Well, well, she thinks. That sounds just perfect.
Paige slips into her soaker tub, which she has filled with scalding water and eucalyptus-scented bath salts. She takes her time shaving her legs with baby oil and thinks about what to wear.
She feels guilty about misleading Cora. She was going to try to get evidence for her, but things have changed, and now she wants more. They aren’t right for each other anyway, but that part will have to wait.
When she pulls up to Wild Roast, Finn is already there, which annoys her because in some subtle way it gives him an upper hand, choosing the table, settling in with his coffee. She comes in, tossing her long, glossy hair over one shoulder and taking off her tight suede jacket to lay over the back of her chair. She hoped he would stand and help her, but he does not. She sits.
He doesn’t smile or greet her; he just furrows his brow and sighs.
“So what’s this about?” he asks.
“Excuse me?” she says. That was not what she was expecting.
“If I want you to stop texting, I have to meet you. Was that some kind of threat?” He leans back and folds his arms.
“Uh. Seriously? No, I was saying it would be easier to meet if you don’t want Cora to see your texts. Are you at least gonna get me a coffee before you give me the third degree here?” she says, flustered, trying to take back some control.
“Yup,” he says, angrily, both hands slapping on the edge of the table as he gets up.
“Skinny latte,” she says with a smile, tucking her keys into her handbag and hanging it on the back of his chair. He surprises her by sitting back down a second and leaning over the table.
“This is not a thing,” he says, pointing back and forth between them. “Just so we’re clear.” Then he stands and goes to the counter. Paige is rattled, hurt if she’s honest, but she also sees an opportunity she needs to seize. She saw him open his phone at least a dozen times that night at the bar. His password is a weak swipe in the shape of ans. She didn’t mean to see it, but it was right in front of her all night; she couldn’t avoid it. Okay, fine. She meant to see it. And now, she finds, it will prove very helpful.
She checks to make sure his back is to her in the coffee line. Then she opens his phone and quickly scrolls through his contacts, taking photos of the ones she wants with her own phone. She sees a memo app, and since he has a couple people in front of him in line still, she opens it. One of them is titledPasswords. Yes, please. She clicks it, takes a photo of a few of them quickly, and then she turns his phone upside down on the table so he won’t notice the glow of the screen if he comes back before it times out and turns off. Very interesting, she thinks. Something I bet he wouldn’t want Cora to see. She’ll save her new information for a later date if she needs it.
When he comes back, he puts her paper cup of coffee down and sits. He looks defeated and exhausted.
“I was drunk, okay? So just tell her if you’re gonna tell her. Or what? What do you want, exactly?” he says.
“What makes you think I want something?” she says, countering his frustration with a calm voice. He scoffs, looks at the ceiling and then back at her.
“Then, why are we here? If you didn’t want something, you’d chalk it up to a fun night, move on. Don’t get Cora involved.”
“Oh, so you did think it was fun,” she says, smiling over her cup at him and then blowing at the hot steam.
“Games. This is what I’m talking about. It shouldn’t have happened,” he says, and she interrupts whatever is coming next.
“But it did,” she says, not smiling anymore.
“So then, what, for God’s sake, what? Get to it already. What do you want from me?”
“For a guy trying to hide a secret from his wife, you sure are coming in pretty hot at the one person you might think about being a little nicer to,” she says, but he only gets more agitated.
“Because there’s no point, Paige!” he shouts, and they both glance over their shoulders to make sure nobody they know could be within earshot. He lowers his voice.
“You think I didn’t stay up every night since—just knowing I was fucked?” he continues. “I fucked up, I know. So just, what? What are you gonna tell her, exactly?” Desperation cracks his voice ever so slightly.
“I don’t want to tell her either. Why would I want to do that?”
He doesn’t respond, he just looks away from her, not buying it, waiting for the punch line.
“I can deny it, you know. You’re not exactly the most stable person around,” he says, but she doesn’t let it get to her.
“I just want to see you. That’s all,” she says.
“What?” he says in an exaggerated tone, overenunciating thetat the end and raising his eyebrows.
“Why not? You seem like you could use somebody a little wild and...unstable. Maybe that’s just...a better match for you. Look at Grant. He’s the nicest guy in the world, but we outgrew each other. Can’t we just have some, I don’t know, fun? Dangerous fun,” she adds, laughing a little. He looks at her, making eye contact. She can’t read the look.
