Page 35 of Just Friends
“I believe you. But that’sbecauseyou haven’t had your heart broken yet. Of course you don’t understand what I’m telling you.”
“Wait. This has something to do with your ex from back home, doesn’t it?”
“Well,no—”She sighed. “But alsoyes, because how could it not? He broke my heart, that’s why I know what I’m talking about.”
“Okay, so what are you waiting for?”
“A man who knows exactly what he wants,” she said with quiet but firm conviction. “A man who doesn’t view ‘settling down’ as some kind of amazing favor he’s doing for my sake. A man who is mature and ready to dedicate himself to the love of his life.”
“And that’s a man with a broken heart, huh?”
“Yup, exactly!” she said with the over-the-top zeal of someone who knows they’re being unreasonable.
“Alright. Whatever.” I chuckled. “So you’ll date me once I’ve got my heart broken?”
“Maybe?” She giggled. Only a second later, though, she reflected somberly, “But once you get your heart broken, you’ll probably realize I’m not what you’re looking for, anyway.”
Well. Sounded like the writing for us was already on the wall.
Still.
Something about her I liked.
I liked her enough that I didn’t want to say goodbye forever.
So it was an easy choice when she asked me,“When you’re in town next week, can we hang out as friends, Jack?”
I nodded. “Yeah, alright. Friends.”
10
Piper
Every time I hit refresh, the number of followers on Soulmate’s social media jumped up by the hundreds. It’d only been a little over one hour since I’d announced that I’d have Jax on live-stream later tonight, and yet Soulmate had more interest—real, actual interest!—than it had in all the previousmonthsof promotion. Word continued to spread with every mention, retweet, like, and comment.
And me? I couldn’t stop smiling. My luck had changed and my worries started to lift. I couldfinallysee the light at the end of the tunnel, because there was no wayI could bungle this thing. I was practically guaranteed to have tens of thousands of users when Soulmate launched—and then the money would slowly start to flow, and with a bit of luck, I’d have a little success and position myself so I’d never have to worry about my parents again.
I was still beaming at Soulmate’s social media stats when my email inbox chimed. I tabbed over and my heart sank to my stomach when I saw the sender.
Nate Bowers.
The email I sent to Nate was all business: a couple demands backed up with a threat or two of legal action.
I opened his reply and began to read.
Piper,
You don’t know how happy it makes me to get an email from you. Even one like that.
I’m really sorry to hear about the chemical drift on your parents’ land. As you’ve probably heard, Sarah, Matt, Joey and I have all had a pretty bad fight over the estate, and we’re not really on speaking terms with each other anymore. But I’ll pass your message along because it’s important.
More importantly: how are you? I was wondering if you stopped checking this email since I never hear back from you. I still think about you every single day. Every time I go back home, I make sure to swing by your place and visit with your parents. I always ask them about you. It sounds like you’ve done really well for yourself.
Your mom told me you’re living in Texas with a professional hockey player now? Lol. Crazy. I asked if you two were dating and she seemed confident the answer was no, you guys are just friends. Paulina, on the other hand, seems to think otherwise? Or maybe she wants *me* to think otherwise. I know li’l sis isn’t my biggest fan anymore …
It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other. I miss you so much, Piper-bear.
I know you might never forgive me for what I did. And that was the risk I was willing to take. But now that I’ve experienced the things I needed to experience, I KNOW, without a shadow of a doubt, that what we had was special. Nothing I’ve had with anyone else even comes CLOSE to what I had with you.
