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I narrowly miss my thumb as I blow out a relieved breath, and l look up to find her scrolling through her phone. “Amie. You need to leave. I guarantee whatever gift you have, he isn’t going to want it.”

Still looking down at her phone with delight, she stands from the couch and saunters over to me. “Oh, the gift isn’t for him babes. It’s for you. I mean...” She stands on the opposite side of the counter. “...technically, it’s not a gift now, but in six months’ time you’ll probably thank me.”

I don’t respond. What the fuck is she talking about.

“Well.” She blows out a resigned breath and sets her phone on the counter, pushing it across to me. “Ideally I wanted Zach to be here too since he’s probably better at explaining all this than me, but I guess as you want me to leave, now will have to do.”

As I pick up the phone, the screen is lit with messages, and as my eyes focus on what they say and who they’re from, I want to hurl.

Back and forth, back and forth, messages between Zach and Amie. My heart screams at me to drop the phone and walk away, but my body defies it, my thumb continuing to scroll relentlessly. Some of them are pure filth, making it seem like they’ve been sleeping together for months since he got back to Seattle. Others are “I love you” and “I need to break things off with her, but I don’t want to hurt her. I had fun over the summer, but it’s not a long-term thing.”

Don’t cry. Do not cry, Luna. That’s what she wants to see.

He wouldn’t break me like this. Not Zach.

I know he wouldn’t.

“I know what you’re thinking.” She leans her elbow on the counter and rests her chin on her palm. “Not Zach. He wouldn’t do it to me.”

With her other hand, her red fingernail taps the screen a few times, taking me all the way to the bottom of the conversation.

Zach

Baby don’t come over tonight. She’s here, and a week earlier than expected. I promise I’ll find a way to see you before Christmas. I miss you x

“There’s no way. This is all fake.” I steel my shoulders and push the disgusting lies back across the table.

Snatching the phone up, her voice is way sharper now. She narrows her eyes at me. Searching for any hint of weakness. “What are you saying? That I’m some sort of crazy person making this all up?” She scoffs. “I don’t have the time or the know-how to create such a thing.”

My head still at war with my heart, I work to convince myself she is exactly that. Twisted.

I point over at the stroller. “Aren’t you concerned that your baby boy will be left without a dad when all this comes out? Because that’s why you’re here, isn’t it? To out your affair and split me and Zach up. What happens when Alex finds out? He must be a pretty good dad, having all that time now that he doesn’t play hockey.”

She looks to the side and shakes her head.

“Huh?” I huff out aggressively. “All I see is someone screwing themselves over.”

Still facing away from me, she stares off down the hallway that leads to our bedroom. The door is wide open, and I knowshe can see my clothes all over the floor when I rushed to get changed.

Casting her eyes up to the ceiling, she nods twice and then slowly her bottom lip starts to quiver.

Is she…crying?

“I’m not with Justin’s dad.”

I don’t miss the absence of Schneider’s name.

I should probably keep my nose out. But since she’s trying to fuck with me, in our home, I have zero regard for her privacy. “Who is the dad, Amie?”

“You don’t know him.”

What?

“But I thought it was between Zach and Alex?”

“Neither of them is the father,” she whispers.

“Amie,” I say as calmly as I can. “Have you and Zach really been sleeping together?” Given her vulnerable state, I sense this is my best chance to get the truth.