Page 70 of False Start

"Anyway," I continue, "Bethany and I were getting pretty serious. We had lunch together most days and were going out almost every week."

"Did you know about this?" Damon asks Noah, who shakes his head.

"No one knew," I say. "We were taking things slow." I slump against my chair. "Wewere, at least, until my boss found out and said I had to stop seeing her. Said she reflected poorly on me and Banks Ripley, and that if I stayed with her, not only would I lose clients, I might lose out on that promotion I was gunning for."

Dad scoots his chair back from the table, outraged.

"That is both deplorable andillegal. I hope you told that boss what he could do with his unsolicited opinions and reported him to HR."

I shake my head, the guilt of my inaction that day coming back in full force.

"Banks Ripley isn't exactly the 'report him to HR' kind of place. It's vicious and cutthroat, and I wouldn't trust any of my colleagues to help or understand if money was on the line."

"So you broke up with her," Maya murmurs. From the look on her face, I can tell she's already figured out what happened next.

"I did. I thought it was the only way to keep my head above water at the firm. But I regretted it. I regret it every day. But not nearly as much as I regret spewing my boss's words at you that first night." I turn to Maya and force myself to look into her eyes. "I was hurting, but that's no excuse. What I said to you,aboutyou, waswayout of line."

Maya cocks her head, as if seeing me for the first time. Henry, too, looks a little confused.

"Is that also why you were such a douche when I started seeing Camila?" he asks. Camila looks questioningly at Henry, then me, then back to Henry. Apparently, this is new information for her.

"Yes. I was a jerk to all of you because I got my brand new heart broken on the first try," I admit, feeling some of the weight lift from my chest.

"You haven't been so bad lately," Adam says, pulling my attention from my lap to his understanding eyes. "You even went to talk to Damon when we all thought he'd gone off the deep end."

"Hey!" Damon protests.

"That's because he was seeing someone new," Maya interjects.Oh, shit.I'd been hoping that look on her face earlier was forgiveness. "My best friend, Denise," she finishes.

Adam switches from understanding to shocked in less than a second.

"Denise?!" he chokes out. "You've been seeing Denise? For how long?"

"Since our wedding," Maya answers before I can. I assumed she never told Adam to keep the peace, but she looks almost gleeful to spill the proverbial tea now.

"Since our wedding?!" Adam sputters. "That's my wife'sbest friend, dude. Keeping your hands off her should go without saying."

"Well, that won't be a problem since she dumped me just a few weeks after I got her to agree to be with me for real," I snarl, aiming my rage at Maya before taking a deep breath and dropping my gaze. No matter what she said, Maya didn't make Denise dump me.She did that all on her own.

"I'm sorry to hear that, son," Dad offers. As strict as he can be with us, we all know he's a big softie at heart.

"Yeah," I say. "I'm 0 for 2 in the relationship game. But that doesn't mean I suddenly forget how worthwhile they can be. Noah? Damon?" I look them each in the eye. "Drop the stupid pact. We're too old to still pretend we want to spend our lives alone. None of us are 22 anymore."

"…For what it's worth," Maya cuts in, breaking the awkward silence that had settled over the table, "I think it might be too early to speak about Denise in the past tense."

I jerk my head to look at Maya, who has a small smile on her face.

"What?"

"She can be a hothead, and she's one of the most stubborn people I know, but when we talked last night at the show, it seemed like some feelings are still there." She picks up her fork and takes a bite of étouffée before adding, "I can't believe you didn't come, by the way. That would've been the perfect chance to win her back."

"Why would Cory come to a show at the rec center?" Adam asks. Maya looks at all my brothers, confused.

"Because he'd been helping Denise with the fashion design workshop for weeks leading up to the show." Everyone's eyes widen at that nugget of information. She looks at Adam and winces. "Did I forget to mention that?"

"I'm sure Tiffany is going to try to rope you into continuing now that the show's over," Maya says, just to me. I smile in response.

"She already has. I've actually been coming in for some of the after-school time slots to avoid any awkward run-ins."

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