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Should I have known that as a fiancée?
Don't get worked up, Isabella. There are men who tell their women everything, and there are men who tell their women almost nothing. How is Abigail supposed to know which kind of man Carter is?
"I was also with Carter once." Abigail's words snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Excuse me?" I thought I had misheard. Had Abigail just said she had been with Carter once?
"I was also with Carter once," Abigail repeated and added, "Until about a year ago. Then Carter left me hanging."
I stared at her in disbelief. Carter had left her hanging?
Isabella, pull yourself together now. You don't know what happened back then. Maybe Abigail cheated on Carter, and that's why he left her.
Or...
Another thought occurred to me.
Maybe they hadn't been together at all? Maybe Abigail was just imagining it because she would have liked to be with Carter? Why would Carter have been interested in such an unremarkable person?
"After our breakup, I gained ten kilos." Lost in thought, Abigail looked up at the cloudy sky and then turned back to me. "You're probably wondering why I'm telling you all this. Why I'm here."
"Yes," I nodded. The conversation was uncomfortable for me, and I wanted to end it as quickly as possible. Gossip with the ex of my own... fiancé... That was really the last thing I felt like doing.
"He dumped me. Just like he dumped all the women before and after me." Abigail looked at me wistfully.
"I'm sorry," I said now. "A breakup is always hard." It was churning inside me. Would Carter dump me the same way?
Don't be silly, Isabella. You're not even really engaged, so Carter can't dump you. Your contract will simply end. And that's all.
Today.
The contract would end today.
But in the past week, something had developed between Carter and me that somehow felt different and more real than anything I had ever known.
"I want to tell you something. Something important. That's why I came." Abigail's words startled me.
"Something important?" I repeated questioningly.
"Yes. It's about Carter. On the surface, he's a charming person whom everyone adores. Especially women. But what it looks like inside him..." Abigail looked at me mysteriously. She lowered her voice and leaned slightly towards me.
What it looked like inside Carter? Hadn't I been asking myself that over the past few days as well?
"Every time a woman believes Carter has feelings for her and that she's the only one, he disappears again." Abigail whispered. At that moment, a cool wind picked up. I shivered and at the same time felt small beads of sweat forming on my back. Abigail's words hit me like blows.
"He just can't be faithful. I don't even want to know how many times he cheated on me when we were still together. He's simply not made for anything long-term. He can barely stand to be with a woman for a week. If that. I don't think he knows what love is. For him, it's all more... more like a business. A contract."
More like a business. A contract.
The words echoed in my ears. I closed my eyes. I wanted nothing more than to run away, to hear nothing more.
"The only thing missing is him paying for it." Abigail was relentless.
He already has.
I didn't voice the thought. It was none of Abigail's business. Behind my closed eyes, $50,000 danced.
Had Carter never wanted anything more than a business arrangement? Was everything I had seen in him, all the affection I had perceived... had it all just been an act in the end? Or maybe not an act... but was it something that wouldn't have lasted beyond our week together anyway?