“Am not.” But even to my own ears, I sounded like a damn liar.
Lila being Lila immediately picked up on it. “Tell me what happened. I need to know if this guy that I got you set up with is a total sleazebag!”
I wanted to sigh to both her and myself.
Fuck me. Seriously
“It had nothing to do with Max.”
“Okay? Then what?” she said.
“It’s...” A soft grunt tumbled from my mouth. “I ran into someone from my childhood. That’s all. And... well, we got to talking and wanted to catch up.”
Lila was silent on the other line for a long while—enough that I had to pick up my phone to check and make sure she was still connected on the other end of our call.
When she finally spoke, her tone was slow. “So... you ditched your date... to go hang out with an old friend?”
“Yeah. Essentially. It wasn’t planned.” Especially what happened afterward...
“Huh.” She was silent for another pause. “I guess I never would’ve expected that out of you. To... ditch a date to catch up with a friend.”
I winced at the subtle accusation:this isn’t you.
I was supposed to be the levelheaded one, not the flighty type that had barely any regard for things outside of my own personal bubble of reality. If anything, I was painfully aware of social situations to the point of bending over backward just to accommodate everyone around me.
Lila had stressed how hard she’d worked with her matchmaker to find Max—as she’d described it, like searching for a pearl amongst sand grains—and to hear that I’d completely ditched him for someone else was no doubt strange coming from me.
“It’s complicated,” was all I could think to say. Because it really fucking was.
With still no word from Avery about anything since he left to go back to the city, I was being forced to face the uncomfortable truth of not being a priority in his life, just like I should’ve known all along.
It hurt. No matter how much of it was the truth being served to me plain and simple.
Ex-wife.
A whole life away from here.
Avery belonged back in the city. Not fucking around in bum-fuck nowhere with me.
“Complicated, as infeelingscomplicated?” Lila asked.
“No.” I lied. “Just catching up. It was nothing. I wanted to make it up to Max for being an ass, hence tonight.”
“Oh good.” I could hear the smile in her voice. “Well, tell me how it goes! I really hope you guys get along. On paper, he seemed perfect for you.”
My stomach twisted into a tight knot. Lila meant well, as she always did.
The pressure to get this right was a little overwhelming, considering my failure would ultimately reflect back onto her, no matter what way this got spun. Hopefully, it didn’t come to that, though. Whatever money she invested in this, I’d get a good return for her.
It was the least I could do.
“I will. I’ll talk to you soon.”
Ending the call, I wandered back over to my bed and face-planted down onto it. I had about a half hour to get ready and meet Max at my door, and so far, I was running majorly behind. Outside of dinner, there were no real plans either of us had come up with.
And assuming that dinner went well and we got along, he’d be coming back here to... well, get more familiar with me.
I let my hand wander down to the fly of my jeans, cupping myself over the fabric and giving a firm squeeze. I suppose it was fucked up of me to consider anything about my body Avery’s, no matter how hard it’s been trying to get his damn touch out of my head. I’d never had something like that happen before—where I’d felt claimed in a way.
