AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“The same reason the cheating joke you said earlier hurt my feelings! Because my fiancé was cheating on me and I found out a week before our wedding! I told you that, remember? I was in Hawaii because that was the trip we booked for our honeymoon, but I decided to go with my friends instead.”
Ah yes, now it was all coming back to me. I was starting to put everything together.
“You thought I was mocking you,” I said.
She nodded. “Yeah. I thought you were making fun of what was hands down the worst day of my life.”
I grimaced at the thought of doing something so cruel to this woman. “And it didn’t help then when I made that joke about being with women who had boyfriends because again, you thought I was making light of a terrible thing that happened to you less than a year ago.”
“Exactly,” she said. “And now you’re telling me both of these instances have just been accidents? You really weren’t trying to hurt me?”
“No,” I said. “No, not at all. I’ve just been that distracted, I guess. I didn’t really think about what I was saying. Look, Lily, I’m sorry. I guess I sort of forgot that your fiancé did that to you, and I promise you if I had remembered, I never would’ve made those jokes. I’m not trying to make excuses or anything, I can see how I acted like a jerk, but just know I was an oblivious jerk, not a purposeful one.”
“That… that does make me feel a little better, thanks.”
I smiled at her and neither of us said anything for a while. Then she chuckled. “It’s a little funny, the fact that this thing that happened to me, it’s been hanging over my head for six and a half months. It’s affected nearly every decision I’ve made, and even though I keep telling myself and my friends that I’m over it, it’s still really been bothering me.”
“And that’s funny because…?”
“No,” she said. “What’s funny is that you just forgot about it. Bret cheating on me was such a big deal, but I’ve just sort of been in my own little world since. It's funny to realize that not everyone else cares as much as I do.”
“It’s not that I don’tcare,” I said.
“Then what, you just weren't listening to me that night?”
“This feels like a trap…”
She smiled. “No, really,” she said. “I’m not trying to catch you in a lie or make you feel bad, I just want to know. You forgot about it, which is making me wonder, am I crazy for thinking what Bret did to me is so bad? Or is it like you said upstairs, everyone cheats and it’s not a big deal?”
“I already told you, that was a joke. A bad joke I’m realizing now, but a joke nonetheless.” I folded my hands in my lap and twiddled my thumbs. “As for your question about why I forgot about what happened to you, I guess a part of me never really believed it happened in the first place.”
Her jaw fell open. “You thought I was lying about my fiancé having an affair? Why would you think I would make something like that up?”
I smirked. “Well, frankly because I just couldn’t believe there was a man out there who would cheat on a woman like you.” She held my gaze for a second, then laughed and rolled her eyes at me.
“I’m serious,” I doubled down. “I didn’t understand how someone who managed to land someone as stunning and charismatic as you, would ever need to go looking for something else. It just didn’t make any sense, so when I sobered up the next day and tried to remember everything you told me, I guess I just assumed that I was the one getting some of the facts wrong.”
She looked out the glass door to the parking garage. “You know, before you came down on the elevator I was sitting in this same spot, fuming. I kept asking myself why I had even slept with you in the first place. I was totally confused as to how someone like you could’ve charmed your way into my bed.” She laughed. “Now, I think I remember what I saw in you. We had a nice time talking that night, didn’t we?”
I nodded. “Not that we talked all that much though.”
She smiled. “That’s true.” Then she turned to face me. “Why don’t we try talking again. I mean, we’re stuck here for an hour anyway, and I’m going to get bored here pretty fast. Plus, my phone is about to die, so I’m going to need something else to distract me. How about we try to have a conversation, but this time you try not to say something stupid and rude, and I will try not to take everything you do say so personally. Deal?”
I ticked my head back and forth to either side, mulling this over. “All right, sure. I mean, I think we very well might be setting ourselves up for disaster, but let’s do it anyway. So—what do you want to talk about?”
She let her head rest against the wall. “Well, there is one thing I was wondering about.”
“What’s that?”
“Whathappenedto you?”
“Excuse me?”
She shifted around so that her legs were now crossed in front of her, seemingly getting ready for what she thought was a conversation she had to be more tuned in for. “I may or may not have looked you up on social media. And before you start making fun of me or anything, you should know that it’s a good thing I stalked you online because before I did, I had pretty much made up my mind to hate you. Then, I found an old profile of yours from before you became CEO of Becker Tech, and I was floored by what I saw.”
I smiled, sadly. “Now I see your golden retriever comment wasn’t a guess at all.” I laughed. “Oh well, it’s my fault I guess for leaving the profile up. I’ve been meaning to delete that account for years now, but every time I go to do so, something holds me back.”
“You shouldn’t delete it,” she said. “There are some great photos on there. A lot of shots where you look really,reallyhappy. Which brings me back to my original question, what happened? Where is that guy?”
