Page 123 of We Met Like This
“And?”
“And what? It was incredible and then I found out he’s a liar. You’re telling me you’d be okay if that happened to you?”
“Probably not. How did he defend himself?”
“I haven’t really let him. He didn’t deny knowing, though. That’s all I needed to hear.”
“You’re probably right.”
Her words, even though they were affirming my decision, made my chest tighten. Maybe I was hoping she would have some magical argument that would make everything better. Her giving up made me know there wasn’t one.
“Why does Rob think you’re trying to steal Kari?”
“Kari must’ve called him to get my cell number when she was asking me about the research trip. I don’t know why else he would think that.”
“You do more for her than Rob ever did and he knows it. That’s why he’s scared.”
“He threatened to sue me.” I nodded toward the contract that was still in a neat stack on the corner of the coffee table.
“He did?”
“So I told him if he did that, I would tell everyone we’d been sleeping together.”
“You were on fire this weekend. I wish I could’ve been there to see his face.”
I laughed a little. “It looked like his head was going to explode.”
“I bet it did.”
I sucked in some air and my eyes went blurry with tears. “I miss him, Sloane.”
“You better not be talking about Rob.”
I shook my head no.
She pulled me into a hug. “I know.”
“When he talked about being cheated on in college, I could tell he was still torn up about it. He had strong feelings for Audrey.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Do you want to watch revenge movies and eat ice cream?”
I nodded. “I’m so lucky to have you. I love you.”
“No need to get all sappy. Let’s get angry instead.”
My second author rejection came a couple days later. Her name was Lauren and she wrote a stunning book about families and their many complexities. There was also a love story that I adored. But once again, Lauren got a better offer.
Maybe it was the fresh rejection or the two hundred bucks I’d spent on a new battery for my car, or maybe it was that I hadn’t heard from Oliver since his apology text giving me permission to ghost him. Whatever the case, I wasn’t in the right mindset when Cheryl called Wednesday morning. I had just popped a piece of bread in the toaster and was en route to retrieve the butter from the fridge when my phone vibrated with her name.
“Hello,” I answered.
“Margot, hi. How are you?”
“I’m okay. How are you?”
“I’m good. A little nauseous these days, but for a good cause.”
“For sure.” Thinking about her pregnancy reminded me that my sister hadn’t tried to contact me either.
