Page 7 of Say Yes To The Fake Date

She walks away from me, and she has that look on her face again that tells me she could start crying in an instant. I’ve only seen her like this one other time, and it’s the time I pushed her away and said I never wanted to see her again. I was lying to her then. Hell, I would have given anything to keep her with me forever, but in that instant, I knew I had todo right by her, and being with me was the worst thing for her.

She walks past the garage doors and keeps walking. I want to stop her, but I let her go. I’ll get the car to her, but I’m going to wait to do it so that I won’t make her cry. I’ve hurt her too much already, and I vow not to do it anymore.

5

LUCIANA

“I can’t believe you’re home,” Violet says softly as she looks at me across the table at the Whiskey Whistler. Violet and I were friends in high school. She owns Red’s Diner, the most popular diner in Whiskey Run, and she’s now married and has two kids. We’ve kept in touch through the years, and it feels like we haven’t missed a beat. We picked up right where we left off.

I pick up my drink and take a big draw off it before I set it down and nod my head. “Yeah, I can’t believe I’m home either.” It’s hard to think about considering I’ve been avoiding this place for so many years.

Violet leans toward me. “You know your life is like something out of a television show, right?”

I just told Violet about my business, my ex-fiancé, Ray, his cheating, and everything that has transpired in the last few days. I didn’t leave anything out, even telling her about seeing Dominic again.

“Trust me, I would give anything for my life to be boring. Hopefully, I’ll get to that point.”

Violet shakes her head in disbelief. “So how was it seeing Dom again?”

I lean back in my chair and shake my head. “Just like I thought it would be.”

Her forehead creases. “What does that mean?”

I roll my eyes, disgusted with myself. “You know how I felt about him, and you know I didn’t want it to end. But you would think after seventeen years I would have been over it, right? What draws me to men that want to hurt me?”

She tilts her head to the side and gives me a doubtful look. “I don’t think that’s true.”

I wave at the bartender for another beer. After he acknowledges me, I decide to lay it all out for Violet. “Really, I think it’s completely true. My first love, Dom, might as well have ripped my heart out of my chest. I dated a few guys since then, but they were never anything serious. Not until Ray and nowlook, he cheated on me, hit me, and now I’m fighting him to keep my share of our business.”

Violet’s shaking her head. “Ray’s going to get his, I’m sure of it. And the fact that he did that to you tells me he’s not a man, Lucy. Not a real man, anyway, but what I mean is that I don’t think Dominic meant to hurt you. At least, not on purpose.”

I sit back in my seat. “Not on purpose? He cheated on me. He told me he never wanted to see me again.”

Violet runs her finger around the rim of her empty glass. “Luciana, he was in jail and about to go to prison. He dealt with all that shit with your parents and—”

Stunned, I ask, “What shit with my parents?”

Violet rolls her eyes. “Please, they hated Dom. They hated that he was a foster child, they hated his friends, who he was… they hated everything about him, and they made sure everyone, including him, knew about it.”

“They didn’t—”

Before I can get it all out, Violet interrupts me again. “Luciana, you should talk to your mom or talk to Dom. Ask them about it. Trust me, everyoneknew how much your parents did not want you to be with Dominic Evans.”

I try to think about my past and when I was with Dom. We met my senior year, and from the first moment I talked to him, we were inseparable. I fell hard and fast for the town bad boy, and my whole life revolved around him. I didn’t care about anything or anyone but Dom. But there’s no way I would have missed how my parents treated him. Yeah, they were reserved with him, but not in a mean way. “My parents were super protective of me, you know that. I was their only child and—”

The server drops off the chips and dip we ordered, and as soon as he walks away, I continue. “I was their only child, and you know how it is. They were never happy with any of my boyfriends.”

She deadpans, “I think it was more than that. They treated Dom like he was a criminal.”

I start to say he was when Violet holds her hand up. “Don’t. Yes, he got caught driving the getaway car in a robbery.”

I blurt out a laugh, but that doesn’t stop Violet. “But you also know that Dom was trying to save Jamie. He was trying to get him on the straight andnarrow. He said he didn’t know that Jamie was robbing that place, and I believe him.”

From the moment I found out that Dominic was arrested, I knew he was innocent, but I’m not about to agree with Violet about this. I had no doubt it was a case of wrong place, wrong time, but it didn’t matter because Dom ended our relationship. I cross my arms on the table. “What’s happening here? You’re defending Dom… aren’t you supposed to hate him?”

She picks up a chip and dips it into the guacamole before eating it. “Hate him? Why would I hate him?”

I grab a chip and wave it at her. “He opened a mechanic shop. Your brother had the only one in town, and now he’s the competition.”

---