Page 101 of Accidental Blind Date
“Dax was only looking for a one and done. I don’t think he cared about the aftermath.”
Joni still looks skeptical. “It just…it seems stupid to be completely honest. Like too much could backfire. I think you should talk to him about it.”
“What is there to talk about?” I ask. “He lied about who he was.”
“But why? Just to get laid? It was a good fuck, you said so yourself, Libby. Multiple times. And then you ended up going out again and again. Fib or not, I think there’s a reason it happened.”
“Oh, there’s a reason, alright,” I agree with her. “So, his sister-in-law can’t take his kids away.”
Joni stops and shakes her head. “Okay you lost me. What does that have to do with–”
“You said it yourself, Joni. If Dax has a girlfriend, the court might sway in his favor. If he’s got a live-in girlfriend who the kids are crazy about, Jenna’s case will lose steam.” I stand up. “I think he’s been fighting her on this for longer than he wantsto admit. I think he went to the cantina looking for someone he could woo and then use to keep custody of his kids.”
Joni stands up too. “Libby. I think you need to talk to him. Before you make any assumptions that accusatory.”
But I just shake my head, the tears burning my already hot eyes. “All of it makes sense.”
“Why?” she asks. “Why does the worst-case scenario make sense?”
“Because the worst-case scenario is my life, Joni!” I cry out a little louder than I probably should. But I am feeling a bit unhinged right now. “Think about it. I was raised in a little bookshop, and I’ve made it my entire identity. Not only that, I’ve used it as a shield from the outside world. Because in the outside world, my mom died. And then my dad used that little bookshop to shield us even more. To create a safe-space full of love and stories where we could hide from the reality of it all. And then he died too. And along comes Shane, a man full of lies disguised as promises. And I was stupid enough to believe him. I believed him even when he was mean, cruel, cold, and manipulative. I believed him until I couldn’t anymore. And then…and this is probably the stupidest part…I was naive enough to think that the man I met on a dating app was actually genuine. Well. The joke is on me. Especially since that man is also trying to take my bookshop, my safe-space, away from me.”
“But is he still?” she asks after my rant. “I thought you two worked it all out–”
“Nothing is what it seems, Joni. And now that I am standing on the outside for once, I can see that.”
I wipe my face one more time before straightening myself up. I need to go home. I need to figure out what I am going to do next. Because everything I thought was real, everything I believed, everything I always wanted, was a lie.
And I have to start over. Again.
Chapter 36
Dax
Libby isn’t answering her phone.
I’ve been texting and calling non-stop to let her know I got hung up. Jenna has been trying to get a hold of me. The audacity of that is just mind blowing. I mean the woman is trying to sue me for custody of MY children, for fuck’s sake. Obviously, I don’t answer. I have no intention of speaking to her again until I have a lawyer to do the talking for me. I’ve already left a message with Kaylon, the lawyer I’ve used in other lawsuits. Now I am just waiting to see what my options are and my chances.
After dealing with all that, I had to run by the house to pick up Poppy’s stuffed purple hippo, Dennis, because apparently Isaac doesn’t like sleep overs because he likes to be in his own bed, and she wants Dennis instead because he’s more of an extrovert than Isaac.
Listen to me. I’m stuck in traffic and talking about stuffed animals’ sleeping preferences.
Still, I feel bad for being almost an hour late, though I can’t say I haven’t tried to get ahold of her. The fact that Libby hasn’t answered any of my texts is a little concerning.
When I finally get to Mulligans, I park around the corner in the garage just to save time. Then I jog inside. The place is absolutely slammed and trying to find Libby is like looking for Nemo in an aquarium.
“Do you have a reservation?" the girl at the host stand asks.
“No, I’m meeting someone. I think she is already here,” I tell her, looking around the crowd of people swarmed around the bar.
“There’s a family waiting for the husband to arrive in the back booth. But no one else I can think of,” she says.
“No single women?” I ask. “Dark hair, very pretty, probably ordered a gin and tonic.”
“No,” she shakes her head. Then it’s like a lightbulb turns on in her head. “Actually, I think she was here. She waited a while and then left.”
“She left,” I parrot.
“Yes. She left.” The girl who is all of eighteen years old is getting impatient with me and I don’t really blame her. But after the day I’ve had, I don’t really care if she’s annoyed. Her biggest problem in life is not having enough allowance, so she has to get an evening job at a pub talking to grumpy people like me.
