Page 46 of Mating of Convenience
“It’s not that cop. There is no cop.”
“But there issomeone.” He hadn’t denied that.
“I’m telling you, I’m not seeing anyone.”
For some reason, I found it hard to believe that. Conner and I had been friends since our college days and I could tell when he was lying. Not that he was lying very often, which made it even easier. “Okay, so it’s not the cop.” I took a moment to think. Who else could it be? “Is it someone from work?”
“You didn’t call to interrogate me did you?”
I knew my friend well enough to know when he was lying, but I also knew him well enough to know when I wasn’t going to get anywhere with him. Conner could be damn stubborn if he wanted to be. So I let the topic drop. For now. “I slept with Nathan.”
It took Connor a second to process that statement, then he hurried to ask, “You did what?”
I had to try my hardest not to laugh at the shock in his voice. “Wait, you really didn’t expect that?”
“Are you telling me that you really did?”
I glanced at the closed bathroom door where I could still hear the shower running. Nathan was going to be a little while longer, so there was no harm in talking to Conner openly. “I guess, there was always a part of me, the kind of hoped we would fall into bed with each other again.”
On the other end of the line, my friend remained quiet for a moment. Although I couldn’t see him, I knew that he was deep in thought. I could just imagine the frown lines appearing on his forehead.
Eventually, he spoke. “I guess I’m so surprised, because I was around after you left. If you had seen Nathan during those days… It was really bad, you know. I didn’t think there was any coming back from that for the two of you.”
Guilt nagged at my core following Conner’s words. I’d known that I’d hurt Nathan, but to hear my friend talk about it like that…
I needed to be better this time around. I couldn’t hurt Nathan again, not when he was giving me a second chance after everything. Why was he even doing that? I’d done nothing to deserve it.
“Raph, you still there?” Conner asked when I’d been silent for a while. He sounded concerned now, and like he felt he’d maybe said too much.
“Yeah, I’m still here,” I said trying to sound casual and forcing a smile onto my face, that I hoped would translate into my words. At least that was one thing I was good at, making other people believe I didn’t care too deeply about anything.
Had I made Nathan believe I didn’t care too deeply about him either?
There was another odd sound at the other end of the line. And then I heard another voice speak. I couldn’t make out exactly what they were saying, but I still recognized the speaker. Was that seriously…? “Are you having Jake over?”
“I’m not having Jake over!” Conner said with such vehemence that it was all too obvious he was lying.
“I can’t believe you’re seeing Jake again.”
“I can’t believe you’re saying that while fucking Nathan.”
Well, he had a point there. “Fair enough.”
“What are you going to do about Nathan anyway?” Conner asked, obviously trying to steer the topic away from himself again. For now, I let him, but I would get to the bottom of this relationship with Jake later. The water had been turned off in the bathroom, so my time was running out. It would be better to end this call before Nathan stepped out of the bathroom again.
“I’m going to do my best,” I told Conner. “And I’m not going to repeat my mistakes.”
“I hope it works out for you. For both of you.”
“Thank you. You too,” I added before hanging up. Shoving my phone back in my pocket, I got up from the bed. Nathan was going to want coffee when he was done washing up, so as a thoughtful husband, I was going to prepare some for him. We hadn’t had the best start, but things could only get better from here on out, right?
I wanted to make this work. I had to.
Even if I didn’t yet know how.
23
Raphael
