Page 179 of The Moment We Know

“He wanted my advice on how to make amends with you. But it looks like he didn’t need it, after all.”

“Which is good, since you didn’t have any advice to give,” David pointed out.

“He managed to do just fine on his own,” she said. “More than fine, actually. Especially on Friday—”

David silenced her with a hand over her mouth. “Nope. Not another word.”

“I wasn’t going to divulge any sensitive information,” Paige mumbled, then when he released her, she pointed out, “Since he obviously can’t be trusted with it.”

Completely un-offended, Evan got plates and silverware for the three of them, and then cut into the front of the line to load his plate up first.

“His manners aren’t that great, either,” Paige whisper-shouted to David.

“As the youngest of three kids, who was constantly bullied and had to fight for scraps at the table,” Evan said, “I learned very early that manners were overrated. To this day, I have to fight not to be the last one to eat at family gatherings.”

Once their plates were filled, they sat down and began eating. After several bites, Evan studied Paige for a moment, his expression turning contemplative. “Jesus, this is so strange. We talked about you as David’s ex, then about you as the girl from the bar, then as Cat Lady, so it’s like you’re three different people. And the times you and I talked about him—” he motioned toward David, “—as the asshole—”

“Yeah, about that,” David said pointedly.

Evan took a big bite of his taco. “Well, as I said, it started innocently enough. We were talking about Paige’s book and her uncle, then we had a Screaming Orgasm shot. Next, I made her a Chocolate Cake shot to make a birthday wish on, and she said she wished to be normal, sexually, which led to me suggesting she have a one-night stand with someone to break her five-year celibacy—”

“Seriously?” David looked like he wanted to spear Evan with a fork.

“What? I would’ve given that advice to anyone,” Evan defended himself. “Anyway, she said that wasn’t going to happen, because she wanted the fairytale, and then we were talking about her ex-husband and how she’d been trying to reach out to tell him about being molested, because he didn’t know. But he apparently wasn’t interested, so he seemed like an asshole to me for not giving her a few minutes of his time. I didn’t know we were talking about you, and didn’t have any exculpatory context—you know, like someone working behind the scenes, fucking around with your phone and emails—and that you weren’t really blowing her off. So, I was like, ‘He sounds like a complete asshole,’ and even though Paige didn’t know about what was going on behind the scenes, either, she still defended you.”

David gave Paige a quick kiss. “Thank you.”

She returned the kiss. “You’re welcome. I just couldn’t believe you were being an asshole on purpose. Jules said you were like a pod person, but I just … couldn’t go there.”

Evan chuckled and said, “Pod person,” at the same time that David sighed and muttered, “Fucking Jules.”

“And that’s how ‘the asshole’ was born,” Evan told David before going back to his taco.

“So,” Paige said to Evan, turning the conversation a little, “during any of the conversations you and David had about me as his ex, did you ever think I was an asshole?”

“Truth? I might have thought you were being a bitch when you weren’t responding to any of the texts David sent you asking how you were, after—holy shit. That was you Ashley sent to the hospital.”

“Yes.”

“All roads lead to Ashley, don’t they?” Evan made a sound of disgust in the back of his throat. “I never fucking liked her.”

“Me, either.” Paige then leaned toward David. “So were you maybe thinking I was a bitch, too, when I didn’t respond to your texts?”

“No,” Evan answered for David. “He said you weren’t like that.”

David nodded. “I was mostly thinking not responding to me was your way of trying to put that night behind you, and I couldn’t blame you for that.”

His plate clean, Evan pushed it away and picked up his Margarita, raising it in Paige’s direction. “You know, it’s funny, but when you and I were talking about your ex being with a woman who wasn’t worthy and having a child with her, I was thinking that sounded a lot like David’s situation. And it was.” He shook his head in wonder. “It’s hard to wrap my head around how none of the pieces got connected … and there were a few opportunities. Like the last time at the bar, when you told me you were seeing your ex and he was going through some stressful stuff, and you hadn’t seen him in ten days. I can’t believe I didn’t make the connection then, or even later that night when I talked to David. But now that I do have all this connecting context, more things make sense … especially you being so sad your ex moved on and had a child, which was probably because of your miscarriage.”

“Yes.”

Evan turned to David. “And your concern that Jacob might be an issue for Cat Lady now makes total sense. Jesus Christ, my mind is on fire right now,” he murmured, before swiveling back to Paige. “I mean, oh, my God, the thousand dollar mattress was for you—”

“You spent a thousand dollars on that mattress?” Paige asked David, stunned.

“It was totally worth it,” he assured her. “We’ve had some good times on it.”

“—and all that shit we moved from the storage unit was yours—”

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