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Finally, the conversation wanes and Shelly makes her excuses to leave, but not before she shoots me a look to say, “Well then, here’s your ex. What are you going to do?” As though she’s doing me a favor. Wyatt sidles off slyly.
Now alone, Josie and I have no choice but to look at each other. Her eyes meet mine for a fleeting moment before she blushes and looks away with a nervous laugh.
“So, how have you been?” I ask, breaking the ice. Josie rubs her arm and nips her bottom lip. That’s her tell when she’s hiding something.
“Great. I’ve been great. You?”
She looks at me again, her brows raised, and my insides start to churn. I clear my throat, there’s a lump forming there. “Great.” I echo her response. I’m unable to form the words to outright lie about my life, but I’m not inclined to tell her what a mess I’m in right now.
“So, are you… Married?”
I don’t know how the question slipped out, but it lands on her like a slap. She recovers herself with a fake laugh.
“No, no. You can’t tie this girl down.” She makes an exaggerated shrug and tosses her hair back. “I like to fly solo. Zero strings attached.”
“Oh yeah?” I ask, not convinced at all.
She bats her lashes at me, eyes wide and glassy. “Oh sure. Just last night I was with a guy.”
“You were?” I lift a suspecting brow. Then my mouth pulls into a smirk, seeing her squirm. She nips her bottom lip and hugs herself. Josie has always been a terrible liar.
“Yep. Two guys, actually. It was a busy night.”
Now she’s ventured into ludicrous territory. There’s no way she’s telling the truth.
“Two? What were their names?” I ask, crossing my arms now and highly entertained by the situation.
Josie’s cheeks redden but she’s not backing down from her tower of lies. “Ben…”
“And the other guy?” I press. She recoils, then forces a nervous laugh.
“The other guy? Um… Jerry.”
She can hardly keep eye contact now; her entire face is berry pink. I lean closer to tease her with my amused grin. “Ben and Jerry? Seriously?”
We stand in a silent game of don’t blink, until finally, Josie drops her arms… and the act. “Fine. I thought my boyfriend was going to propose, but he dumped me instead. During dinner at the Ritz. Happy now?”
My smile drops. The first thought to cross my mind is who would dare to break Josie’s heart and humiliate her like that? The second thought is, where is this guy? So I can hunt him down and introduce him to my right hook.
“No, I’m not happy at all. That’s terrible,” I say, my voice softening.
A gentle breeze wafts over us, and Josie’s glossy hair lifts, flowing in the wind like a mermaid under the sea.
If I want to, I can just reach out and run my fingers through her hair. Like I used to all those years ago.
I resist. If I try, I’m not sure how she’ll react, but it can’t be good.
She shrugs at my apology and diverts her gaze downward, then looks serious, like she’s reading something interesting on the ground.
Sensing an awkwardness, I take a deep breath. I can’t just let the poor woman think she’s the only one who’s been in a failed relationship.
“Well, if it makes you feel any better,” I say, shrugging and trying to sound casual about it. “I found my fiancée cheating on me last week.”
Josie’s aqua blue eyes fly up to meet me. “That’s…”
Horrible? Traumatizing? Not right?
I’ll never know what she’s thinking because her eyes grow big as she catches sight of something on my arm.
