“Yeah, but you’ve grown. Both of you from the looks of it.”
I wanted that to be true, but the only way we’d truly know if he’d grown up was by waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting for him to break up with me again for no reason. Either way, breaking up with me wasn’t even possible since there had been no discussion of our past or even a whiff of potentially dating. It was beside the point anyway because I wasn’t willing to put myself through that again.
“We haven’t grown much, Jack. He’s still cocky as hell.” I thought back to the night before, him stepping toward me, me staying still, waiting to see what he’d do next. But the truth was, I’dwantedhim to do something. These were feelings I didn’t even want to have, but there were little reminders of them prickling inside my chest. “He’s still arrogant.”
“In a funny way. You like that. Next.”
“He’s unreliable,”I tried. Like when he’d forgotten to pick me and my friends up from a concert because he fell asleep. How he’d always bailed on my friends but would make time for his own. Or on our first-year anniversary, when he’d forgotten we had plans and went snowboarding instead. “You know how he bailed on craft night—”
Now I sounded like a child.
“That’s a stretch.”
“That wasn’t the first time he’s bailed on me.”
“You’re right, he did do thata decadeago.”
“Fine. What about the fact that the man still only thinks of himself?” Okay, so what if I was being a little bit harsh?
“Come on, Autumn. You know you don’t believe that.” He placed his fingers to his temples as though he was at the end ofhis rope. He dropped them and turned to look me in the eye, more seriously than I was used to seeing him. “You may not realize, but I’ve noticed things. I see the way he is around you and his friends, and selfish isn’t a word I’d use to describe him. He has no stakes here, but he still… Look, if he’s only thinking about himself, if he had no reason to do something except in his own self-interest, then why didn’t he use the information to further his chances with you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Jesus, I’m going to break his confidence, and it took less than three hours.” He shook his head, facing ahead of him, firelight dancing in his eyes.
I moved so that I could see him again. “Jack?”
“Gia cheated on me, Autumn, and that’s why we broke up. Jamie witnessed it and had no motivation to tell me, someone he doesn’t even know, other than to be a good guy. He even told me not to tell you it was him, probably because he’s trying not to sway you one way or the other. That doesn’t sound like someone who’s selfish or looking out for his best interest. That sounds like a good man.”
