Page 80 of Friend Zone to End Zone

35

Cole

When I droveup to Arianna’s home Saturday evening, my stomach was in my throat and I was a jumble of nerves.

I’d had the perfect weekend so far. Things had gone so well for me the past twenty-four hours and I was so excited for an evening where I got to spend the night pretending to be exactly what I wanted to be.

Her boyfriend.

Her lover.

The guy who had stolen her heart after Chad had done so much damage.

But even though I was thrilled at the prospect of all of this meaning as much to her as it did to me, a tiny part of me was worried that last night and this morning hadn’t been enough.

Even though it had seemed like so much more than a practice date and a practice kiss, what if Arianna had really only seen it as practice and that tonight would only be a fake date for revenge, and then it would all be over?

That I’d have an idyllic weekend with the woman I was in love with only to have it disappear because I’d misinterpreted things into being more than they really were—

I was scared to death that history would repeat itself.

Because this wasn’t the first time she and Chad had taken a break. They’d broken up at least a few times before, only to get back together days later.

So if we were working with the same timeline they usually worked on, today would be the day for him to throw out a grand apology and tell her he was going to change and that he wanted her back.

It happened so many times, I could basically set my clock to it.

And while I hoped this time really was different and that this weekend was enough for her to finally put him and their messy relationship in the past, there was a tiny voice in my head telling me not to get my hopes up too high. Because Chad would be there tonight, and he always got some sort of high from manipulating Arianna into doing what he wanted.

But since I knew that just sitting in my car and waiting for the other shoe to drop wouldn’t help anything, I grabbed the garment bag from the passenger seat of my Maserati and headed up the cement path that led to Arianna’s front door.

Here goes nothing.I swallowed and knocked.

Mrs. Lake answered the door with a smile on her face, warmth in her brown eyes that were so similar to Arianna’s.

“Hi Cole,” she said, opening the storm door for me to step through. “Don’t you look dapper in your suit.”

“Thank you.” I smiled at the sweet woman in her mid-fifties. “Arianna said the housewarming party was cocktail attire, so I hope I’m not too overdressed.”

“You look great.” She led me down the hall to the sitting room just off the entryway. “Definitely handsome enough to make Chad jealous.” She smirked.

“So Arianna told you?” I asked, somewhat surprised that she’d talked to her mom about her plans for tonight.

Mrs. Lake smiled, and there was a delighted glint in her eyes when she said, “I think it’s about time Chad got a good taste of his own medicine.”

“You’re not mad they broke up?”

“Goodness, no.” She shook her head. “I’ve been hoping she’d kick him to the curb for quite some time now.”

“Really?” I had never talked to her about this before, but for some reason I’d always assumed she must be team Chad from how she had never said a bad word about him.

But she nodded and said, “I’ve always hoped Arianna would eventually see through him.” She glanced over her shoulder as if to check to see if Arianna was close. “I mean, between you and me—” She lowered her voice. “—I’ve always kind of hoped there would be another guy just biding his time before he swooped in and swept her off her feet.”

And when she gave me a meaningful look, I got the feeling that she had a specific guy in mind for that.

But was it really possible that she had been hoping for the same things as me?

I checked over her shoulder, and since Arianna was still finishing up whatever she was doing in the other room, I cleared my throat and said, “Hopefully she’s ready for something like that.”

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