Page 91 of Her Football Star Ex

“I was going to head over there around eleven. And then we were going to grab lunch and go to the Children’s Museum for a few hours before I drop him off here.”

“The Children’s Museum?” Her eyebrow arched. “That sounds fun.”

I nodded, inwardly debating whether to invite her to join us. I didn’t want to scare her off by coming on too strongly, but I also didn’t want her to think I didn’t want her there with us if she was trying to drop hints.

So I cut into my crepe and said, “If you don’t have any plans for today, we’d love to have you.”

“Yeah?” she asked, putting a forkful of food in her mouth and chewing it thoughtfully. And I worried for a second that she was trying to think of a way to let me down nicely. But then she swallowed and said, “That sounds really nice, actually.”

Relief filled me. “Awesome.”

Her phone buzzed from where it sat on the table above her plate, her screen lighting up with a notification that said, “You have a new match.”

When she looked at it to see what it said, she suddenly got a guilty expression on her face and flipped her phone over so it faced the tabletop.

“You don’t want your ex-husband to see how popular you are with other men?” I asked in a playful tone.

“You saw that?” She sighed, looking flustered.

I nodded. “I can’t really blame them, though. I’d swipe right on you, too.” I winked so she knew it didn’t bother me that she had guys interested in her.

She shook her head, her cheeks coloring. “So I guess you now know that I was so desperate to find a date for the wedding that I signed up for online dating.”

“I actually found out about a month ago,” I admitted, deciding it was time to come clean about something.

“You did?” She frowned, confused. “But I never said…”

I nodded. “You matched with Cole a while back.”

Her jaw dropped. “What?” She shook her head. “There’s no way. I would never match with Cole!”

“And yet you did.” I chuckled, unable to keep a huge smile from my lips.

“I think I would remember swiping right on your best friend.”

I lifted a shoulder. “You would…if you’d seen his face.”

“What are you talking about?” Her eyebrows knitted together and I had a feeling she was catching on.

“Cole’s middle name is Tyler…” I bit my lip and watched her face go through a range of emotions from confused to disbelief to shock.

“That was Cole?” she nearly shouted.

“The profile was his, at least.”

“W-why did he swipe right on me?” She shook her head like she was realizing all sorts of things at once. “Why did he pretend to be a divorced guy? And why…” She narrowed her eyes. “Why did he ghost me? Was it some sort of twisted prank? Was he trying to get back at me for divorcing you?”

I shook my head quickly and took her hand in mine before she could get too mad at my friend. Because if she was upset at him, she’d only end up being upset at me when I explained everything. And I really didn’t want this to blow up in my face right now after having such a great weekend.

“It wasn’t supposed to happen in the first place,” I explained. “But Cole was showing me his profile and how the app worked, and when your face showed up on the screen, Jaxon got excited to see you and swiped right.”

She seemed to take in everything I said and sat there for a moment processing it. “So he wasn’t trying to date me?”

“No.” I scooted my chair closer. Then before she could think it was because there was something wrong with her, I hurried and said, “Not because he doesn’t think you’re beautiful. Because he even admitted that any guy on that app would swipe right since you are gorgeous and your profile showed how fun and smart you are. But yeah, you’re obviously just friends.”

“Then why did he message me back? Why have that long conversation and ask if he could message me again?”

And here we were. To the part where she might get really mad at me and feel betrayed.

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