Page 30 of Fake Out Hearts

Peyton smiles at me, but there’s a hint of sadness in the corners of her mouth. “I don’t know for sure that anything is in the works, but I wanted to warn you that there’s still tons of b-roll footage of you—and I do mean tons—that we shot, and Shawn can still use any or all of it thanks to the waiver in the contract you signed.”

My stomach twists in a mixture of anger and resentment. I don’t have the words to describe how much I hate that fact. But it’s a fact, no matter how I feel about it, so Peyton’s right to remind me. And I appreciate her doing it, although I’d much rather push the thought from my mind.

Part of me thinks even Shawn wouldn’t do something shitty with that footage, but after what’s happened in the last few days, I’m not naïve enough to believe it anymore. He dumped me in front of a bunch cameras in a crowded bar, for fuck’s sake, so there’s probably no low he won’t sink to—especially if he thinks it’ll benefit his image somehow.

I spent so much of my relationship with Shawn trying to justify his behavior, clinging to the image of who I thought he was when we first started dating. But that image has been shattered into a million, jagged pieces now, and there’s no going back. The only thing I see him as now is the asshole he really is and always was.

“Are you okay?” Peyton asks, concern etched all over her face.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just boiling a little.”

“Can’t blame you there. Like I said, as far as I know, there isn’t anything being worked on right now, but you probably know better than I do that there’s a good chance it’ll happen eventually.”

“Throwing a drink in a narcissistic asshole’s face on camera will do that for a girl,” I say, and Peyton bursts out laughing.

“I’m still proud of you for that one. I’ll never forget the look on his face. I had to watch it so many times while reviewing the footage, and it never got old. It never will.”

“He deserved worse.”

“Oh,somuch worse,” Peyton agrees. “But you know what they say. What goes around comes around and all that.”

“I hope so.”

“You and me both,” Peyton says. “But I’m glad you’re not letting this get in your head.”

“Are you kidding? I’ve already given him years of my life I can’t get back. Those days are over.”

“Good for you. But I guess that brings us back to the elephant in the room. You said you were packing when I called, so what’s that all about? What are you going to do now?”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going back to Canada. Not yet anyway.”

“Okay… then where are you going?”

“I’m moving to Denver.”

“Oh!” Peyton eyebrows shoot up toward her hairline. “What’s taking you there?”

“I’m going to pursue all the dreams I unceremoniously threw on the backburner when I got together with Shawn,” I answer, intentionally keeping my answer vague.

It’s not that I don’t trust Peyton with the truth, I just think it’s probably best to keep the wedding to myself for a while longer. Or at least until I’m out of town. God only knows what Shawn will do when he gets wind of that.

“Hell yeah.” Peyton nods in approval, beaming at me. “It’s good to see your spark coming back, I have to say. It’s been a while since I’ve seen that in you.”

“It’s amazing how much better you feel when you kick a piece of shit to the curb,” I say, and although Peyton nods, she has no idea just how true it is. Seemingly overnight, my entire world has changed, and almost all for the better. Maybe I’m crazy, maybe I’m still more naïve than I’d like to admit, but I have a feeling that somehow, it’s all going to work out. That Theo’s right.

“Big mood,” Peyton says, still smiling. “But hold up, I need to grab some more creamer for this,” she says and heads back to the condiment table without another word. I pick my phone up off the table where it’s been lying face down while we talked, and my heart skips a beat when I see a text from Theo that he just sent a couple of minutes before.

THEO: The mountains are waiting for you. *smile emoji*

There’s a picture of what must be his living room attached, and it looks gorgeous. I don’t know what kind of place I expected him to live in, but it wasn’t this. The décor has an outdoorsy vibe, rustic and masculine, but with softened edges of tasteful color here and there. Did he decorate it himself? He did an amazing job if so.

And then there’s the view outside the windows. Holy shit. There’s a wrap-around balcony that looks out on a beautiful, sweeping mountain range dotted with snow. It reminds me of home in a way, familiar but just different enough to be new and exciting.

I can’t help the grin that splits my face as I start typing a reply.

ME: When is that flight again?

Chapter 11

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