“Yeah. For a while there, I really thought she liked me just as I was.” I took a sip of my beer. “What a dummy.”
“You’re not a dummy. Manipulators are excellent at what they do.”
“And you know this because…”
“His name was Jared.” She wrinkled her nose and took another drink while I waited for her to continue. “He was an actor. Well, he was trying to be. At least professionally. Privately, he was doing a hell of a job, because I certainly believed the bullshit he was serving me. Anyways, I was just making it big, being invited to parties… all the things. He started talking his way into coming with me to these parties, many of which were exclusive. And then he got me to bring him on my shoots. I didn’t realize what he was doing for a long time. We were together almost two years when one of my friends told me I should really stop letting him hit up the bosses for jobs. I was mortified. No one had ever told me that’s what he was doing – and I was always so busy working and having fun with my friends, that I never noticed him going off to secretly schmooze and hand out resumes. It was humiliating. He’d been using me for years. And also quietly stealing money from me.”
She stopped talking and let out a long sigh.
“And where is this Jared now?” Because I’d like to have a nice long talk with the douchebag.
“Surprise surprise. He never could quite get his acting career off the ground. I believe he moved to Arizona, got a corporate job of some sort and found a wife. Maybe has some kids?”
“Are you guessing or do you know.”
She gave me a side-eye, smirking. “I may have looked him up once or twice.”
I nodded. I’d had those moments too.
“Are you sad about not ending up with Jared?” I asked.
“There’s still time.”
I nearly spit out my sip of beer.
“Jesus,” I said, wiping my chin. Lior laughed and dragged her fingertip down through the condensation on her bottle, reminding me of earlier today when they’d poured water on one half of us, so the clothes could still be seen in their dried form. It had been hard not to stare at Lior as the dress she wore clung to her body, rivulets of water running down her skin.
“I’m never sad about missing out on being with his dumpy ass,” she said. “He is not aging well. I went to my ten-year reunion last year and…”
“Satisfying?”
“Quite.”
I lifted my bottle toward her and she leaned over and clinked hers to mine.
“So, did Jared set a precedence for you in your dating life?” I asked, shifting my eyes away from her wet fingertip.
“Did he ever. I chose crap guy after crap guy. Guys who were only interested in what I could give them, whether it be through my fame or my money – or just because they liked how I looked on their arm or in their bed. Which led to some complexes… and a lot of mistrust.”
“That sounds awful. But Jeremy Lane seems like a good guy.”
“He is. We could just never get our timing right. It all became too exhausting and, to be honest, I had major trust issues that made me not always easy to be around.”
“I wonder why.”
“Yeah.” She laughed. “Anyways, my therapy bill is justifiably large, as you can probably imagine.” She gave me a lopsided grin. “So, who came after Elizabeth?”
“Allison.” I practically growled the name.
She raised an eyebrow. “Uh oh. That doesn’t sound good.”
“Allison was actually less subtle than Elizabeth. More of a Nadia-in-training. One would’ve thought I’d learned my lesson after her but alas… I married the fully developed version years later.” I finished off my beer and stood. “Another?”
She tipped her head back and finished the last of her bottle off.
“Yes, please.”
When I returned, she changed the subject.
