Cinderella Screwed Me Over

Chapter Thirty-one

I should’ve gone back to the office—I had more than enough work to do—but I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to know where Jake and I stood. I’d gotten in the habit of spouting off reasons to not be together, and now I needed to switch gears and have a real discussion about staying together and whether that was even an option.

The fading rays of sunlight peeked between the buildings, striping the sidewalk in front of me. Even with the sun setting, the heat of the day remained. Walking only made me hotter. And sweatier, which wasn’t exactly the look I’d been hoping for.

Blue’s navy awning came into view, sending a panicky feeling through my chest. I wish I could just fast forward to later when this part is over and I already know how it went.

Still, underneath those nerves was a glimmer of hope. After our swim, Jake had talked about good things taking work and a little risk, and it’d never felt truer than now. The fact that he might leave for several months scared me, but there had to be a way to make it work. That was as optimistic as I got, and it felt scary and awesome at the same time.

My heart picked up speed as I pulled open the door to Blue. Several people stood in the lobby, waiting to be seated. Looking down the walkway gave me a good view of the main dining area. The place was busy but not packed. Butterflies filled my stomach when I saw Jake at a table near the back—even after our fight last night, all I wanted was to be in his arms again.

I can do this, I thought, taking long strides toward him, ready to spill my heart out and ask him to take me despite my issues.

Then I noticed he wasn’t alone.

The woman seated across from him had strawberry-blond hair, and they seemed to be having an intense conversation. Okay, don’t jump to any conclusions. Maybe it’s his sister. In the movies, it’s always the sister.

Then I remembered his sister had dark hair.

Maybe she dyed her hair. Or it’s a cousin.

Or just someone who comes into the restaurant all the time. It’s okay for him to have female friends.

But then he looked up at me and this guilty expression crossed his face.

He held up a finger to the woman and then stood, placing himself between her and me. “Hey. I thought you had to work late.”

I answered on autopilot, a creeping sense of foreboding rising in me. “I needed to take care of a few other things, so I took off early. So…what’re you doing?” I gave a pointed look to the blonde sitting there, poorly concealing the fact that she was staring at us.

“Darby…it’s not… I meant to tell you—”

I turned, throwing a hand up. This couldn’t be happening.

He caught my arm, and I whipped around. “Who is she?” My breaths were coming too fast, my pulse pounded through my head, and the room started to spin. The past few days had been a roller coaster. I always puke after roller coasters, and I felt like puking now. How could he be one of the bad ones?

“She’s my ex…fiancée.”

The words stabbed me in the chest, every syllable radiating pain. I tried to jerk away, but he kept hold of my arm. “Look, I can explain. Just come to my office so we don’t have to do this in front of everyone in the entire restaurant.”

Tears formed in my eyes, threatening to break free. “It’s my fault. I played with fire and I got burned.” I jabbed a finger in his chest. “I thought you were different, so I let you swoop in and change my mind, just like I swore I’d never do again.”

“I’ll be right back,” Jake said over his shoulder, and then he nudged me toward his office. I wanted to fight him, to head in the other direction, but I was so numb that I just let him blindly lead me inside the room that had caused us to meet. That we’d later made out in.

“Look, I swear I was going to tell you about Shannon, but it never seemed like a good time. I was finally starting to get through to you and I knew you’d freak out. You’d use it to prove your theory about relationships.”

“I love it when liars make it sound like it’s all your fault instead of theirs. I don’t know whether to be more mad about the fact you lied or about how you preached on and on about commitment and making things work.”

“Hey, you were the one with the rules about no talking about the past. No mentioning anything that would freak you out. Those were your rules and now you’re getting mad that I didn’t break them?”

“You’re right, okay? My rules make no sense, and it’s all my fault that you’re still meeting with your ex.” Crying was something I hated doing in front of people. Usually, I could stop the tears, but I felt one roll down my cheek. “Good-bye, Jake. You were always destined to be another case study anyway. I ran out of princes, so I’ll just have to smoosh you into the Cinderella case with the other Prince Charming.”

I sniffed and started for the door.

Jake was faster.

He blocked the exit. “I’m not letting you leave until you allow me to explain a few things.”

“I’m sure your explanation will be charming and full of crap. So no thanks.”

Jake crossed his arms, not moving from his spot in the doorway. “Shannon and I had only been engaged a few months when I decided to leave my dad’s company and open the restaurant. She moved to Denver with me, but she missed New York, her friends, and her family. We started fighting about everything. From how to load the dishwasher, to coasters under glasses, to how loud I was in the morning. I couldn’t do anything right.”

Jake ran a hand through his hair. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it was all her fault. I was putting everything into opening the restaurant, gone all the time, and she and I grew apart. The little bit of time we spent together, we hardly talked. I always had to guess what she was thinking, because she wouldn’t just tell me, and when I couldn’t figure it out, she’d get even angrier.”

He reached out and squeezed my shoulder. “That’s why I like that you tell me how you feel. When we fought about my being on the phone last night, I was frustrated, but you were right. Sometimes I get so focused on work, I neglect everything else in my life. I don’t want to do it again.” He ran his hand down my arm. “Not with you.”

“So you’re telling me that it doesn’t matter that you called off your engagement because it just wasn’t right?”

“It wasn’t right. It’s lucky we realized that before we committed to spending the rest of our lives together.”

A mirthless laugh escaped my lips. “That’s the thing. People think everything will magically work out with someone else. But it’s the same, no matter who you’re with. Passion fades, problems arise, the world gets in the way, or you meet someone else new and exciting. Then everyone justifies that they tried, making it okay to cheat or to walk away.”

“Don’t you think it’s a little hypocritical to lecture me on commitment when you have a problem with it, too? How many failed relationships have you had?”

“None that ever went as far as engagement,” I shot back.

“And with all the walls you throw up, you never will.”

I stared at him, jaw clenched, for several seconds before I found words to respond to that. “I’ve always said that relationships aren’t meant to last. You’re the one who insisted that as long as there’s love and commitment and all that other bullshit, you could make it work.” I couldn’t look at him anymore. I paced the tiny place, mad at him for doing this to me, mad at myself for building him up so much in my mind that I thought he’d be different.

“I was willing to try to fix my relationship with Shannon,” Jake said. “Even though things were bad between us, our families were old friends, she and I had a long history, and she’d moved to Denver with me.” The muscles along Jake’s jaw tightened. “But she’d already met someone else. According to her, she never cheated on me—physically, at least—but she fell in love with him. So we broke up and I moved out.”

His eyes locked onto mine. I stared back, not knowing what to say. “You’re not the only one who’s been hurt before,” he said. “It sucks, I get it. But the giving up on everybody option sucks, too.”

Yes, it did. But it was the safest option as well. “She’s out there in the restaurant right now, Jake. That doesn’t say you’re over her.”

“Because of her credit, she had trouble getting a loan. Our old place was in my name, so I rented it to her. She and Andrew—who’s her fiancé now—just bought the house from me. We’re heading over to the realtor’s office to take care of all the closing stuff as soon as he gets here.” Jake stepped forward and put his hands on my hips. “I swear I was going to tell you, but I knew admitting I had been engaged before would scare you. I wanted to wait until you knew you could trust me.”

Tears blurred my vision; my throat tightened. “This just proves I can’t trust you.”

“No, you’re looking for a way to prove your theory instead of really listening to me. You never gave this a chance because you wanted to find a reason.” He held my gaze for a few beats and then dropped his hands.

“I tried.” I wrapped my arms around myself, wishing I could curl up in a ball until none of me was left. “I just need some space right now.”

Jake hung his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s never going to change, is it? I thought…” He shook his head, and then he looked at me as if he was waiting for something. He let out a rough exhale. “I’ll make it easy and give you plenty of space. Good-bye, Darby. I hope you find what you’re looking for someday.”

A heaviness entered my chest, and no matter how many times I swallowed, the tears lodged in my throat wouldn’t go away.

Jake hesitated in the doorway, and without looking back said, “Maybe if you’d have looked for a reason to be with me instead of dump me, you would’ve found one.”