Page 28 of Love or Leave (Mapleton #4)

twenty-three

C ara sat on a high stool at Willow's bar and fiddled with her bracelet. She'd only been there for about thirty seconds, but the idea of seeing Jalen already made her sweaty.

She wanted to end things over text, but before she could find the words, he'd messaged her and asked if she wanted to go to a golf simulator with him and his friends that weekend.

It was incredibly tempting to just ghost him, quit golf lessons, and pray she never ran into him at the grocery store, but she really didn't want to be that person. So she asked him to meet her at the brewery for a quick drink that night and he replied, Looking forward to it!

Ugh, the exclamation mark made her panic. Maybe if she hadn't done everything he wanted, he would have known they weren't compatible. But she'd played this sporty golf girl role with him and now he seemed to be way deeper into this than she was.

She couldn't wait to get this breakup over with so she could move on to bigger and better things.

Like Antonio.

"Care-bear," Jer said, finally seeing her at the bar.

He came over with a smile.

"Jer-bear," she said, trying to sound casual.

Jer's smile dropped. "What's wrong?"

"I'm meeting someone."

He wagged his eyebrows. "A sexy someone?"

"Yes, but I'm breaking up with him."

Jer's brows shot up, and he seemed to think for a second. "Is this the Jalen I've heard so much about?"

Cara nodded.

"It's over?"

"Oh yeah," she said. She considered telling him why but didn't want to jump the gun and tell anyone before Max knew.

She was still waiting to hear from Antonio. He'd told her he wanted to talk to Max alone about it first, which she thought was kind of silly, but she went along with it.

"Is this gonna be messy?" Jer asked.

Cara shook her head. "I don't think so. I'm just nervous."

She figured it would be fine. They'd only been on a few dates. But it was nice to have Jer on the other side of the bar for moral support.

Jer nodded. "Break up with him before he orders. That way, he won't stay here to drink his beer all awkwardly."

Cara smiled. "Good call."

"I'll take some time before I come over, and I won't pour it for a while to give you a chance to say what you need to say."

Her shoulders loosened, and she let go of her bracelet. "Thanks."

The door opened behind her and Cara turned toward it just as Jalen walked in. He spotted her and smiled, closing the distance between them in a few long strides.

Here we go.

"You got this," Jer whispered, then took a few steps away to the end of the bar.

She hopped off the stool as Jalen approached, then panicked. How the hell was she supposed to greet him? Give him a hug? Shake his hand?

She'd only broken up with one other person, Cooper, and she'd been so angry with him at that point that she hadn't considered these things.

The memory of that breakup triggered her slightly, but she remembered where she was—with Jer on the other side of the bar. If Jalen turned mean like Cooper had, she could escape easily. Not that he would. Jalen was great.

He just wasn't her person.

"Hey," Jalen said, then pulled her into a tight hug.

She went with it, not sure what to do. He was acting as he always had, without a single inkling he was about to get dumped.

He pulled away and placed a kiss on her cheek. Before she could gather her thoughts, he was already nodding at Jer.

"Excuse me," he said, his hand in the air.

Jer turned and nodded.

"I’ll take a pint of the IPA," he said before turning back to Cara. "You like the IPA here, right?"

Cara's jaw went slack. She didn't know what to say.

Jalen turned back to Jer. “Make that two, please.”

Luckily, Jer seemed to sense her panic and stepped in. "You got it," he said, staying at the end of the bar without moving.

That would buy her a bit of time but she’d need to pull the trigger. Quick.

"Jalen," Cara started, pausing for him to look at her.

He twisted on his stool and smiled. "Yeah?"

"I think you're really great," she said, easing into it, trying to remember what she'd read on how to break up with someone honestly and respectfully.

Jalen gave her a smile. "You, too."

"And I've been thinking a lot lately about what I want and need."

He leaned in closer, and his grin widened. "Me, too," he said. "I think I know what you're going to ask me."

Wait. What?

"What I’m going to ask you?"

Jalen nodded. "I wondered if you weren't down to move forward, physically, because you want to be official first."

Cara’s eyes became dry, and she realized it was because they were open unnaturally wide. Did he think she was going to ask to be his girlfriend?

Shit.

"No, that's not…" she paused, trying desperately to gather her thoughts instead of saying the first thing that came to mind.

"Wait," Jalen said, finally cluing into her general demeanor and awkwardness. "Are you breaking this off?"

Cara sighed and nodded with a wince.

Jalen's face was a mask of shock. "But we… We're so alike."

She fought off the urge to slap her palm to her face.

The article said she should be honest and respectful, so telling him the truth would probably be the best course of action. She'd just blame herself and say she wasn't being honest about her hobbies, rather than emphasize how little he even seemed to care about who she actually was.

"This is because of Antonio, isn't it?"

A glass dropped behind the bar and shattered as the crowd in the room gasped.

She looked up to find Jer staring at her, his empty hand outstretched where the glass had been, and a look of unbridled shock marring his face.

Jalen spared a glance toward the commotion but quickly turned back to her.

"It's because of him, isn't it?"

She winced, knowing full well Jer was listening to the whole thing. But she wasn't going to lie. Again.

She nodded.

Jalen guffawed and turned away from her, shaking his head. "I knew the whole 'he's just my brother's friend' bit was bull."

She didn't have to look at Jer to know he was still staring at her, dumbfounded.

"I'm sorry, Jalen," she said, not knowing what else to say. "You're really great."

He shook his head and stood, then turned to Jer. "I don't need that beer," he said.

Jer mumbled, “Oh, yeah, okay.”

Jalen turned to her. He opened his mouth like he was going to say something more, but he just shook his head and, without another word, walked away.

She had three seconds to breathe a sigh of relief before Jer turned on her.

"Antonio?!" he shouted. "Our Antonio?"

She squeezed her eyes shut and nodded.

"What about his wife?"

She shook her head. "He's not…" she said, stumbling for words as she worked through the emotions of the last three minutes. "That was before."

Jer looked at her with pity-filled eyes. His head tilted slightly to the side. "Cara, baby, no," he said.

Her muscles tensed at the look on his face. She wanted to say his pity was misdirected, that Antonio had changed his mind. That he no longer loved Fran and that he'd moved on.

With her.

In secret.

Suddenly, she couldn't breathe.

That sounded completely foolish.

But he'd said…

She pulled at the collar of her shirt. "We've been hanging out together for a while. He's not… I mean we…"

Jer looked around the room, then back at her. "Max doesn't know, does he."

He said it as a statement, not a question, and it got her back up. She felt the need to defend herself. And Antonio.

"No," she said. "But he's my boyfriend. Things are good between us."

Jer stared at her for a moment. "Is he officially divorced then?" he asked, his eyes full of concern. "The last thing I heard was that he refused to sign the papers. And that was only like two weeks ago."

She stared at Jer, her jaw going slack. Had he officially ended things with Fran?

"I don't know," she said, pulling out her phone.

She sent a text, asking Antonio how things were going with the Max situation, then sat back and tried to remember why trusting Antonio was a good idea.

Antonio's reply came right away.

Antonio: He's helping me move Sunday at 8 am. I'm going to tell him as soon as he gets here.

Cara sighed a breath of relief. At least he was following through with what he'd said he'd do. She needed to give him the benefit of the doubt.

She wondered how their conversation would go. Max had a tendency to get a little protective. And if Ethan’s and Adam's reaction to her and Antonio together was any sign of how this was going to go, it might be better if they did it together.

She decided it couldn't hurt if she came too. Help her new boyfriend out.

She opened the conversation with Max and asked if she could see him on Sunday. She just needed to engineer the situation so she could tag along covertly and act as a buffer.

Max would be fine once he saw how happy they were together. And everyone else would get on board once Max knew.

Everything was going to be a-OK.