Page 65 of The Rules of Dating a Younger Man
“It was a lifetime ago.”
“It doesn’t matter if it was a hundred years ago. It happened, and no amount of time can take that back. This is what being a parent is. You have to put your child first.”
He blew into the phone. “Will you come on Thursday again this week? So we can talk?”
“I’m not sure I can come back at all, Brayden.”
“But…”
Tears filled my eyes. “I need to go. I pulled over at a gas station to call you, and I don’t want to get home too late after Caitlin, in case she drops by or something.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll let you know whether I’ll be back at Ryan’s House.”
“Okay. But I hope you come back.”
“Goodbye, Brayden.”
“Be careful driving.”
I swiped my phone off just as my tears spilled over. I hadn’t cried yet, but suddenly I couldn’t turn off the waterworks. My shoulders shook as I sobbed and sobbed. It felt like my heart had been split in half. I wanted to turn my car around, drive back to the hotel, jump into Brayden’s arms, and let him tell me everything was going to be alright. But it wouldn’t be. That wasn’t real. It was just a fantasy.
Maybe that’s what thinking things could work out with Brayden had been from the start—a fantasy.
***
“That…” Wells twirled his pointer finger, motioning to my face. “…had better be a look of exhaustion from banging all night, not from tossing and turning because of pent-up sexual frustration.”
My eyes filled with tears as I stood across from him Monday morning at work.
Wells’s face changed, and he pulled me into a hug. “Oh, sweetheart, you don’t look that bad. Stop being so sensitive. Plus, we can do a laser eye treatment for those bags.”
I sniffled, pulling back from Wells. “Brayden and me—it’s over. We can’t see each other anymore.”
“Why? What happened?”
“He…used to date Caitlin.”
Wells blinked twice. “Come again?”
I shook my head. “I know. It’s crazy. But Caitlin showed up to surprise me at the hotel this weekend, and it turns out the two of them know each other. They dated for a while in college. For months actually. She was supposed to bring him on a family ski trip even, but it wound up getting canceled.”
“Holy shit.”
“I know.”
“Damn, you two really do have the same taste. Remember that time you showed up at Richard’s office party in the same dress?”
I closed my eyes. “You’re not making me feel any better.”
“Sorry, Kitten. I’m sure it was a shock to find that out, but does it really matter? College was a decade ago for Caitlin. What did she say when she found out?”
“She wasn’t happy. She was as freaked out as I was.”
“Well, give it some time. I’m sure she won’t care.”
I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter if she cares. I care. They…were intimate.”