He takes my hand and twists it around to see my phone screen. “Yeah. Why?”
“It’s too nice! I can’t afford something like this.”
“You can’t afford free?”
“It’sfree?” Hold on. When something’s too good to be true… “How?”
“I own it.”
“You’re…looking for a housemate?”
“Nah, nothing like that. It’s all paid for, just sitting empty ’cause I’m living in another place. I’m just offering. You know. It’s not a terrible place to crash.”
“I see. Well, thanks, but my realtor’s going to send me a list tomorrow.” It’s not true, but his offer is a bit over-the-top, and I’m not comfortable accepting it. I might as well stay at Nicholas’s place. “So how come you work at the gym if you own such nice places?” I try to sound casually curious.
“Ah, my old man’s upset with me right now. So he told me to go get a job that requires me to be on my feet. But it’s no big deal. He’ll get over it soon enough, and then I’ll be able to get you something nicer.”
“Great.” I have no idea what else to say. It sounds like he gets money from his father, and that makes me wonder if he’s younger than I thought, and what his father does. Regardless, it must be nice to be able to depend on your dad, I think wistfully. I feel like at some point way back in the past, Dad was somebody who could laugh openly with me. I’ve seen photos of us—when there were still three in the family. The fact that he doesn’t have the same open expression anymore claws into me.
Arturo and I get back to the gym a little after one. I clear my throat as he parks in the lot. “Thanks for the lunch, Arturo.”
“My pleasure. We should do it again.” He smiles.
I give him a neutral smile of my own. He wants more than just friendship, and I’m Nicholas’s girlfriend, albeit a fake one. Even if I weren’t in a pretend relationship, I’m not sure about Arturo. He’s certainly handsome, and seems nice enough, but something about him is a little unsettling. I can’t see myself dating him.
I start to go into the gym. As I walk across the free weight area to reach the back office, Dana and her friends start jumping up and down and screaming. What are they so excited about? Did Dana get another sponsorship deal?
As the girls circle and surge around her like fish eager to be fed, she raises her left hand, fingers spread. Something glints on her ring finger. The women shriek so loud my eardrums almost pop.
It’s a diamond. A large one.
Oh my God. Is she engaged?
Did Owen propose?
It’s been barely a week since he dumped me. This can’t be happening.
But wait. Maybe Dana dumped Owen for being not good enough forherpersonal brand and got herself a rich fiancé. Unlikely, but it would serve my shitty ex right.
I pull my phone out and head to my office. After locking the door, I tap on the screen and bring up Owen’s Instagram account.
A shot of a stunning ring on Dana’s finger is the latest update. They’re at Éternité—I can see a menu, and the sign in the background. Owen staged the photo so it would be obvious where they are.
According to him, the place has a long waiting list. He complained about it incessantly while telling me how upset he was that he wouldn’t be able to take me there to celebrate our anniversary. According to him, the day he asked for my phone number was the one we should celebrate every year. “That’s the day I met the love of my life,” he’d say, and hold me like I meant the world to him.
Either he lied about the waiting list or he’s been planning to propose to Dana for a while now—maybe even before he told me he loved me. He might’ve called me “the love of his life,” but I never was.
It brings a fresh wave of pain and fury.Why wasn’t I good enough?
The love of my life. She deserves the best. This is just the beginning—of us.
Every word on Owen’s post drives a nail into my heart. This was supposed to bemyfuture, but instead I was thoughtlessly discarded by the guy who professed his love for me only three months ago. Although I don’t want him anymore, the feeling of inadequacy lingers, like the stench of cigarettes after somebody’s smoked.
If Nicholas hadn’t asked me to move in, I would’ve been stuck at Owen’s place, witnessing the spectacle as it unfolded. But that doesn’t lessen my humiliation.
The worst of it is how public my embarrassment has become.
Congrats. Your fiancée is hot.
