Page 55 of Lakesides and Longing

He turned his phone on and waited. There were a bunch of voicemails and text messages. He’d expected as much. He found Paige’s number. She’d sent him a text every day he was gone telling him how much she loved and missed him.

Yet today, his stuff was sitting on the front porch. This made no sense. He scrolled all the way to the last text but found nothing unusual about it.

What was going on?

He flipped through the voicemail notifications. Nothing there either.

A Facebook notification popped up. That was weird. He rarely even looked at Facebook. In fact, he couldn’t remember when’d been on there last.

He opened the app and stared at the picture that Debbie had taken of them eight years ago. Then he read the message and felt his stomach sinking. Of all the crappy things Debbie could do, this one took the cake. He had no idea she could be so vindictive. She never had been before.

Then again, he’d never turned her down in favor of another woman before. He pinched the bridge of his nose and then sent a quick text to Paige.

I know what it looks like, but it’s not true. Nothing happened between Debbie and me.

He waited for just a moment before the three dots on the bottom of the screen showed that she was responding.

I don’t believe you. Go away.

He swallowed. He had no idea how to convince her that it was true. Either she would believe him or not. But he wasn’t getting anywhere standing on her front porch. He hadn’t really slept in days, and that meant he’d make poor decisions like breaking open a window and not leaving until she believed him.

He grabbed the suitcase and dragged it down the driveway. He’d crash at Anna and Hayden’s place and get Lukas to tell him how to convince Paige he was telling the truth.

He just hoped Lukas would believe him.

CHAPTER41

Paige woke with a start.

She’d had a nightmare again, but this one was different. She’d been standing in a room watching Blake and Debbie make out.

Why couldn’t she be normal?

Instead, she had a dead husband who cheated on her, and it was her fault he was dead, and a boyfriend who’s hung up on another woman.

She picked up her phone and glanced at the time. It was three-thirty in the morning. She’d missed a half-dozen texts from Blake and four calls, all with voicemails. She didn’t want to see what they said.

Instead, she flicked on the TV and scrolled through Netflix. She went straight for the depressing dramas. She didn’t want to laugh or fall in love, and adventure would be too intense right now.

* * *

Paige basically stayedin bed for three days. Her doorbell rang a few times, and she didn’t answer her phone. She did send a text to Ida to let her know that she was fine, just not feeling well and that, no, she didn’t want her to come over and bring her famous chicken noodle soup.

On day four, she glanced at the empty ice cream cartons and chip bags. Crumbs were all over her bed. And she smelled.

She crawled out of bed and turned the shower on to steaming hot. Then she stepped in and let the water run over her.

The tears came without warning, and within minutes she was curled in a ball bawling her eyes out. She missed Blake with every fiber of her being and his betrayal broke her. She sobbed until she couldn’t cry anymore, letting the hot water wash the tears away. Then she stood and washed her hair.

When she stepped out of the shower, she felt like a new person. She still hurt from Blake’s betrayal, but she felt better.

After she finished getting ready, she surveyed the mess in her bed. Her phone was buzzing somewhere in the middle, and she dug around until she found it.

Tess.

Without bothering to think too much, she answered it.

“You know. If you hadn’t answered, Lukas was going to come out and force you to come home with him.”

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