Page 21 of Desperate Pucker
“What did he do?” Maya asks. She’s really beautiful and almost as tall as Ingrid is. She has long, dark hair and a tan I’m jealous of.
I sigh, feeling more relaxed. “He, um, cheated on me for most of our relationship.”
They’re all shaking their heads. Bella mutters, “What a douche.”
“Yeah, he definitely was,” I say.
“My ex was a cheater too,” Bella says, gently patting my hand. “Was he a hockey player? Mine was.”
I shake my head. “Figure skater, like me.”
Sophie looks at her friends. “But Madeline is way, way better than he is.”
I shake my head, blushing.
“You are,” she says. “Madeline went to the Winter Olympics twice. And she medaled. Your ex didn’t.”
I flash a flustered smile. “How did you know that?”
Sophie’s cheeks flush pink. “When you got hired on with the Bashers, I knew who you were. I grew up watching you skate on TV.”
“I did too,” Dakota says, smiling. “You’re amazing, Madeline.”
“Thank you,” I say, even though I don’t feel amazing. I think about my freakout at the last Winter Olympics. They all probably saw it.
I brace myself for them to ask me about it, but they don’t. Instead, Bella talks about how she threw wine in the face of her cheating ex when he walked into this bar, which she used to work at. I burst out laughing along with the rest of them.
“I should have done that to Sergei,” I say, sipping more wine.
“It’s very freeing, chucking a drink in a guy’s face. Try it sometime,” Bella jokes.
Everyone laughs.
I glance down at my glass. “I found out today that he got engaged,” I say quietly. “To another figure skater…who won gold at the Winter Olympics the year that I won bronze. And who was also one of the women he was cheating on me with.”
They all fall quiet. When I look up, they’re all gazing at me with pained expressions.
“Oh my god…” Ingrid murmurs.
I nod and down more wine. “Way to twist the knife, huh?” I sigh. “I don’t even want to be with him anymore, but it just really hurts to know that he got his happily ever after after how he treated me, you know?”
They all nod like they understand completely.
“I’m not gonna pretend I know what you’re going through,” Dakota says. She swipes her long, chocolate brown hair over her shoulder. “But I know what it feels like to have your heart shattered. I know what it’s like to feel hopeless—like life sucks and will never get better. I went through that with my ex.”
I look at her, heartened that she’s sharing her experience with me. “Can I ask what happened?”
She gives me a sad smile. “I got married to the biggest jerk on the planet. He humiliated me during our reception by shoving cake in my face when I asked him not to, and in that moment, I finally realized what a piece of garbage he was and broke up with him, on the spot.”
My eyes go wide. “Oh my gosh.”
“It was a trashy, tragic mess for sure,” Dakota says. “It felt like I lost everything in that moment. My marriage, my home, the future I pictured together.”
Sophie gives her shoulder a soft squeeze.
Dakota looks at me. “I thought that I was done with dating and relationships forever after breaking up with my ex. But then Sam came along and changed all that.”
Her fiancé is Sam McKesson, defenseman for the Bashers. I met him when I attended orientation for my job. He was so nice and welcoming.
