Page 16 of Played By the Fool

“Do you think it’s John?” I ask her.

“If you had asked me that before, I would’ve said no way. John could never threaten anyone. But now? I don’t know. I don’t want to think it’s him. Because what would he get out of threatening us?”

“Has he been texting or calling you?” I ask.

She nods. “He has been texting me. In fact, I get a few texts from him everyday. Always the same, I love you, I’m sorry, give me another chance.”

“You know, it wouldn’t make you look bad if you wanted to talk to him. You were with him for so long. It can’t be easy to walk away.”

“None of this is easy. There’s a part of me that wants to go to him and say it’s okay. That we can try to work things out. But what he did? I don’t think I can ever really forgive him. I trusted him to be faithful to me and he wasn’t. I don’t think I can ever fully trust him again. And I don’t want to pretend I can.”

I walk over and hug Kali. I wish I had something I could say that would help her. What I felt for John is nothing compared to what she did.

“I don’t think I ever thanked you for not blaming me. If I could go back and change what happened, I would.”

“I believe that if it wasn’t you, he would’ve found someone else. I wish I knew if he really ever loved me. And I know the distance didn’t help. But we had a plan and I trusted that plan. Did he ever talk about the future with you?”

“No. We never talked about the future. Just the now. So maybe he never intended to spend a lot of time with me. He just wanted to pass the time when he didn’t have you. I know that doesn’t make it better, but it could be what it was.”

“Yeah. But that makes him weak, so how could I trust him if we had to spend time apart again?”

She’s right and I can see it in her eyes that she knows he’ll do it again. And that makes me sad. I’m worried about things with Ciarán, but for some reason, I don’t worry about him finding someone else. I worry that the distance will get to be too much.

We head out to the Little Red Hen to have brunch.

“Have you decided what you’re going to do now?” I ask Kali.

“Not really. I know I’ll finish school, and then…I don’t know. I guess I need to sit and really think about what I want to do with my life.”

I look at my phone as it goes off.

Unknown: I hope you didn’t forget about me. Cause I sure as hell haven’t forgotten about you. I’ve noticed your Irish boy toy isn’t around anymore. Did you scare him off?

I frown as I read the text.

“Are you okay?” Kali asks.

“I got another text from that unknown?—”

I look up and see John walking over to us. He’s looking at his phone, then looks at us. Could it really be him doing this?

“Hey, it’s a nice day to be eating outside,” he says to us.

I just stare at him as Kali frowns.

“Come on. I really am sorry for what I did to you both. Can’t we start over and at least be friends?”

Kali looks at me as she’s frowning still.

“I don’t think so, John. What you did isn’t something we can just let go and forgive,” Kali says to him.

“But you know I love you and the only reason I was with Mia was because I was lonely.”

Wow. What the fuck. I’m sitting right here and he’s saying this in front of my face?

“You’re an even bigger asshole for saying that in front of Mia. Go away. Please. And stop texting us from some weird number. It’s not funny.”

“What are you talking about? I’m only texting you from my number.”

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