Page 60 of The Rules of Dating a Younger Man
“I’m not following.”
“Her stepdaughter and my old college girlfriend, Kate, are one and the same.”
“Oh. Shit. No way!”
“Yeah.”
“How did you not figure this out before?”
“I’d never seen a picture of her stepdaughter. And Alex always referred to her as Caitlin. Caitlin went by Kate in college. Now that I think of it, Kate was from Connecticut. So is Alex. But that’s such a minor similarity. I would’ve never thought to connect the two. Everyone I went to school with called me Brady, remember? That’s what I told them my name was—figured it was short for Brayden. I’d had that stupid idea that I wanted to create a new identity at college, and that shortening my name to Brady would somehow help. Boy, that came back to bite me in the ass.”
“Okay, so that’s why her daughter didn’t make the connection…”
“I guess.” I shook my head. “God, this is so messed up.”
“Alright.” He sighed. “It is…but listen, as hard as it may be to believe right now, it’s not the end of the world. What you had with Kate wasn’t serious, right? And it’s been a decade. Very good chance she doesn’t give two shits about any of this. So who cares?”
“Pretty sure Alex does. There’s no way she’s gonna get over the fact that Kate and I were together at one time, no matter how many years have passed. And there’s absolutely no way she’d do anything if there was a chance it would upset her daughter. I know her. It’s family first. Alex and Kate? They’re all each other has. Alex and me? We’re done.” My voice cracked. “We’re fucking done, Holden.”
“You need me to come there?”
“No, man. Thank you, though. I appreciate the offer.”
He sighed. “I don’t know what to say. This is the craziest shit that’s ever happened to one of us. I’m truly sorry.”
“Figures it would happen to me.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m more worried about Alex than anything, though. She’d finally decided to trust me. I don’t know if she’s told Kate the truth by now or not. Either way, it’s a shitshow.”
“Wait…back up. The daughter hasn’t figured it out yet?”
“Everything happened so fast. I’d just gone downstairs to meet Alex when I saw them both standing there. Kate recognized me before Alex could introduce us. Once I figured out what was happening, I didn’t know what to do. I basically pretended to introduce myself to Alex, made small talk with Kate for a minute or two, and then left. I can’t imagine what’s going on in Alex’s head right now.”
“Okay. Here’s what you’re gonna do…” he said. “You’re gonna breathe. Calm the fuck down. And don’t beat yourself up about this, Brayden. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Sure as hell doesn’t feel that way.” I exhaled. “At the moment, I feel like the worst person on the planet.”
“Sometimes things happen for a reason, even if we can’t figure out why.”
“I have a hard time believing that anything good could possibly come out of this.”
“I’m putting my money on your ex not caring as much as you think she does.”
“Even if it didn’t bother Kate—which I highly doubt, because who wouldn’t be fucked up by this situation—it’s the principle of the matter. Alex is a woman of principle. She overthinks everything. Super cautious. And Alex especially values her relationship with Caitlin…Kate…more than anything. She told me it took years for them to get to where they are today. Alex would never risk hurting her.”
“Well, try not to jump to conclusions. As much as you think you know how this is going to play out, you might be surprised.”
“I’d give anything to be wrong, man.” I let out a long breath. “I’d better let you go.”
“You sure? I can stay on as long as you need to.”
“Nah. I need to think about this alone for a while.”
“Alright. You call me if you need me.”
“I will, dude. Thank you. I appreciate you trying to calm me down.”
After several minutes of bouncing my legs up and down as I sat on the bed, staring blankly at the wall, I sent Alex a text.
Brayden: Please let me know when you have a moment to talk. I’m going crazy over here.