it makes me angry that she’s trying to figure out whether I’m married or not.
“I’m still single,” I bite the words out.
“You’ll find her one day,” she says, but I don’t miss how her smile falters.
I make a point of looking at her left hands. “He hasn’t proposed yet?”
“Who?” She frowns, which means she ended our friendship for some random fuck.
“This is a mistake.” I get up, and without looking back, I leave her sitting at the table.
Or at least, that’s what I think until she calls after me.
“Marcus, stop!” She catches up to me and grabbing hold of my arm, she tries to hold me back.
Three years and five months’ worth of anger spews from my mouth, and I don’t care that it’s happening on the side of the road.
“What do you want, Willow? You decided to end our friendship. You didn’t even bother discussing it with me first. I fucking let you in, and you sent me a dear-fucking-John message. All for some random fuck? Was that all I meant to you?”
She takes a step back as if I actually slapped her.
“Don’t look so fucking shocked,” I hiss. “I saw the two of you just before you sent the message.”
“Saw who? When?”
I close my eyes as the headache starts to pound against my temples. I can’t do this with Willow. I need to get home.
“I saw you with the guy the Saturday morning after you made a scene at the launch. You couldn’t wait to jump into his arms. I hope the fuck was worth it.”
I don’t have the energy to deal with Willow. I start to walk again, and I’m just about to cross the road to my car when she calls out.
“The only man I saw that day was my dad.”
Fueled by years of rage and hurt, I swing around and stalk back to her. “Do you actually expect me to believe that?”
“I’ve never lied to you. When I got home from the launch, I was upset. I phoned my dad.” She gives me a pleading look. “You saw my dad, Marcus. If you don’t believe me, I’ll call him right now. You can ask him yourself.”
No, that can’t be.
It’s been years since her dad’s played basketball and I last got a glimpse of him. Is she really telling the truth? It feels like I’m being tossed around in a sea of emotions.
“Your dad?” I whisper as the life drains out of me.
“Yes, he came to pick me up so I could spend the week at home.”
I feel nauseous as I realize what that means. I gave up on Willow because I thought she was seeing someone else. If I had known back then the man was her father, I would’ve fought for her. The message she sent me wouldn’t have been enough to keep me away from her.
“Wait a second. Why were you outside my apartment that morning? Why does it matter whether I was seeing someone back then?”
I take a deep breath and do my best to calm down. I can’t believe a fucking assumption is responsible for our friendship ending.
“I wanted to talk to you. I thought if we could clear the air between us, that I could ask you on a date.”
She inhales sharply, and I watch as the blood drains from her face.
