Page 26 of Fake-Off with Fate (Love in Maple Falls #1)

JAMIE

The upside, for me anyway, is that Ashlyn will be staying in Maple Falls. The downside, of course, is that she’s very worried about her parents.

My thoughts have been jumping all over the place today and briefly shift to hockey.

Preseason practice has ended and we’re getting ready for our first game against the Great Lakes Vikings.

The Ice Breakers are well on their way to being a finely honed team, and not just on the ice.

We’re working hard to help the town raise the money needed to buy their land back.

Last week at the farmers’ market, I even got drawn into something called “Drenched for Defense.” They essentially sold buckets of water that people got to throw at some of my teammates. While I didn’t sign up for it, I still somehow got roped into it .

Ashlyn’s neighbor, Clara, has been working on building our social media presence, which we’re using to help promote the upcoming bachelor auction.

Ashlyn and I continue to see a lot of each other.

We mostly brainstorm ideas to help the town, but we still manage to find time to talk about ourselves.

She’s mentioned on more than one occasion that she feels I should talk to Allegra in person.

I’ve maintained that when someone cheats on you, they lose all rights to your time.

She claims that three years should buy you a final meeting. We’ve agreed to disagree.

I’m currently sitting at Shirley May’s eating breakfast, thinking about the wild turn my life has taken in the last few months.

I thought I had my whole future worked out.

I was eventually going to marry Allegra, and then we would have had a family, and maybe a dog or some cats.

We would buy a summer house in the Hamptons and the kids and I would travel with Allegra whenever she had a job.

As much as I knew I would retire in a few years, I was just as certain that Allegra would not.

Her identity largely revolves around her looks, and I assumed she would always need to be in the spotlight to be validated.

But now we’re no longer a couple, and I’ve left New York. Not only that, but I’m playing with a new team, and I have a new woman in my life. Even though Ashlyn and I are not romantically involved, she means more to me every day.

I’m so lost in thought that I don’t realize I have company until I hear someone demand, “What’s going on with you and Ashlyn Thompkins?”

I look up to find the mayor’s assistant looming over me. I don’t bother to let him know that I recognize him from the emergency town hall meeting. Instead, I ask, “Who are you?”

“I’m Phillip Bane. I work for Mayor Thompkins.”

“How is it any of your business what’s going on between me and Ashlyn?”

“The mayor is worried about his daughter. She’s going back to Los Angeles, you know. ”

“If the mayor is worried, why isn’t the mayor the one talking to me?”

Phillip huffs loudly. “Mayor Thompkins is very busy trying to save Maple Falls. He’s asked me to talk to you.” Phillip sits down across the table from me.

“You’ve talked to the mayor, have you?” I ask. He’s obviously lying because Ashlyn hasn’t even been able to talk to her dad. I immediately feel the same loathing for this man that she does.

“I talk to him all the time,” Phillip lies. “I’m his right hand.”

I wipe a small amount of pancake syrup off my mouth before asking, “And the mayor has asked you to speak with me?”

“Not in as many words,” Phillip says. “But I think you should know he isn’t happy about what’s happening between you and his daughter.”

“I see.” Stepping out of the booth, I stand up and tell him, “I suppose he should take that up with me directly then. I don’t talk to lackeys.”

“Lackeys?!” Phillip is offended, which was of course my intention. “I’ll have you know that I am the next mayor of this town, and you should want to be on good terms with me.”

“I didn’t realize Mayor Thompkins was stepping down,” I tell him.

“I’m running for office when his term is up.” Phillip practically bounces to his feet like a fully wound jack-in-the-box. With his fists clenched at his sides, he appears to be contemplating getting physical.

“If I’m still in Maple Falls at that time,” I tell him, “I’ll be voting for your opponent.”

“You’d better watch yourself, Mr. Hayes.” As if this twerp could do anything to me.

Instead of continuing this ridiculous conversation, I simply drop a twenty on the table to cover my bill, and then I walk out of the restaurant. I’m about to fish my phone out of my pocket to fill Ashlyn in on what just took place when I run into the last person in the world I expected to see.

“Allegra, what are you doing here?” My chic ex is standing in front of me with a look of raw anticipation on her face.

“I told you that I wanted to talk to you, Jamie.”

“I told you there was no reason,” I respond.

“Yes, well, I’m here now.” Allegra is wearing boots with a three-inch heel, so she stands nearly eye-to-eye with me. “All I want is a few minutes of your time.”

“You flew across the country for a few minutes of my time?” I ask with astonishment. This is uncharacteristic behavior, as Allegra is the kind of person who lets the world come to her, not vice versa.

She steps closer to me and makes a move to take my hand. There is no way in heck I’m going to have a conversation with her publicly. The last thing I want is for anyone to see us together and start to speculate. Or, God forbid, take a picture and sell it to the tabloids.

“You can come to my cabin, and we can talk there,” I tell her.

She looks so happy that I feel a spark of something start to bloom in my chest. It’s not happiness, but perhaps an emotion related to sympathy.

“I’ll drive with you,” she says.

I motion toward my SUV and then unlock the doors with my remote. I don’t bother to open her door for her like I always did when we were together. Instead, I walk around and get into the driver’s side. Allegra stands on the sidewalk, seemingly expecting her door to magically pop open.

Turning on the car, I lower the passenger side window and tell her, “Get in.”

She reluctantly opens the door for herself. Once she’s sitting next to me, I pull out onto the street. We drive in silence for a minute or two, before she says, “I’m having a hard time seeing you living in a place like this. ”

“Yeah, well, this is my new life.” I feel the need to add, “Thanks to you.”

She shrinks slightly in my peripheral vision. “I’m sorry, Jamie. I’m sorry for what I did to you. It wasn’t right and it wasn’t fair.”

“You are correct,” I tell her.

“I wasn’t thinking clearly,” she says. “I made a mistake.”

I slow the car down and turn into my driveway. I don’t turn off the car once I park. Instead, I tell her, “If that’s all you needed to say, I’ll take you back into town.”

“That’s not all I came here for.” Before I can warn her about the bear family, she steps out of the car and starts cat-walking toward the cabin. That’s when she comes face to face with mama bear.

Allegra releases a bloodcurdling scream so loud I’m surprised it doesn’t shatter our eardrums. In response, the mama bear merely turns and ambles toward the closest tree.

That’s when the baby bear shoots across the path toward his mother.

Allegra shrieks again before turning around and running toward me. “There are bears here!” she shouts.

I take her hand and pull her toward my front porch. I’ve gotten better at dealing with my neighbors in the last several days, but even so, I don’t dilly dally. Once we’re inside, I drop Allegra’s hand. Going into the kitchen, I ask her, “Do you want some water?”

“Yes, please.” She follows me and sits down at the small kitchen table. “What are you doing living in the woods with bears?”

“I didn’t know they lived here when I moved in,” I tell her.

“Jamie.” Her tone is full of pleading. I put her glass of water in front of her, and after she takes a sip, she says. “Please move back home.”

“Why would I do that?” I ask, sitting across from her. “I play for the Ice Breakers now.”

“The Blades would take you back in a heartbeat. ”

“I’m the captain of a new team, Allegra. I have a contract.” I feel the need to add, “There’s nothing left for me in New York.”

I can tell I’ve hurt her, and even though she also hurt me, I still feel bad about it.

Before I get a chance to soften my words, she proceeds with, “Brett and I have broken up for good,” like I’m supposed to somehow know what this has to do with me.

I don’t have to wait long for clarification.

“I want us to try again, Jamie. We were together for a long time. We meant a lot to each other.”

“Until you left me for another man,” I remind her.

“I’m very sorry about that. I was wrong.”

I can’t help but wonder why Allegra thinks I’ll just forgive her and go back. “You made a fool out of me in front of the whole world.”

“I’ll tell the press how wrong I was. I’ll tell them anything you want me to.”

I look at my ex like I’m seeing her for the first time. While stunningly beautiful, with her sleek, long brown hair and matching eyes, there’s something completely unrecognizable about her. I feel like I never really knew her.

“There’s nothing to tell the press, Allegra. I don’t want you back. I’ve moved on.”

Her eyes narrow slightly before she says, “I’ve heard. With some small-town girl named Ashlyn.” She says Ashlyn’s name like it’s a curse word.

“Yes,” I lie. “I’ve moved on with Ashlyn.”

“You haven’t been with her for that long, Jamie. She can’t mean much to you.”

“What does time have to do with anything, Allegra? You and I were together for three years, and yet you had no problem dumping me for a man you’d just met.”

“And I’m sorry about that!” She jumps to her feet and starts a righteous pace across my kitchen floor. “Brett isn’t the man I thought he was.”

“I don’t know who you thought he was,” I tell her, “but even I knew he was a three-time married lothario with quite a track record for breaking hearts.”

She stops pacing and comes back to the table. Dropping to her knees in front of me, she puts her hands on top of mine. “I was confused. I was sad that we didn’t spend a lot of time together. I was vulnerable.”

I gently remove my hands from under hers. “I’m sorry you were unhappy. I truly am. But you made your choice. We had a long run, but our time together is over. I’m with Ashlyn now.” Even though I intellectually know there’s no truth to what I’m saying, my heart still wants to believe it.

“You can’t love her!” Allegra declares heatedly.

“Why is that?”

She seems to finally realize she can’t use time against me. “Because I still love you!”

“I don’t know how many times you have to hear this, Allegra, but I have stopped loving you. You are my past, not my future.”

I have never felt comfortable watching someone cry, so I’m unprepared for the coldness I feel when my ex bursts into tears. “I made a mistake,” she wails. “I want to make things right.”

“What’s done is done,” I tell her. “You and I are no more.”

Allegra stands up slowly with a rigidity in her shoulders that makes it clear she’s finally hearing my words. “You can take me back into town now.”

As she walks to the front door, I wonder why we needed to have this out in person. Standing up, I grab my keys along with a box of granola and join her. Stepping out on the porch before her, I throw the cereal into the woods and say, “That will only buy us a couple of minutes. Let’s go.”

Once we’re back in the car, Allegra asks, “How can you live in a place like this? It’s so rural. So barbaric.”

“Bears are part of nature. They were here before us.” When did I start defending the bear population? Just a couple of weeks ago, I thought just like Allegra did, but now I’m taking their side against her. I must be adapting faster than I realized.

We make the trip into town in silence. Once we arrive back at Shirley May’s, I pull into a parking spot and tell Allegra, “Have a safe trip home.”

“That’s it? You don’t have anything else to say to me?” Tears start to pool in her doe-like eyes again.

“I don’t know what else you want me to say. I’m sorry about the way things ended between us, but I wasn’t the one who ended us. I’m sorry you’re having regrets, but there’s nothing I can do for you.”

“You could give me another chance.” She says this so quietly I wonder if I imagined it.

“I have a meeting at the arena,” I lie. “I need to go.”

She finally takes the hint and gets out of my car. Before shutting the door behind her, she says, “I love you, Jamie. I really do.” When I don’t respond in kind, she closes the door.

Two weeks ago, before I met Ashlyn, I might have considered going back to Allegra. But not now. Now I know there’s something better out there for me. I just have to try to convince Ashlyn to give me a chance to prove that I’m the one for her.