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Chapter 28
Jenna
I was going to stay for the game. We were all going to watch it together—the girls were all ready to celebrate Stacey’s new marriage by supporting her husband and his team.
But Stacey won’t even talk to me. I tried a few times since I woke up, but her phone keeps rolling over to voicemail. The last time I tried, it was off.
The message is clear. She really is done with me.
The thought makes me cry. I try not to think about it because I can’t be a sniveling mess at the airport. Which is where I’m headed now. I don’t know if I can move the dates on my return ticket. I don’t know if I need to buy a new one. Whichever way, I’m going back home.
When I walk into the airport, I look for an information desk with someone I can ask. I feel lost, untethered, drifting in the ocean without direction. I’m going back home and starting a new business, but I don’t know if I can pull it off. I didn’t get much publicity for the wedding now that everything went wrong. The tabloids are more interested in the drama than who planned the event, and I doubt I’ll go into weddings, anyway.
Not after this. It feels wrong after I ruined my best friend’s relationship.
Not that I did anything wrong; I’m not the one fixing games. But I should have talked to Stacey about it. I should have handled it differently.
Thinking about it again makes me teary and I sit down on metal seats, trying to pull myself together before I find someone to talk to.
“Jenna,” someone says, and when I turn, Noah stands before me.
“What do you want?” I ask him, but there’s no hostility in my voice. Just exhaustion.
“Can I sit down?” he asks.
I nod. Why the hell not? I’m so tired. And I’m not up for another fight, either.
“I’m sorry,” he says.
I blink at him. “For what? If anyone should be sorry, it’s me. I just thought…I didn’t realize he never told you.”
“Yeah, I know. I mean…I know. And I get why he didn’t.”
“You do?”
He nods. “It’s hard, you know? We dated for a long time. I think he thought he would have to break it off with you if I found out.”
“I don’t know how he thought he would play it at the wedding if he wouldn’t tell me what was going on.” I scrub my face with my hands. I’m not wearing makeup—I keep crying it off.
“Yeah, well, Brett doesn’t always use his head. He’s a bulldozer on the field; that guy plays like a fucking machine. But when it comes to his heart, he’s not good at it.”
“He knew exactly what to say to me when he told me he was in love with me,” I say dully. “I don’t even know if it was real.”
Noah leans forward, his elbows on his knees. We sit side by side, but we’re not looking at each other.
“Do you remember when I left with him to go to Miami?”
“Of course, I remember,” I say. “I thought we were building a future together.”
Noah nods. “I know. Do you know why I left? Because I wasn’t as invested in it as you were. I was scared about the future, about planning it all out like that. I was terrified because I knew you were so much more into it. And I didn’t know how to tell you.”
“So…you just left.”
Noah nods. “Look, I was an ass. If I could go back, I wouldn’t have dated you.”
That smarts. “Gee, thanks.”
Noah shakes his head. “I don’t have regrets, Jenna. I loved you. A lot.”
