“Because obviously, having a vagina, I couldn’t have made a decision in my own best interests.”
“Oh, Josh. You didn’t.” Madeline shook her head at him.
Josh’s cheeks flushed. “I— Okay, yeah—I should have talked to you. I was afraid I couldn’t go through with it if you were right there.”
Now I was really angry, and all that hurt and rage could finally be unleashed on the guy who was the source. I no longer cared that I looked like I spent my free time reading romance novels and accumulating cats between visits to the shire.
“Yeah, Josh, you should have talked to me. It’s not like I didn’t know you were going to be drafted. And maybe we could have decided on a long-distance relationship, or maybe we would have broken up. But you could have respected me enough to let me have a say in a decision that affected me.”
Josh’s jaw fell open. He swallowed. “You would have wanted to break up?”
I rolled my eyes so hard it hurt. “We’ll never know because you didn’t bother to talk to me.”
I reminded myself that Josh wasn’t cute, he looked like a goldfish. “I just— I never thought?—”
Before I could explode again, Madeline patted his arm. “You’re not irresistible.”
His cheeks heated up as he stared at the floor. “I know.”
That seemed like my cue. “Well, I’m going to my room. Have fun.”
“Katie?” Josh was wearing his kicked-puppy expression. “I’m sorry.”
I stopped in my tracks. I deserved an apology, damn it, but the right one. “What are you sorry for, exactly?”
“That I didn’t talk to you. I thought I was doing the right thing.”
“Really?” I wanted to cross my arms or put my hands on my hips, but I was still hanging on to my laptop. Instead, I let my tone show just how much I doubted that. “And that’s why you started going out with Rhonda?”
He looked down again. “Mom said I needed to make it real.”
“What a bitch!” Madeline said the words, but they were exactly what I was thinking.
“Yeah, I knew she never liked me.” There was an unsettled feeling in my stomach. When he took Rhonda out, I’d been angry and hurt and mortified. Convinced he’d really wanted to fuck his way through the puck bunnies when he got to play hockey. Not that his “best for you” argument was any better. I didn’t want to think his mother had manipulated him, that maybe he’d really believed breaking up was in my best interests. I wanted to keep hating him.
“That’s not right. She liked you.”
I rolled my eyes again. Madeline tilted her head in a question. I shook mine. “You dodged a bullet, Katie.”
There was an awkward pause. I wasn’t going to discuss Josh’s mother, and Madeline was waiting for us to entertain her.
“Uh, I’m going to go.” Josh’s eyes were flicking from me to Madeline to the hallway.
Madeline nodded at Josh. “Good idea.”
“And again, I’m sorry, Katie. I didn’t want to be an asshole.” He turned and headed to the doorway.
Madeline followed and locked the door behind him. “Wine?” she asked when she came back.
I nodded and finally set my laptop down.
She pulled a bottle out of the fridge and reached for the corkscrew. “They never want to be an asshole, and yet…”
“Exactly.”
Chapter 3
I’ve Lost the Story Here
