Page 66 of Accidental Fiancé

Afterward, I soaked in a eucalyptus bath and sipped cucumber water. There were three heated pools in a room lined with salted walls. I was so stoned from my massage that I wasn't sure what the attendant had said to me about the details of the salt room but I know it was something cleansing. Once I hit the warm water and the bubbles cascaded over me, I was done.

“Maggie, so glad we could catch up in here.” Chloe invaded my pool and my eyes popped open in horror. But not even she could damage my massage high.

“I’m pretty sure we are caught up, Chloe. Feel free to leave.”

“Nonsense.” Chloe plucked my left hand from the water. “No ring today?”

“Julian's got it for safekeeping. This seems like the kind of place I could lose it.”

“Hmm. I really am happy for you two. We always wondered about you in high school.”

I had no urge to indulge her today. “Oh?”

“Well, you know, there was the lesbian rumor, which made Julian look like a hopeless little puppy dog, always following you around. How humiliating for him, right?”

“Seriously, Chloe, do you ever think before you speak?”

She laughed it off. “Then there was the way you dressed. You were so ample up top—it was almost cruel how you taunted the boys with those lowcut shirts then get upset when they talked about you. Why did you tease them like that?”

I shook my head at her. “I didn’t wear lowcut shirts, Chloe, I just wore shirts. Not my fault I have what I have. Those boys’ parents should have raised them better than to comment on other people’s bodies.”

She shrugged, still smirking. “I was always your biggest defender, of course, but then there was Julian.”

She was trying to get me to ask for more information. As long as I did that, she was the center of attention, and as long as she was the center of attention, she felt important.

I blew her off. “That’s nice.”

Her blue eyes came alive, excited to tell me something against my will. “Come now, don't play coy. You know exactly what I'm talking about. Julian is your knight in shining armor. It's really quite romantic. He finally got the girl of his dreams.”

Maybe if I just keep agreeing, she’ll get bored.“Julian’s always been a romantic.”

“Especially when he faced down Grant Worthington. You remember him, right?”

The football quarterback who took up the slack whenever Chloe wasn’t around to annoy me. He was the first boy to start shaving and had a five o’clock shadow in the sixth grade. He developed faster than the others, shooting up six inches during the summer in between freshman and sophomore year. An awkward boy who grew into a handsome young man. As Rosewood High School’s favorite son, I worried Julian would be arrested for breaking Grant’s throwing arm.

“I remember him. But why are you rehashing the old days? Don’t you have new accomplishments to talk about? Or did you peak in high school?”

Chloe bit her bottom lip, her crow’s feet pinching ever so slightly. I’d struck a nerve. Knowing her, she wouldn’t let that stand. “If I were you, I probably wouldn’t want to relive old times, either. Especially considering what Julian did for you.”

“Out with it.”

“Didn’t he tell you the details about the fight with Grant?” But before I could respond, she answered her own question. “He didn’t, did he? He didn’t want you to know what happened.”

“But clearly you do.”

“I’m trying to do you a favor. You should know who you’re marrying.”

If this were a real engagement, she’d be right about that. So I played along. “Fine, tell me.”

“Well…” She shifted in the water to get closer to me. “Grant and I had been dating for a few months, and he was such a devoted boyfriend. Handsome, student body president, captain of the?—"

“I remember, Chloe. Go on.”

“We were smoking behind the cafeteria and minding our own business when Julian showed up out of nowhere and picked a fight.”

“You just said he was being a knight in shining armor, so how is that picking a fight?”

She shrugged. “I misspoke. He walked right up to Grant and started attacking him, beating him and shouting, ‘It’s not true!’ It was horrifying. Thought you should know he has a temper.”

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