Chapter 24
Chapter 24
I SPENT HALF MY time in the office the following day trying to work out what to say to Paige. Even though I knew she and Will weren’t dating, she still had major feelings for him, and the guilt was almost killing me. I kept telling myself I didn’t plan on falling in love with Will, but it didn’t make me feel any better about the situation.
Eventually, after chickening out so often I was in fear of being dipped in batter and made into nuggets, I approached Paige’s desk. She was in the middle of a call. She looked up at me, standing in front of her, wringing my hands, and greeted me with a warm smile, her finger in the air to indicate she needed a moment.
I nodded at her and turned around, feigning interest in a photo of her with her team at a conference last year I’d seen many times before.
She finished her call. “Hey, Cassie. This is a nice surprise. We don’t get to see busy Ms. Regional Manager much these days.”
“Oh, I was just . . . in the neighborhood. You know.” I played with a pen sticking out of a mug on her desk. “Have you got a moment?”
She glanced at her watch. “Sure. Got a meeting at two thirty, though. What’s up?”
“It’s a gorgeous day. How about we take a walk?” I didn’t want to break her heart—and probably end our friendship forever—in the office. I hoped being outside may soften the blow. It was a long shot.
A few moments of nervous small talk on my behalf in the elevator later, we walked through the revolving door, out into the morning sun. There was a small patch of green over the street, with a couple of unoccupied park benches, so I suggested we stroll over there and take a seat.
“—and it’s so annoying because I’d actually already provided a report on that last week! Portia is impossible,” Paige complained as we took a seat on one of the benches.
“Oh, that’s no good,” I cooed, having no earthly idea what she was talking about. My nerves threatened to swallow me whole.
“Hey, Paige?”
She raised her eyebrows. “What’s up?”
“I—” My mouth went dry. I had practiced what to say to her so many times in my bathroom mirror at home, but now that it came down to doing it, I had no clue where to begin. I forced a smile as I clenched my fists by my side. It was time to pull my big girl panties up. “You know the beach pact?” She nodded. “Well, I have a question. What happens if someone, I don’t know, breaks the pact or something?”
“Breaks the pact?” she shrieks as though I’ve suggested we murder someone or start farming babies or something.
I look around the park. No one was looking at us. Nevertheless, I lowered my voice in the hopes Paige would follow suit. “Sort of. It’s just I was thinking maybe just a little?”
“Cassie. You either break the pact or you don’t. There’s no such thing as breaking it ‘a little.’”
I nodded at her like one of those bobblehead figures you see in the backs of people’s cars. “Okay. Got it.”
She gave me a sideways glance. “Are you asking because you’re thinking of breaking our pact? Has something happened with Parker?”
My tummy clenched at the mention of his name. Parker was my next conversation.
“It’s a hypothetical question, that’s all. I’m interested in knowing what could happen if say Marissa decided she was going to break our pact.”
Wimping out much, Cassie?
Her eyes widened. “Marissa’s going to break our pact? Why? She’s never said anything. I thought she was still looking for the perfect guy.”
This is so much harder than I thought it would be. “I don’t think she is, but what if she was? What would happen?”
Paige leaned back in her seat, letting out a puff of air, her face serious. She sat like that for an uncomfortably long time. “Breaking the pact is a serious crime, Cassie. A serious crime.”
Despite my climbing anxiety, I scoffed. “It’s hardly a crime , is it?”
“Well, she’s not going to go to prison for it, but there will be consequences.”
“Such as?”
She leaned in toward me. “Probably one of two things. Either the Goddess of the Beach will intervene and what was meant to be will be.”
Well, that’s not so bad. I could live with that.
“Or Marissa will never be happy and die a lonely, old woman.”
Ah.
I swallowed. “Okay. Good to know.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “You know what? I didn’t come down in the last rain cloud, you know. Something’s up, isn’t it?”
A pang of guilt hit me, smack , right between the eyes. Paige was going to be devastated—either that or she’d turn into a homicidal revenge queen.
Either way, this was not going to be pretty.
I looked down at my hands. “Yeah, kinda.”
She moved to the edge of her seat. “You’ve broken up with Parker?”
I curled my toes. “No. I’m going to, though.”
She recoiled from me. “Why? After all you’ve been through? And he only just told you he was in love with you!”
She was right, it was totally illogical. But then, love wasn’t exactly famed for being rational, was it?
“I-I fell in love. With someone else.” I looked up at her, my chest tight.
Her face was incredulous. “You did? Who?”
“Well, that’s the thing. It’s, well, let me just say I didn’t plan it this way.”
“Okay,” she said slowly. “Who is it?”
I clasped my hands together, almost twisting a couple of digits off.
When I didn’t reply, she said, “Cassie, tell me.”
I swallowed. Hard. “Paige, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for it to happen. I never planned it this way.” In my desperation, I pulled out the biggest cliché of all time. “It just kind of happened.”
Her face hardened, her lips forming a thin line. “You still haven’t told me his name.”
Once again, tears stung my eyes. This was becoming a habit for me. I needed to invest in some waterproof mascara. I bit my lip as I tried to blink my tears away. “It’s Will.” I hung my head, expecting the worst.
And I got it.
Paige leaped up from her seat, her hands on her hips. “Will?” she screeched. “Will?! Are you freaking kidding me?!”
Any hope I had held that people wouldn’t stop and stare at us went down the toilet—right along with Paige’s and my friendship, I was certain.
I jumped up out of my seat. “Look, Paige. I’m sorry. I think I’d wanted Parker to be my Mr. Forever so much I lost sight of the fact he’s not right for me. But Will is. I don’t want him to be, but he is, and I’m so, so sorry.”
She crossed her arms, tapping her foot in agitation. “And how does he feel about you?”
I looked down at my lap.
I heard her sharp intake of breath. “Oh, my gosh.” I looked up as her hand flew to her mouth and tears began to stream down her face.
I put my hand on her shoulder. “Paige, I—”
She recoiled from me, as though I was poison. “No. Don’t touch me. You—” She shook her head at me as she backed away, her face a study in outrage.
“I’m sorry, Paige. If I could change it, I would. You have to believe me.”
She turned her back on me and walked away. I didn’t follow her. She’d made it clear she didn’t want to see me right now. Instead, I slumped back on the park bench. Well, that went well . I pressed my eyes shut. She was angry and hurt. I knew she would be. And I totally got it. She’d been in love with Will from afar for so long. Him falling for me must have felt like a major slap in the face.
My only hope was she would understand—eventually. The last thing I wanted was to lose my friend.
Paige avoided me for the rest of the day, not returning my calls. She threw the flowers I gave her in the trash, she walked the other way when she saw me in the corridor. I called Will to tell him how it’d gone.
“I know you’re going to say I’m a dumb guy who has no clue. And you’re probably right. But seriously, I had no idea she felt that way about me.”
“You’re right, you have no clue,” I ribbed. I let out a sigh. “She hates me.”
“She’ll get over it. You two are best friends.”
I bit my lip. “You should have seen the way she looked at me. It was like pure hatred.”
“Look, Paige is a great person. She’ll forgive you some day. It might take a while, though.”
I hoped so. Losing my friendship with Paige was the last thing I wanted—now, or ever.
Knowing how badly it had gone with Paige, when I met Parker later that evening, I was expecting the very worst. I knew I had to tell him the truth. I owed it to him, after all we’d been through: the good, the bad, and the Sara Winston-Smythe.
For some inexplicable reason, I wasn’t as nervous telling Parker as I had been telling Paige. Perhaps it was because I’d already done it once that day and the sting had been taken out of it. Or perhaps, I realized with a start, I cared more about Paige than I did about the man I’d hoped for so long would be my husband.
I met him outside a restaurant in Parnell, a chic suburb close to the city. He greeted me with a kiss on the cheek, and I tried not to stiffen at his touch.
“Shall we go in?” he asked, oblivious to my reaction.
“Is it okay if we walk for a while first?”
He shot me a questioning look. “But our reservation is for seven thirty.”
“Just a short walk. There’s something I need to talk with you about.”
“Sure.” He took my arm in his, and we began to walk down the street.
I launched right into my spiel. I wanted this over as quickly as possible. “I was wondering if the Universe, or whatever, is trying to tell us something.”
He chuckled. “What do you mean?”
“You know, with all the things that have happened on our dates for starters. The jazz ‘cat’ mistake, the golf? Oh, and the best one of all, the date where I punched myself in the face, busting up my nose.”
He laughed. “Yes, that wasn’t the best first date, was it?”
“Ah, no. Can all of those things have happened to try and stop us being together? I mean, there have been a lot of date disasters.”
“There have been a few.” He stopped and looked at me. “But no, of course I don’t think that.”
I chewed the inside of my lip. “I need to tell you something.”
His face turned serious. “Actually, Cassie, before you do, I have something I need to tell you. I was going to talk to you over dinner, but now is as good a time as any.”
Happy to put my breakup speech off for a while, I replied, “Sure. What is it?”
“Well,” he began. He looked suddenly nervous. “I feel terrible doing this to you, but well, here’s the thing.” He swallowed.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “What is it, Parker?”
Is he going to break up with me?
He began to pace, walking straight in front of a passerby.
“Watch it, man!” he yelled.
“Sorry, sorry,” Parker replied, his hand in the air in surrender.
I took hold of his hand and pulled him over to the side of the sidewalk, up against an illuminated shop window. I raised my eyebrows in expectation.
“Okay. Here it is. You know how I told you I was over Sara? That it was you I wanted to be with? Well, I was wrong.” He looked at me through scrunched up eyes, clearly expecting me to launch into some kind of tearful, angry display.
I blinked at him. “You’re breaking up with me to be with Sara?”
He nodded. “I’m so sorry, Cassie. I tried, really I did. But when she came to see me last night, we were finally honest with each other. No more games, no more lies.”
“You’re breaking up with me to be with Sara,” I repeated, as though on automatic pilot.
“Yes, that’s what I’m trying to tell you.” He looked at me as though I was some sort of low-IQ moron. “We’ve decided to give it another try. I’m really sorry, Cassie.”
I was faced with a choice. I could either come clean with him about my feelings for Will or—a much more appealing prospect—I could act hurt but accepting. “I see.”
I listened as he fumbled around how sorry he was and how he hadn’t planned this—all the things I’d said to Paige a mere handful of hours ago. In the end, I even started to feel sorry for him. Parker was a good guy. He was smart and cultured, good-looking, and a real gentleman. In many respects, he was Mr. Perfect.
But he wasn’t my Mr. Perfect. Sara was lucky to have him.
When he looked like he was going to prostrate himself on the ground to ask for my forgiveness, I put my hand on his arm. This had gone on long enough. “Parker, it’s all right.”
He looked at me with such hope in his eyes, my heart softened. “It is? Oh, Cassie, thank you, thank you.” He clutched my hand to his chest, his eyes wet.
I decided to come clean. I told him about Will, about how I had only grasped I was in love with him recently, about how I was happy to let him go to be with his true love.
How I knew, more than anything, I had found my own.
We parted as friends, agreeing we would stay in touch and we would always be special to one another. He was my One Last First Date, that had to count for something.
Standing beside my car, I turned to face him. “One last question.” He looked at me in expectation. “Did you see what was written on my panties on our first date, that night my dress got caught on the stool?” The memory of my “Bite Me” panties flash still stung.
“No, I didn’t.”
I nodded. “So the whole crab ‘bite me, bite me’ thing was just a coincidence?”
He smiled. “I apologize, Cassie, but what are you talking about?”
I smiled back. “It’s nothing. Bye, Parker. And good luck.”
“You, too.”