Page 16 of Top Shelf

“Thank you,” she says. She pulls my coat around her and clears her throat, turning her body to face me in the swing. Slowly, she lifts her eyes to me. “How far back do you want me to go?”

I chuckle and shrug.

“I guess as far back as I need to understand why I just had to pretend to be your boyfriend in front of yourhusbandtonight,” I tell her. She smiles and nods, blowing a piece of hair out of her face.

“After Dallas’s accident, I tried really hard to make it work. When I left…the lake,” she says, swallowing, and I feel this tiny little punch to my gut, “I went back to him. I stayed right by his side through the year’s worth of rehab and therapy, doctor’s appointments, living with his parents so they could help. But once everything was said and done, and things got back to normal…they never really got back to normal. And after a few more months, I left.”

I nod.

Well, if nothing else, I’m glad she didn’t end up with Dallas. Anyone with working eyes could see that he was so far from what she needed. From what she deserved.

But how did she end up with the stuck-up prick from the bar?

“So, I moved. I took a job in LA as an events manager in a hotel. And I met Hayden one day when he was checking in. He was in town for a conference—he’s a plastic surgeon—and he charmed me one night after the next until it was time for him to go back to Sacramento. But he didn’t leave without my name, number, mother’s maiden name, and my first pet.”

She laughs, but I’m not seeing the humor in it.

Andof coursehe’s a fucking plastic surgeon.

“He flew in to see me every few weeks and then finally convinced me to move to Sacramento with him. In a few months, we were engaged, and a year later, we were married. My parents met him once before he was my husband. That was four years ago. But then things started to get weird.”

My eyebrow raises, and I feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

“Weird? Weird how?” I ask.

She lifts her eyes to me again, then drops them, twisting her necklace around in her hand like she’s not so sure why she’s telling me all this.

“Go on, Sade,” I whisper. She bites her lip and nods, taking another deep breath.

“Weird, like, he didn’t want me to have a life outside of him. He wanted to be my sun, my earth, my everything. But not in a cute, loving type of way. He wanted me to quit working. He made me feel guilty about seeing my friends. Red flags left and right.”

My grip on the swing chain tightens, and I grit my teeth.

“The last straw was that he had intercepted a call from my mom, telling me my Uncle Rick was sick. Without me knowing, he told her I wouldn’t be able to make it home,” she says. She sniffs, and I realize she’s holding back tears. She lifts her eyes back to me. “I didn’t get to say goodbye.”

I reach out and swipe the tear from her face. I want to fucking drop him.

“I’m so sorry, Sade,” I say. She forces a smile and wipes another tear.

“So, I left. I came back home, and I’ve been here with my parents for the last two months, which, ya know, is a fucking disaster. But I’d rather be fucking homeless than feel as low as that fucker makes me feel.”

I nod.

“So, why the fake-boyfriend thing?” I ask. “What was that about?”

“He’s relentless,” she says. “He’s not a man that’s used to not getting his way. Mind you, he doesn’t actuallycareabout me, but he can’t fathom the fact thatIwould leavehim.I just…I need him to let me go. I need him to think I’m out of his reach. Even if that means he has to think it’s solely because I’m in someone else’s.”

I nod.

“I understand,” I say. “And I was just in the right place at the right time,” I say, feigning a smile.

Her eyes jump to mine.

“No, well, uh, I mean, yes, you were,” she says. “But it had to be you.”

My eyebrows pull together.

“Why me?”

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