Page 149 of The Plus One Pact

Cynthia: I think he really likes you. And he knows the truth has a tendency of coming out. I don't know what you told him before. Only that he didn't realize you had a podcast. I think, if he is upset, it's not because people are starting to figure out who he is.. It's that you used him.

Ivy: But this was his idea.

Cynthia: Huh?

Right. I guess that detail isn't exactly in the story. She doesn’t know we were faking a relationship, so how would she know the fake relationship was his idea.

He begged me.

I tried to say no, really. I wanted to say no. Even though I wanted to have sex with him again.

Does that make it alright I said yes and didn’t tell him about my podcast?

It doesn’t feel quite right either. But I can’t ask Cynthia about this. She thinks we were together for real, that we went from client to girlfriend, or something like that.

Ivy: The sex-experimentation thing. That was his idea. That we’d spend time together, that way.

Cynthia: And I'm sure it was good for business. I'm sure he accepted his payment for a while?

Ivy: For a while, yeah.

Cynthia: And then he fell for you. And he thought you fell for him. But now, he's thinking you were using him for material. Something like that. I'm not sure. I'm not saying it's logical. But you know better than anyone. When is love logical?

And I started to like him. And he started to trust me.

And I kept using him for material, without telling him anyway.

That’s when it changed.

It was one thing to agree to these terms as long as we were client and customer. But once we started acting like lovers, I owed him more of the truth.

More of myself.

I knew I was only allowed to share on a technicality, and I did it anyway.

He deserved better than that.

I just… don’t know how to fix things. I never know how to fix my own problems.

Ivy: So he'll still be at the wedding? He’s not uninvited?

Cynthia: Of course. And you're still invited.

I put my cell phone in my lap. "I have an idea." There isn’t much time, with the wedding tomorrow, but there’s enough. Just enough.

"Does it involve talking to him?" Meredith asks.

"Yes, but it's way more dramatic." I tap the driver's seat. "Can we go straight to Nordstrom? I'll need a dress for a wedding."

Meredith smiles. "You better book that return flight."

"Already on it."

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Romeo

"How's this?" Daniel adjusts the knot of his purple tie and studies his reflection in the mirror. Since he's following strict wedding protocol, he hasn't seen Cynthia's dress. He only knows it's purple.