Page 4 of Fake Dating My Best Friend

I open my mouth to argue, but before I can find the words, Kyle steps in.

“I have been trying to find a good time to tell you.” Kyle shrugs. “I tried, but we don’t really fit.”

Kyle’s words slice through me, jagged and cruel, like a blunt knife tearing through something fragile.

He pursued me while he was my matchmaking client. Dating a client is about as bad as dating your boss. He knew that. But he’s smart. Smart enough to make me believe he liked me.

And, apparently, smart enough to cheat without losing sleep over it.

I guess that’s why he was always in meetings. Way more than before. Guess some of those were with his Pilates instructor.

Funny how I kept telling myself we would work. That if I could be better, if I could just do more, maybe someday I’d be enough for someone to love. Enough for someone to stay.

But I guess I wasn’t.Still.

Not for him.

Not for the ones before him.

Not for myfather.

A voice pipes up. “Mommy, is that the matchmaker you told Grandma about? Why is everyone staring at her?”

Eleanor Caldwell, a third-grade teacher at Frosthaven Elementary—who once cornered me at the grocery store to ask about my matchmaking service but never actually booked—stands at the edge of the crowd with her daughter.

Her gaze flicks to me, then to Kyle, then back to me. “Honey, let’s go.” She grips her daughter’s shoulders while steering her away.

But for every person who leaves, two more take their place. The murmurs don’t fade, they multiply, spreading like ripples on a pond.

My humiliation has an audience. A growing one.

“You’re a lying cheat!” Betty, my neighbor and my landlord, hollered at Kyle, arms crossed like she was personally ready to evict him from existence, preferably straight into a dumpster.

She’d never liked him. Not when I first introduced him, not when he started hogging my parking spot. Betty claimed she had a sixth sense for bad men.

I used to think she was just being dramatic. Turns out, she was right after all.

Kyle’s face turned red, like he suddenly realized how many people were watching. His eyes narrowed as he pressed on. “You think you’re some kind of expert on love? Look at yourself. You’re as bad at matchmaking as you are at relationships. No wonder your success rate is going down. You should fixyourselffirst before you try to fix others.”

My cheeks burn, tears threatening to spill over. This can’t be happening in front of the whole town.

But maybe Kyle’s right.

I am the problem. Like I always have been.

“Say one more thing, Kyle.” My heart skipped as Asher steps between us. His hand brushes against my arm, nudging me back. His broad shoulders forming a protective wall, swallowing the space until Kyle has to tilt his head just to meet Asher’s eyes.

Kyle’s mouth opens like he might speak, but nothing comes out. He shifts his weight, one foot dragging slightly behind.

Sometimes I forget how big and intimidating my best friend really is. It’s easy to miss when he’s in that worn navy hoodie, teasing me about my cooking disasters, or showing up with homemade pasta and that adorable dimpled smile. But right now, there’s nothing easy about him.

Asher steps forward once more. Kyle’s throat works, but he says nothing. His eyes dart to Asher’s clenched fist.

“You lost the best thing that ever happened to you. You were too much of an idiot to see it. And don’t eventryto twist what you did. Cheating isn’t a mistake—it’s a choice. A coward’s choice.”

Asher’s hand finds the small of my back, fingers spreading gently. The scent of cedar drifts over me, mixed with that indefinable something that’s pure Asher. “You okay?”

I can’t seem to form words, so I just nod.

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