Page 76 of Loving You

He visibly relaxed, and so did I. If I could make him think I’d be that same doormat he’d once turned me into, maybe I could convince him to go.

“I—ugh,April, I’ve missed you.” He hung his head with a sniff, and thankfully didn’t try to touch me or seem to care if I responded to that.

Oh, perfect.It was time for the sob factory to come out to play, and that boded well for me. Hopefully, all I’d have to do was pump up his ego and send him on his merry way.

“But it’s more than that,” he went on. “I got laid off, April. They chose that stupid idiot Bryan for the promotion and then they fuckingcannedme when I tried to explain why they’d made a super bad decision in doing that. Can you believe it? Everything I’ve spent years building…poof. Up in smoke. And then you’ll never guess what happened next.”

His slurred, self-pitying rambling was so familiar it made my skin crawl, but I was proud of myself for staying calm and playing the game. “What happened?”

“I couldn’t pay my bills, and I gotevicted. My damn car got repo’d. You know, the red convertible?Poof. Gone. I’m back in my parents’ basement for fuck’s sake, and I guess that’s why I’ve been coming around to see you. Not that you’d give me the time of day. But I thought if I could get back the one thing in my life that was good, everything would be okay.”

My mask of mild—and feigned—concern almost broke at that, since obviously he meant he hoped I’d be easy prey and he could mooch off me or control me or abuse me again.

But he was wrong.

And maybe, just maybe, I could take advantage of his pathetic mood and let him down gently. I wanted nothing more than to be done with this once and for all.

“Cliff, listen. You have a college degree, a great resume, and your good looks,” I finished somewhat stiffly, each compliment harder to say than the one before it. “You’ll bounce back from this, okay? But right now, I’ve got a wedding to get back to, and you need to leave. But everything will work out for you. Just not… with me.”

“Why not?” he asked quietly.

“Because, like I told you before, I have a boyfriend now.” And it was for real this time, and he and our family and friends were all in my corner, making me strong enough to handle this once and for all.

He groaned. “Right, right. The black-belt guy.”

“Yes.” A small, genuine smile tugged at my lips.

Who knew when I’d lied to Cliff about Eric being my boyfriend that one day I’d say it again and it’d actually be true?

“Well, what if I say that no matter howcoolhe thinks he is, he’ll never be as cool asme, and if you were smart, you’d leave with me now before it’s too late?”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes at his petulant tone.Pick one, drunk-ass. Either you’re down on yourself for your failures and pleading for me to come back to you, or you’re Mr. Big Man calling me dumb if I don’t.

But that was what this emotional version of him was like. He made zero sense and logic didn’t exist. That said, this wasn’t the angry, violent version that would probably appear soon if he didn’t put himself to bed, so I’d take it.

I relaxed a little as I let myself hope he wouldn’t leave here and pound a few more drinks in favor of going home and passing out. As long as he did that, maybe this talk would mean we could finally put our drama to bed too, and we wouldn’t hear from him again.

“Well, if I ever discover that Eric isn’t as cool as you are, I promise I will let you know,” I said, knowing I should give him a soothing pat on his arm because it used to work in the past, but I couldn’t.

My ego-boosting words were good enough, as far as I was concerned. I might know how to handle Cliff and his roller-coaster moods while drunk , but I wouldn’t gothatfar.

“Yeah, you do that,” he mumbled. Then he sighed heavily. “I guess I’ll go, then.”

Everything in me sang with relief, but I nodded solemnly. “Why don’t you let me grab you an Uber?”

He shook his head. “I’ll walk. It’ll be good for me. So, you’re really sticking with the Karate Kid, huh?”

I couldn’t quite hold in my snort that time—becauseholy shit, why hadn’t I thought to call him that back when we thought we despised each other? Eric would’vehatedit. Missed opportunity for sure.

But then I coughed to cover up my amusement and fixed my face. Cliff wouldn’t respond well to anything other than mousey April right now, and I had no intentions of riling him up.

Not when I wasthis closeto getting him to go away—hopefully for good—before chaos ensued.

Thankfully, Cliff simply turned on his heel and staggered toward the front door, and I peeked out of the alcove near the bathroom to watch him leave. Then I stayed there for another few minutes just to make sure he didn’t come back.

When I was finally able to tear my gaze from the stained-glass doors, I tucked back into the small space and slid down the wall, putting my head between my knees.

I did it.

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