Page 136 of Love Is an Art
“For a minute.” I can’t lie to her.
Her shoulders slump.
“You’re never going to get past my lie about being an artist,” Tessa says. “I’m not Paisley. I’m tired. I’ve lost my bonus. I hope your presentation went well today. I don’t want to do this anymore.”
“Tessa.”
“Can you please go?” She opens the door.
“It was a mistake,” I say. “I know you would never cheat on me.”
“Please go. I’m tired. I want to be alone. And tomorrow, I’m meeting yet another crappy guy, and I need to be in top shape.”
“Tessa, please.”
But there’s a tear rolling down her cheek, and I can’t say no to her.
I walk out the door and down the steps.I really messed that up.
Chapter forty-four
Tessa
I’mnotgoingtocry. I don’t cry. Not over men. My insides feel like a windowpane cracked into a million shards of sharp glass, now piercing me. A tear escapes. I brush it away with the back of my hand. Fool. Stupid fool. I knew I shouldn’t fall for him. He couldn’t have been clearer that he didn’t want to date a workaholic lawyer. He couldn’t have been clearer that he had trust issues—that he was messed up from his ex.
My eyes squeeze shut to stop the tears falling. I lean my head back against the stone-cold, metal door of our apartment.
If anyone knows not to date someone who isn’t all in, it’s me. I deserve someone who is all in. Someone who knows I would never cheat.It’s not who I am.If he doesn’t trust me or know that fundamentally, there’s no relationship.
My phone rings. It’s Iris. I pick up.
“Can I stay with you guys tonight?” Iris asks. “Patrick and I had another fight, and I don’t want to be in the same apartment as him.”
“Sure. Zeke and I broke up. We can commiserate,” I say. “Miranda is over at William’s. You can have her bed.”
“Oh, Tessa, I’m so sorry. And he seemed like such a good guy too,” Iris says. “I’ll bring ice cream.”
“What happened with Patrick?” I ask as Iris plunks three pints of ice cream on the table between us. I open the mint chocolate chip and spoon out a hefty bite.
“You go first,” Iris says.
“Wyatt came over, and Zeke saw us in the window and actually thought I might be getting back together with him.”
“Does he know that Wyatt dumped you?”
“Thanks,” I say.
“Sorry.” Iris picks up the pint of New York Super Fudge Chunk and takes a big spoonful. “I mean, does he know that you wouldnever everget back together with Wyatt?”
“Apparently not,” I say. “Case in point: Wyatt was over here apologizing because he’s the idiot who told Tom I was always planning to go to FLAFL. And Tom told Jack. So that was a mess. And then, to have Zeke believe that I would cheat on him … As if I would ever cheat on anybody. I feel like he’s never going to forget that I lied to him. Or recover from his ex-girlfriend cheating on him.”
Iris wrinkles up her brow. “But then, what did he see in the window?”
“I don’t know.” I stare at our closed blue drapes. “I guess I went to close the curtains, and Wyatt followed me. He reminded me of the time we’d hidden behind them while playing hide-and-seek with some friends’ kids visiting. He was trying to charm me out of being pissed off with him. And then I think Wyatt wrestled with me to close the curtain. Maybe that looked really bad from the street? I don’t know.” I take another huge bite of ice cream. I feel so sad, and the coldness of the mint chocolate chip ice cream doesn’t help.How can he not know that I would never cheat on him?
“I mean, the guy was cheated on, and then he sees you wrestling with your ex in the window—which might have looked amorous from the street view. It’s not entirely implausible,” Iris says. “We are all a bit insecure. What’s good is that he came right over here to figure out the truth. He didn’t disappear to stew about it.”
“He did say it was only for a minute, that he knows I wouldn’t cheat on him.”
