Page 101 of Fake it With Me

“Okay. I’ll talk to her and we’ll figure something out.”

“Thank you.” She hesitated. “And Darek? Don’t worry. I won’t interfere with you and the whale scientist. I know you two have your own thing going on, and I’m happy for you. Really.”

My chest tightened. “We’re not together anymore.”

“What? Since when?”

“Since a few days ago. It didn’t work out.”

“Are you kidding? That woman was clearly in love with you. I saw the way she looked at you in court. The way she jumped up to defend you with her whale knowledge or whatever.”

“It’s complicated.”

“It’s not my place to give relationship advice, given my track record. But maybe you shouldn’t be so quick to let her get away. Women like that don’t come around often.”

What if I had destroyed the best thing that had ever happened to me because I was too scared to trust that it was real?

“Yeah, well, it’s done. I’ll talk to Daisie and get back to you in a couple of days.”

“Thank you, Darek.”

We ended the call and I was left feeling weird. How in the hell was my monster ex giving me relationship advice? It felt like I stumbled into an alternate universe.

I could call Liza. Try to salvage what I destroyed.

But what would I even say? Sorry I accused you of lying and kicked you out?

I wasn’t even sure she where she was. She might be in San Francisco already. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had blocked my number. If the roles were reversed, I probably would have.

It was over. The sooner I accepted that fact, the easier it would be to move on.

35

LIZA

Inever made it out of Cloudhaven.

My Uber driver, Katie, pulled over about ten minutes into the drive when my crying escalated from silent tears to full-on ugly sobbing. She turned around in her seat and looked at me with genuine concern.

“Honey, I can’t keep driving with you like this. You’re breaking my heart back there.”

“I’m sorry,” I managed between gasps. “I’ll be fine. Just keep going.”

“Where are we even going? You never gave me a destination.”

I stared at her blankly. She was right. I’d just climbed in her car and said “go” without any actual plan of where I was heading.

“The airport, I guess?”

“Which airport? Portland? Boston?”

“I don’t know.” Fresh tears streamed down my face. “I don’t know where I’m going.”

Katie sighed and pulled into a parking lot. It was some kind of shopping center. She turned off the car and fully faced me. “Okay, spill. What happened?”

“I don’t want to burden you with my problems.”

“Too late. I’m already invested. Plus, my next ride isn’t for another hour. So talk.”