Page 27 of Tips and Trysts

EVERETT

In 2017, the creditbureau Equifax leaked over one hundred forty million Americans’ confidential personal information in the biggest data breach in history. Later that year, Equifax’s CEO stood in front of the US House Committee on Energy and Commerce and claimed a single Equifax employee was responsible for the first misstep in a chain of events that ultimately impacted one hundred forty million people.

That’s it. A single person screwed up, and one hundred forty million people’s lives were changed. To put it in perspective, the population of Russia is one hundred forty million.

But right now, having lied to Cora’s face, I’m fairly certain I’ve screwed up worse than the motherfucker responsible for the Equifax breach.

I told her I didn’t have feelings for her.

I told her I only wanted to fuck her.In a hospital.

I told her I would never lie in front of her—and that, in and of itself, was a lie.

Shit.Shit.

I panicked. She told me she didn’t want me, and I panicked. And in my defense, I rarely panic—if ever. Really, it’s only where Cora or my father are involved. In fact, before tonight, the last time I panicked was the night I met Cora and insulted her.

So actually, it makes sense I wouldn’t know how to react and would resort to convoluted lies that undermine the intense infatuation I’ve felt for this woman since I met her.

Most people would do the same, I bet.

Without a doubt.

Yep. This is a super normal reaction.

And frankly, if I had known Cora wouldn’t want me back, I would have prepared better. It’s not my fault the possibility never occurred to me. After all, the thought of her not wanting me is…outlandish. The last time someone rejected me, I was nineteen and had volunteered to step in as a groomsman at my cousin’s wedding when the best man got food poisoning. The groom—a thirty-year-old man—declined my offer because he thought I wastoohandsome and would distract people from him on his wedding day.

Clearly, there has to be a mistake. A prank. Mercury in retrograde. Cora has to want me. Sure, we had a rocky start, and yes, I took my vow to keep my distance quite seriously. But our kiss in the elevator fundamentally altered my brain chemistry. There’s no way she could kiss me like that, take a bullet for me, and not want to—I don’t know—let me fawn over her and pay her mortgage.

…Right?

Shit. Shit.Shit.

I fish my phone out of my pocket.

Me

Can I ask you something?

Dalton Cavendish

Yes, you’re a tool.

Me

You don’t even know what I’m going to ask

Dalton Cavendish

Okay, ask it

I start typing:Cora’s obviously attracted to me, but is it possible she wouldn’t want me because I was a jerk the night we met and for seven months I’ve avoided her and said some potentially impolite things to her, and potentially—

Son of a bitch. I’m a massive tool—basically a John Deere tractor.

I delete everything I typed as fast as humanly possible.

Me

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