Page 130 of Keep My Heart
This isn’t like her. Lyndsay always calls me back. It’s possible she lost her phone, but I get the feeling something else is going on. I just don’t know what it would be to make her not call me.
I really need to talk to her. Going through this thing with my dad I’m realizing how much I need someone in my life, someone who will be by my side during times like this. I want that someone to be Lyndsay. I know that now more than ever and I need to tell her that. I need her to call me back.
Chapter 28
Lyndsay
Nick has been leaving messages on my phone for hours now, but I haven’t listened to them and I haven’t called him back. I’m not sure I will after getting that call from Iris, confirming what I didn’t want to believe was true.
A few hours ago I got a call from a woman who said her name was Iris, the same name as the woman Nick was talking to on the phone last night. She asked if I was Lyndsay, and when I told her yes, she started yelling at me to leave Nick alone, saying he was hers and calling me a cheap whore. I was so shocked I almost dropped the phone. I didn’t want to believe Nick had a girlfriend, but that call confirmed it. I don’t know how she got my number. She must’ve seen it pop up on Nick’s phone.
I don’t know if I should call Nick back and tell him I know he’s been lying to me or just ignore him and never speak to him again. My heart is completely broken, knowing he did this to me. I trusted him, believed he was different than Chris, but clearly I was wrong. Why do I keep falling for guys who cheat on me?
It’s after six here, which is after nine in New York. Nick just called again, but he didn’t leave a message and he called from a different number. I wonder if his girlfriend knows he’s calling me. Is that why he’s using someone else’s phone? So she won’t find out?
I was falling in love with him. I saw us having a future together, getting married, having kids. What is wrong with me? I barely know the guy. Like Diane said, knowing him in high school isn’t the same as knowing him now. People change. Nick definitely did, or the real Nick did. The Nick I was falling for, the one he pretended to be, was the same kind, considerate guy I knew from high school.
I haven’t told Diane yet. I’m not ready to hear her tell me she told me so and that I was moving too fast with Nick. I haven’t told my mom either. I’ve just been lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering how this could’ve happened and why I didn’t figure it out before now.
My phone rings. I check it but don’t recognize the number. It’s the area code for Haydon Falls but not someone in my contact list. Maybe it’s one of Nick’s brothers. Maybe he told them to call me and convince me to talk to him.
I almost don’t answer, but then I do, curious who it might be. ‘Hello?’
‘Lyndsay, it’s Matt,’ he says, sounding relieved. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Yeah. Why?’
‘Nick said he’s been calling you but you haven’t picked up.’
‘Because I don’t want to talk to him. I know what’s going on, Matt. Iris called me, so you can just tell Nick to—’
‘Iris? Who the hell is Iris?’
‘Nick’s girlfriend in New York,’ I say, hearing the anger in myvoice. I keep alternating between sad and angry, but I’m mostly sad. I really thought Nick and I had something together.
‘What are you talking about? Nick doesn’t have a girlfriend in New York.’
‘I guess he hasn’t told you about her. He called her last night after I went up to the room. Diane heard him talking to her. So did Chris. She must’ve found out about Nick being with me because she called me today and told me to leave him alone.’
‘I don’t know who the hell that was, but Nick is not dating her. He hasn’t gone out with anyone for like a year, except you.’
‘That’s just what he told you. Apparently, he’s a really good liar.’
‘Lyndsay, I swear to you, he is not seeing someone else. Hey, I don’t have much time. I just called to let you know Nick’s dad had a heart attack. The doctors said it was—’
‘Wait!’ I jump up from the bed. ‘Nick’s dad had a heart attack? Is he okay?’
‘He’s in the hospital, recovering. It sounds like he’s going to need bypass surgery.’
‘Oh my God.’ I pace the floor. ‘That’s why Nick was calling? Because of his dad?’
‘Yeah. He really needs to talk to you. He’s got his brothers here and his cousins, but it’s not the same, you know? It’s like when my sister was sick. You know she had cancer, right?’
‘No. When was this?’
‘A few years ago. She’s okay now, thank God, but when it happened, I needed Tessa more than my parents. They were great, but there’s just something about having your partner beside you that—well, you know what I mean.’
Is he saying Nick thinks of me that way? Like I’m his partner?
