14. Chapter 14 Date People Who Like You
Chapter 14: Date People Who Like You
W ADE
Wade couldn’t wait for dinner to end. Things had started out wonderfully. After they both freshened up, they met up in the lounge area of their suite. Wade changed quickly, grateful again for Kyle’s recommendation to bring something nicer than his usual jeans and T-shirts.
He straightened his hotel room on the off-chance Jenny would be interested in visiting it at some point. It wasn’t messy, but it benefited from a few minutes of frenzied cleaning. Plus, tidying gave him an outlet for his nervous energy.
Before he left his room, he texted Kyle.
“Wish me luck! I’m off on a real date with the most beautiful girl. You were right to recommend some nice clothes.”
Kyle would be happy for him since he knew how long Wade had been interested in Jenny, but he’d also delight in being right.
After a moment, he sent his friend another text.
“Don’t break anything. I hope to have fun at dinner and will be very upset if I have to leave early because you chuckle-fucks can’t be left unsupervised.”
There. Now Kyle would have something else to give him shit about.
When Wade exited his room, his breath caught at his first glance at Jenny. She did something different with her makeup, but it was her sweater that made it hard to breathe. He’d never had an issue talking to her without staring at her chest, but tonight would test him.
The dark purple sweater dress hugged her curves in a loving embrace. There was something about a knit sweater and round, full breasts that left him breathless. Add in a belt that cinched her knee-length sweater dress in her waist, and he was a goner. She wore knee-high boots with tights to complete the look.
“You look amazing,” he said. “Really amazing. Wow. I’m tongue-tied.”
Jenny blushed at his praise before she added, “You look great, too. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you dressed in anything fancier than an unbuttoned Oxford.”
It was Wade’s turn to feel awkward. Did she like this dressier version of him better? Maybe she liked guys who dressed up. On Kyle’s recommendation, he wore a light blue V-neck sweater with dark jeans. He still wore his usual snarky T-shirt underneath, but he looked nicer than usual and was just as comfortable.
“I wish I had flowers for our first date,” he said after another awkward pause.
“Well, I’m just glad we’re going on a first date,” she said firmly. “I don’t need flowers or chocolates or any of that stuff. Just don’t, you know, flirt with someone else while we’re on the date, and I’ll be happy.”
She turned to grab her long coat from the back of the couch, and Wade hurried to help her put it on. It upset him that Jenny should have such a low bar, but he was determined to change that.
“Do you have gloves and a hat?” he asked. “Usually, they shuttle us around in a charter bus, so it should be warm enough, but we might have to wait outside for a bit. I don’t want you to get cold.”
Jenny gifted him with a beatific smile, and he felt it all the way to his toes.
“I’ve got everything here in my bag. How about you?”
Twenty minutes later, he and Jenny snuggled in the crowded, overheated bus. He had to remind himself he wasn’t a junior high school boy on his first date.
But that was the end of the good times.
Someone on the local arrangements committee had the brilliant idea of breaking the gathering into smaller groups to encourage networking. Because nerds are notorious for their love of icebreakers and small talk.
Everyone was randomly assigned to separate tables to mix things up. Wade had been to numerous restaurant hops, and none of them had pulled this kind of juvenile bullshit. He was unimpressed.
When he found Suzanne at his table, he was ready to call a ride-share, forgo dinner entirely, and return to the hotel. If Jenny hadn’t been so excited to eat at this restaurant, he would have left already. Instead, he observed glumly from across the room as she captivated everyone at her table.
He took the seat furthest from Suzanne, but she promptly moved next to him. Wade texted Jenny to let her know he was thinking of her and hoped she had a good dinner.
“What do you want?” he asked Suzanne bluntly.
“I told you; I want us to get back together. After we broke up, I took a long look at my life, and I didn’t like who I’d become. I’ve spent the last year or so trying to become a better person in hopes that we’d have another chance.”
She smiled at him tentatively and nervously picked at her fingernails. For the first time, he realized she toned down her dramatic makeup and stylized hair. She was still a beautiful woman, he thought objectively, but this more understated look made her come across as more believable, which was likely the point.
“And I told you that wasn’t going to happen. I don’t get it, Suzanne. We’ve been broken up for a long time. I’m with Jenny now. Be honest for once. You didn’t like me that much when we were together, so what is this about?”
Wade glared at Suzanne as she fiddled with the silverware on the table. He waited for her to explain why she was so eager for his attention now when she had only dated him last year to get him to do her work for her.
“You have no reason to believe me,” she finally said, “but it’s true. I was mixed up with some bad people, people my parents introduced me to, and they convinced me it was a victim-less crime to steal money from rich people. But when you broke up with me, I realized they made me into someone I didn’t want to be.”
Wade remembered meeting her parents once. He got bad vibes from them, and she confirmed they were con artists. While he didn’t want to feel sorry for her, it would be difficult to be a rule follower and grow up in that environment.
“It was hard to break ties with them, to turn my back on my upbringing,” she continued, “but my Uncle Joe—he’s the one who got me the job at In-Tech—offered to help me start over. I have to stay on the straight and narrow. And I have been.”
“I still don’t understand what this has to do with me.” He blew out a breath in frustration. This conversation made him see things in a different light, and he didn’t want that. It was easier to hate her for being a bad person who used him.
“You were the only guy I ever dated who was nice to me,” she admitted in a quiet voice. “When I saw you the other day, it all came back. Nobody else thought I was smart, but you did. I have a brain, a good one, but most people just see my body. You saw me as a person not just a pair of boobs.”
Her voice quivered, and she blinked to clear the moisture from her eyes.
“Usually when I date someone, it’s a mutual exchange; we use each other. They date me because I made them look good, and I date them to get whatever I could get from them. Sometimes there was a specific goal, sometimes it was just money and influence. But you didn’t act that way. I didn’t know what to do with that.”
Wade didn’t hide his revulsion. Suzanne bit her lip. That used to be one of her go-to distractions since she had full, kissable lips, but it didn’t seem like a play this time. Maybe. He still didn’t trust her, but he listened as she spoke again.
“I thought it wouldn’t matter when we broke up since I was just using you, and you should have been doing the same. But you didn’t, did you? It broke something in me, and I haven’t been the same since then. No matter what stupid things I said, you listened to me like I mattered. You encouraged me and supported me. Time and again, you gave me the benefit of the doubt, even when I didn’t deserve it.”
“And how did that work out for me?” he asked wearily. “Once I realized I couldn’t trust you, you left when things became uncomfortable. I still had to deal with the daily fall-out of everyone knowing you were just using me.”
Suzanne looked genuinely horrified at his words, but Wade knew better than to trust anything she said.
Her voice quivered as she apologized. “I never thought about it like that. I’m sorry. I was in a bad place, listening to the wrong people, and making questionable decisions, but I’m not like that anymore. You have to believe me. I’ve changed.”
Wade simply raised his eyebrows. She flushed when she realized how unbelievable her words sounded after how she’d acted around Jenny.
“It’s true. I know it sounds lame, but I’ve been working on myself. With a therapist and everything. I haven’t dated anyone since you because I realized I was a terrible person and knew I needed to change. It’s been hard, especially since I’m not used to being alone. But I had to cut off all my old friends and family if there was any chance of turning over a new leaf.”
She gave him a tentative smile.
“This has been the hardest year of my life, even worse than when we lived in our car, and my parents both got arrested when I was fourteen. But I don’t want to be that person anymore who uses people and manipulates them all the time.” She sniffed. “Obviously, I still have work to do on that front.”
She leaned closer, her expression more earnest than he’d seen before.
“When I saw you the other day, I thought it was a sign that I was on the right track. I’d been thinking about you a lot already, hoping I’d see you at the conference, and there you were. And you look good.”
Suzanne reached out to touch his bicep, and Wade leaned away from her. Her face fell. Wade was glad for Suzanne that she was making better choices, but he didn’t want to be part of her future. He glanced at Jenny and saw her staring at them in concern. Wade had had enough trips down memory lane.
“Listen, it’s been interesting, I guess, to see you again, but—” he began.
“I wasn’t kidding about missing you, Wade,” she interrupted. “I don’t know what’s going on with you and Jenny, but I heard you weren’t dating anyone. Is there any chance you’d be willing to try again?”
“As in you and me?” he asked incredulously.
A faint blush tinged her cheeks, and she hesitated before she nodded.
“Where did you get your information? Never mind. It doesn’t matter because it’s wrong. Jenny and I are together, and I really like her. I will not take kindly to you—or anyone—trying to screw it up for us.”
Suzanne took a deep breath and looked at her hands again before she raised her eyes to his. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for the trouble I caused you and for not appreciating you. I hope she knows how lucky she is and that she doesn’t fuck things up like I did. You’re one of the good ones.”
Wade’s heart softened a very little toward his ex.
“Suzanne, those things you liked so much—respecting you, listening to you, believing in you—everybody deserves that. It’s not unique to me.” He gentled his voice and said, “Date people who like you and want to be with you for you, not for what you can do for them. I wish you luck in your future, Suzanne. I just don’t want to be part of it.”
“I understand.” She cleared her throat before she stood and offered him a tremulous smile. “Why don’t I trade places with Jenny since there’s nothing else to say? You guys can salvage your dinner.”
“Thanks. That’d be nice of you.”
“I hope you two have a great Valentine’s Day.”
Fuck!