“Not a problem . . .” He trailed off at the sound of a female voice and then said something muffled. Marlena had sniffed him out. How annoying must it be for Michael, having a partnership with someone he had to hide from while making secret phone calls on behalf of his own damn business.
I listened hard, but it was impossible to eavesdrop.
“Alright, old buddy,” he chimed. “We’ll have to catch up soon—maybe Paris? Give my love to Susana!”
The line went dead in my ear. Fine. I had all the information I needed. I made sure that the call had truly disconnected and then jumped up and down on my bed like a kid on Christmas.
17
My phone rang while I was unpacking the gorgeous-gorgeous-gorgeous “casual” outfit Michael had sent over, which consisted of a buttery soft leather skirt, clingy cashmere sweater, suede ankle boots, and black tweed clutch by Seraphim Blythe, plus pavé diamond hoop earrings by David Yurman. Criminy, what must this get-up have cost? I wondered. Easily more than all the clothes in my and Liz’s closets combined.
I groaned when I saw who was calling. Leave it to Nick to sully something so beautiful.
“What do you want?” I snarled once I answered. “Or rather, what’s so important, Nick, that you’ve felt entitled to call me five million times within the last twenty-four hours?” And send a dick pic.
He replied with a sob.
If I rolled my eyes any harder, they’d detach from their sockets. Why wasn’t I born a witch so I could magically make him forget he ever knew me? Or turn him into a toad. “Oh, for the love of—”
“I miss you, Olivia! I miss youso much!”
I rubbed my temples, silently chantingdon’t take his bait, don’t take his bait, don’t take his bait.
“I made a stupid mistake! I’m only human.”
No, Nick, a stupid human mistake is knocking the saltshaker over at the dinner table or taking a parking spot when you didn’t realize somebody was already waiting for it, not putting your penis in other women while you’re in a relationship.I picked at a hangnail, noting that my nail polish was chipped, and exhaled scornfully for his benefit. Funny to think that a few months agoIwould have been the one crying hysterically, wallowing in bed all day, staring up at the celling, depressed.
But now? I genuinely felt nothing for Nick beyond annoyance, which only went to show that lifedoesget better if you can manage to hold on to your sanity when the road gets rocky—i.e., when you walk in on your live-in boyfriend jackhammering some floozy he’d picked up at a bar. Though, had anyone tried to tell me this at the time, I probably would have punched them in the face for being so optimistic. I was in a bad, bad, place back then, more so after Tilly passed. Nick’s disappearing act had only made everything shittier, though now I could see the bullet I’d dodged by getting him out of my life.
I said, “I really don’t have time for this. So, if you could get to the point—”
“I need you, baby!”
Baby?
“That’s rich!” I snorted, unable to help myself. “Because whenIneededyou, you couldn’t spare two minutes to return any of my calls.”
“I know, I was such a dick! I’m a big enough man to admit it,” he said, as if he was somehow being magnanimous. “I’ve seen the light, Olivia. I messed up bad!”
Did he seriously sayI’ve seen the light?What a tool.
“The only thing you’veseen,Nick,is a newspaper article that showed me out with another man. Now you’re jealous and—what—you expect for me to come crawling back to you? After you cheated? After you moved your things out of our place while I was in Florida at my grandmother’s funeral?” I shouted, getting worked up. Damn him for getting the best of me. “Do you haveany ideahow bad it was for me? No, of course you don’t, because you ghosted me like the coward you are! Blocked me on your phone, email, and social media, like I was the one who did something wrong. How dare you!”
“That chick—it was the first and only time. I swear. It was a stupid moment of weakness.”
Like that somehow made it okay, even if I didn’t believe Nick as far as I could throw him. What he didn’t know was that a few of his mistresses contacted me looking for him after our breakup, if you can believe the audacity of those women. Seemed he’d disappeared on them, too. One even thought she might be pregnant with his lovechild. Great, right? Even better was when I found out that Nick had been cheating on me long before we’d even moved in together.
“I think you mean that it was thefirst time you got caught. God! How stupid do you think I am?” I said, stopping to catch my breath. “But while we’re on the topic, howisCindy? I heard you might be a father, though you’ll have to forgive me for not congratulating you sooner.”
I could practically feel him flinching. That’s right, asshole, I know all about her. And the others, too.
“There never was a baby. She’s a liar!”
“Sure she is,” I said in the tone of a parent listening to a crumb-faced child blame missing cookies on the dog. “And Kim, Stacy, and all the other women—are they liars, too?”
I could hear his breath catching in his throat. “I need you!” he howled like a broken record, as if I hadn’t heard him say it the first time.
“No, what youneedis toget afucking life. Move on, Nick, because I have!” And at that, I hung up.
