Page 46 of Fall at Once

She kissed his cheek. “Okay, sugar. I’ll be in the car. You were the one to break up with him, Madi.” Her eyes were harsh on me. “Don’t forget that it was you who ended it. He was so upset.”

“This bitch is delusional.” Abigail got up to follow her out. I reached across the table to stop her, but she was too fast for me to catch.

“Riley!” I grabbed her hand in alarm. “Go after them.”

She scooted to the edge of the bench seat and then hesitated. “Damn it. I shouldn’t have let her start drinking. We were going to break the news and show you a good time tonight. Make it go down easy, then distract you with some cheese fries and some fun sister time. I’m so sorry, Madi. This is—” She shook her head as if torn about which sister needed her more. “I should have known better. I don’t want to leave you alone with him. Abigail will be okay.”

“No, I’ll be fine. I want to hear him out. It’s—it is what it is. And none of this is your fault. Please don’t let her get arrested. Oh my god.”

“Okay, I’ll be right back.” She glared at Ross after she stood. “Watch yourself, do you hear me? You’ll have me to deal with if you say anything stupid and upset her any more than she already is.”

“I’m not here to upset her, Riley.”

“You’re a moron, Ross. The biggest idiot I’ve ever met. If I come back here and she’s in tears, you are a dead man. Do you get me? You know I won’t fuck around when it comes to making sure you get what you deserve.”

“Yes. I got it, Jesus Christ, Riley. Just go and collect your sister, please, before she scares Hanna.”

“I’ll be okay. Get Abigail.”

“I’m so sorry.” She hauled ass to the door.

Ross grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “One last dance? We need this closure. That’s why I came. To say I’m sorry. And to give you a proper goodbye.”

“Get your hands off of me,” I seethed. “Closure? Okay, sure. Consider this closed. Don’t worry about me. My heart is closed up pretty tight right now. If you have something to say, then we can talk right here. Are you sure your fiancée won’t mind if you sit with me?”

“Of course not. She trusts me.” He slid across from me into the booth, giving a wary eye to the tequila shots on the table.

I popped an eyebrow up. Maybe he’d be wearing one before our talk ended.

“Was that meant to be ironic? I trusted you, Ross. Look where it got me. You made me feel guilty for breaking up with you. I actually felt bad, and you had been cheating on me for months.”

His blond hair flopped over his forehead as he shook his head. “Oh no, no, no. I am not a cheater, Madi. We need to get that straight first. We weren’t working, Madison. Our relationship had been on shaky ground for the last couple of years, and weboth know that. You were right to end things. Hanna is not like you, though. She can’t cook worth a damn, and she turned all my white clothes pink.” He chuckled as if I would take it as a compliment that I was better at cooking and doing his laundry.

Thanks a fucking lot.

“You let me think you were going to propose to me when you’d been with someone else. You cried when I broke it off. But you were cheating on me—for almost an entire year.What the hell, Ross?” I was angry at myself for feeling embarrassed when he was the one who was in the wrong.

“It wasn’t cheating on you,” he reiterated in a whispered tone, eyes darting outside the booth. Yeah, plenty of people were listening. I knew I would eventually care, but I was just too upset to think clearly. “I would never do that. Hanna and I weren’t sleeping together,” he said under his breath. “We were just talking. A text here and there. That’s all.”

“Oh, gee,” I answered loudly as I toyed with a shot glass, considering whether I should toss it in his stupid face or drink it. “That makes me feel so much better.”

“Keep your voice down. People are watching us, Madi. I didn’t think you’d cause a scene. You’re too sweet to be this sarcastic. Come on now. It’s time for both of us to move on. Should I have told you I was talking to Hanna? Probably. But I wasn’t sure it would work out with her, and I didn’t want to lose you, did I?”

“You are unbelievable,” I managed to say, struggling for control. I was so angry that I didn’t dare raise my voice again, or I would end up screaming my head off at him.

He tried to hold my hands across the table, but I yanked them back. “And you’re wonderful, Madi. You were the best girlfriend I’ve ever had. But it worked with Hanna; now she’s ready to move forward with me. We’ll be spending a lot of time here in Cozy Creek while she plans the wedding with her mother.”

“Oh, I see. I get it now. Having the specter of our former relationship hanging over your head doesn’t work for your new fiancée if I’m not cool with it. Is that it?”

“Exactly. I knew you’d understand. I had to tell you myself, but Riley disagreed; she thought the news would be better coming from her. I had to come here. It was the honorable thing to do.”

“Honorable?” I threw the word at him like I was about to throw this damn drink in my hand. “No. It would have been honorable if you had told me the second you met someone you were interested in. Have you heard of emotional cheating, Ross? That’s what you did, and it’s just as bad as if you were screwing her behind my back.”

“I. Am. Not. A. Cheater. Why can’t you see that?” He shook his head vehemently. “I would never do that to you or anyone.”

“Fine. You’re not a cheater, just a total fucking moron then. Why didn’t I realize you were so selfish?”

His expression briefly clouded with anger. “I’ll let that go—you’re upset and not thinking clearly. This is not you. I’m sorry you feel this way. I was hoping we could end up as friends someday.”

---