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“Me? Gloat? Come on, Ethan, you know that isn’t my style,” Ed lies, barely hiding his wry grin. “Especially when I can see my dear friend in such pain.”
It gets too much for him to keep up the sympathetic act and he bursts out laughing.
I choose my words carefully; I already know where Ed is going with this. He isn’t going to let this go as easily as I would want him to.
“I’m not in pain, I’ve just had time to think things through,” I reply evenly. I refuse to go for his bait. “I realize that this isn’t the route we should be taking. There are other potential avenues I’ve been looking into. Maybe you’d be interested in some of them,” I suggest instead, trying to get Edward to drop the subject and move on.
It’s usually pretty easy to distract him with a shiny new business idea.
“Come on, bro, I know you. When things don’t go as planned you spend days agonizing over it. You take everything apart to the smallest detail before you either make it work or bury the project,” Ed continues, not willing to give up. “Why are you so cagey about this one? Why won’t you tell me what went wrong?”
Edward is smiling, he has his suspicions and my reluctance to speak about Cassidy only makes it worse.
“Because people could really get hurt. It isn’t as simple as I thought it would be and the risk is far too great. The formula isn’t foolproof,” I explain, trying to keep the emotion out of my voice.
“You mean, the formula isn’t you proof,” Ed laughed. “I should have seen this coming, but after seeing you freak out over the little bracelet I gave the girl, I knew. You are smitten.”
My eyes widen. What the hell was Ed talking about? Smitten? Me? That just isn’t something that happens. I don’t get smitten. I’m reasonable–if it isn’t making money and doesn’t benefit me in any way, I’m not doing it. Why would I want love?
“That’s wild, Ed,” I chuckle. “You know me better than that.”
“Wild?” he asks. “You’re jealous, you can’t stop thinking about her and the quirky little things she likes. That, my friend, is what being smitten looks like. It’s just as weird for you to experience as it is for me to see,” Ed shivers.
I watch him as he gags and puts on a show detailing all the ways I’ve been acting out of character and very much like a man in love. I can admit that I had started to care for Cassidy. Who wouldn’t? A cute girl with blue eyes and sweet freckles, quirky style and just so naive.
“You don’t have a comeback? Being in love has really thrown you off your game,” Ed teases.
I try to ignore him, but everything he is saying is something I've already thought. Could this really be what it feels like? Has my plan backfired? It would explain why Cassidy was so calm about everything that happened and I’m the one losing it.
“Look, Ed, let’s just leave this alone and move on. I have a few pots on the burner and I know you’re going to be amped about this one,” I say, sliding a folder across my desk.
Ed looks down at the folder and flips through the pages casually, not even pretending to be interested. He frowns and turns his nose up then slides the folder back across the desk to me.
“I prefer the love resort idea,” he says. “Honestly, I had my doubts, but I’m sold now. I saw first-hand that your theory works, even on the most stubborn of people. Look at you,” Ed continued. This time he doesn’t seem to be kidding or teasing.
I stare at Edward irritated. As far as I am concerned, the subject is closed. I’m not interested in anything even remotely related to the resort anymore. It’s time to move on.
“I’ll admit we had some fun, it wasn’t all work and I didn’t think about the bet the entire time I was with her, but it’s far from a love story,” I say, trying to throw him off. “I tricked this woman into thinking I care about every little thing she cares about, romanced her, and none of that was real. It was all for a bet I have going with my twisted friend,” I laugh sardonically at just how terrible the whole thing is.
“I still think it’s the best idea you’ve had in a while,” he says then.
“Yeah, but is it the kind of story people tell their grandkids? Would people pay to watch it at the theater? No, Ed, they wouldn’t, because it’s awful,” I say, waiting for a flicker of understanding in his eyes.
But I see nothing. He doesn’t hear me and, like Cassidy, he doesn't seem to understand just how horrible this whole situation is.
“You might not be ready to hear this, bro, but what your research was missing is that love is a two-way thing. The shared experiences and tiny emotional connections don’t just make one person fall in love. That just isn’t how it works,” Ed says, leaning back and crossing his legs.
He’s smug, sure, he has one up on me. I don’t like it because he’s making a lot of sense. Over time Cassidy has grown on me; I didn’t even see it coming. I thought less about the bet and looked forward to actually spending time with her. I wondered what she would think of certain things and actually thought of her when I got her any little gifts.
“Does it matter? In the greater scheme of things? The venture is dead in the water,” I argue, determined to have my way with this one. “It turns out it doesn’t work the way we want it to and it's time to move on. For heaven’s sake, Ed, you’ve never given me so much grief over anything. Just let it go.”
Ed raises his hands in surrender and stands up, backing away from me and finally out of the door. Leaving me with my thoughts and all the sense he made in the past hour or so he’s been in my office.
In all the time I’ve known Ed, he hasn’t had a single sensible thing to say about dating or love. The typical rich playboy, born into money and lived his entire life in luxury. Every woman in his life, apart from his mother, is dispensable. Here one day and gone the next. What does he know anyway?
The sooner I put this entire situation behind me the better.
What did it matter if I had tricked myself into some kind of affection for Cassidy? Now that I’ve told her the only reason I paid her any attention was to win a bet, I know she wants nothing to do with me. It’s for the best. No more love resort and no more Cassidy.
