Page 84 of The Moment You Know

“That’s because I blocked you.”

He blinked at her in shock. “You what?”

“I blocked you.”

“What the fuck, Paige? You blocked me?”

“What the fuck, to you, too, David. I figured turn-about was fair play.”

“What do you mean?”

She wanted to punch him, first in the throat and then in the balls. “Well, you blocked me first. That’s what I mean.”

He frowned at her. “What are you talking about? I didn’t block you.”

“Yes, you did.”

“Jesus. I didn’t block you.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“You’re sure about that?”

“Yes. I wouldn’t have done that.”

He seemed so certain that he hadn’t, which made Jules’s theory of a drunken block actually seem plausible. She folded her arms under her breasts. “Maybe not sober. But sometimes things happen after a few drinks, and—”

“You think I got drunk one night and blocked you?”

“I didn’t at first, but now I do.”

“Thanks.”

“Look. To be honest, it’s better to know that you blocked me in a drunken moment, rather than to keep thinking you were blatantly ignoring me and being an uncaring asshole.”

“When, exactly, was I ignoring you?”

“June 17, 2014.”

The whole conversation was starting to feel surreal to David. “You remember the exact date?”

“Yes. That was the night I had to put Spook down.”

It took a moment for the words to sink in and then his expression fell. “What? Spook’s dead?”

“Yes.”

“He’s been dead for … four years?”

She nodded, thinking that’s what she must have looked like when she realized David had been with Ashley for that long. Slightly different grief factor, but still the same kind of shock.

He abruptly sat down in one of the chairs she had for clients. “What happened?”

She sat down as well and shifted a stack of paperwork to the side, before resting her forearms on her desk. “I got home from work that night around nine and found Spook laying on the living room floor and I could tell something was wrong. He was meowing and trying to get up, but it was like he was paralyzed,” she said, the backs of her eyes prickling at the sad memory. “I called the nearest emergency vet and they told me to bring him in immediately, so I did. On the way there, I called you and when I got your voicemail, I left a message saying I needed you and to please call me back—I’m sure I sounded like a hot mess because I was crying so hard. Anyway, after Spook got examined at the clinic, I was told his kidneys were failing and there wasn’t anything that could be done for him, except to put him to sleep. So I called you and got your voicemail again and left another message.”

She stopped and took a deep breath. “I must have left half a dozen messages, total. And texts. I sent a few of those, too,” she said, her voice sounding clogged, even to her own ears. “Yeah, I pretty much blew up your phone, but I thought you would want to be there to say goodbye. And to be honest, I really needed you there with me, because it was really awful.

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