Page 45 of As They Are
“Yeah. A lot actually. I’m kind of the backup friend for when you’re busy. I took Mollie to the bar, got way too drunk with her, and had to be carted home.”
Wren’s smile slowly faded but she replaced it quickly. “I’m glad Mollie has someone here to spend time with.”
“You’re welcome to come too,” Jade said. “Though, you might have a lower opinion of me after.”
“I’ll be too busy with ... a thing.” Wren grabbed my arm. “Henry, time to talk.”
I gave both women what I hoped was a normal smile before I let Wren drag me to the clinic.
Yeah, that looked suspicious.
“Back to what has me in a good mood,” Wren began. “The library was selected forRenovating with Love.”
“It was? Really?”
“Yep. The grant came through, and the showrunners owe me, considering it looks like I got cheated on.” She muttered the last part. “But I’m not gonna worry about that because I haveplansand once those are in place, no one will be thinking about Jude.”
She still looked better than when she’d first come to town, but Wren had that look in her eye. She was avoiding something.
“I’m really excited for the library, Wren. But a lot has happened in the past twenty-four hours for you, with the news and then the town’s reaction. Are you okay?”
“I’msookay,” she replied. “I have a project to work on.”
“I’m not in the business of being too harsh. But you’re smart enough to know you’re not okay. And whether or not you wanna talk about it is one thing, but don’t lie. Not to me.”
For a second, she stared. Then she slowly shook her head. “Being cheated on isn’t the end of the world.”
“But it doesn’t feel great.” My mind flashed to nearly a decade ago and the horror I’d felt seeing Ace and Norah together. “I would know.”
She paused. “You would?”
I nodded, and at her raised eyebrow, I knew questions were coming. “Long story short, I tried to run from it for a while. It didn’t work.”
Wren’s face fell. “I’m notrunning.I’m digging my heels in, actually. On the library here.”
“So, it’s not a distraction?”
“Maybe you have me there.” She said it slowly, as if she wanted to be able to say no.
“It’s Jude, isn’t it?”
She sighed and her shoulders slumped. And I knew I was right.
“Did you know wholeReddit subsare talking about his little affair? Hell, the Facebook group here is in on it, but it’s not theonly one. It’s huge news. If I did something like this, I’d be sued for breach of contract! But not him, I guess.”
“Does fake dating usually have a contract?”
“This one does,” she said with a sigh. “It said we couldn’t be seen with anyone else. And now he has, and I look like the fool.”
“You’re not a fool for being cheated on.”
“Is that what you told yourself when it happened?” she asked.
“That was different. It was my fault.”
“The cheating wasyourfault?”
“It wasn’t cheating. It was ...” Bad timing. Norah going to Ace right after dumping me. “She found someone better for her. Quickly.”
