Page 66

“Hey, Mia.”
“Jon. I just heard you’re back home.”
“Yeah, Kiera hasn’t been doing very well.”
“I heard that, too. Bed rest and saltine crackers should take the edge off.”
“Good to know. How have things been?”
“They’ve been good. Nothing crazy.” I pause. “Listen, there’s something I want to ask you.”
“Sure thing.”
“Before you left for vacation, did you tell Jake to do something for you?”
“Other than take care of everything with KH, not particularly no. Why?”
“So you didn’t tell him to move into my apartment to keep an eye on me.”
“Why on earth would I do that?”
I stare at Jake with wide eyes. He only responds with another nod.
“Is-is he living with you? Did he tell you I told him to do that?” I can hear his anger and confusion.
“Until now. You’re sure this wasn’t your idea?”
“Mia, I know in the past I’ve been a bit overprotective, but I’d never tell my best friend to do something like that for me.”
“So he hasn’t told you anything?”
“He told me he was in love with you when he picked us up at the airport this morning, but that was it.” Jonathan sounds bewildered. “W-what the hell has been going on since I’ve been gone?”
Despite Jonathan’s panic, I find myself distracted by Jake’s eyes locked onto me. And I can’t seem to stop myself from doing the same.
I turn my attention to Jonathan’s voice on the phone. “I’ll call you back later.”
My mind flashes back to weeks prior: Jonathan’s sudden decision to go on vacation and my New Year’s kiss with Jake. Everything that’s happened since the holidays now all makes sense.
I hang up the phone with zero hesitation.
“If you don’t want me,” Jake says. “if your heart is with someone else, I’ll understand.”
“Someone else?” I speak softly. I don’t know whether to feel shocked, deceived, or flattered. My emotions are all over the place.
“Your boyfriend, Vance.”
I’ve just now entered a whole other level of mind blown. Crap, I forgot about Vance. About the fact I told Jake we were seeing each other when that was a complete lie.
Whether out of realization of the irony, or something else entirely, I start laughing.
He awkwardly laughs with me. “What are we laughing about?”
He must think I’ve gone crazy. I take a deep breath before I respond. “I’m sorry. I should have told you earlier.”
“Told me what?”
“Vance was never my boyfriend. I just said that to make you jealous.”