“I feel like the worst person in the entire world,” I cried to Dave just after he’d ordered a pepperoni and extra cheese pizza. “I only did it so that we could expand the youth center like we’ve always talked about. Now, not only did I screw that up, but I’ve made it impossibly harder to pay our bills.”
He set a mug of spiked hot chocolate on the coffee table in front of me and joined me on the couch. “Don’t worry about it, Tosh. We’ll figure it out. We always have, and we always will. Don’t you remember how much we struggled when we first moved in together? We were eating butter noodles every day and unplugged everything unless we needed it just to keep the electricity bill low. We made it through that, and we’ll make it through again. Things always work out for us. Never forget that.”
“I know. I think part of my guilty conscience is from the mess I made for Jacoby. He doesn’t deserve the things people are saying about him, and I feel like a disgustingly horrible person for not putting an end to it.”
“How would you do that?”
I knew that Dave already had a comeback waiting, because he already knew what I would say, but I said it anyway. “I’d tell everyone that he was with me, not Tiff. That way, they can stop making him sound like a royal bag of douche for sleeping with someone while knowing that she was engaged to another man.”
“Yeah, you could do that…” And here came the retort that he already had prepared. “And then spend the rest of your life giving your sister every dime that you earn.”
“It’s a price worth paying to clear his name of this.”
He rolled his eyes and let out a rambunctious laugh. “You just got done apologizing for making things harder on us financially, yet you’re talking about turning over every paycheck you get from now until the end of time to Tiffany, the fleabag who got you into this mess to begin with. If you think about it, she’s the one responsible for all of this.”
Well, I couldn’t exactly argue with that, but it didn’t make me feel any better.
“Just promise me that you won’t do anything for the time being, okay?” He glared at me, almost daring me to disagree. “Let’s wait and see what happens from here before making any life-altering decisions. For all you know, it’ll work itself out, and you’ll be the one reaping the benefits in the end.”
“Why are you always so freaking optimistic?”
“One of us has to be, and right now, that’s clearly not you, Cynical Cindy.”
For the first time in days, I cracked a smile, which made me think of Jacoby and all the times he unknowingly made me smile or laugh or blush. What we had was something beyond special, and I’d lost it.
When it came to the really important things in my life, Dave had never steered me wrong, so I had decided to put my faith in him again this time. I’d hold off on making any decisions regarding my sister and the truth—for now—but if the storm didn’t clear soon, I’d have to take matters into my own hands.
And I didn’t care what it would cost me.
20
Jacoby
I hadn’t bothered to go online since my past had been blasted all over the internet. There wasn’t anything on there that I cared to read. That was…until Jessa informed me that Tasha was gone. It wasn’t like it surprised me much. What surprised me the most was how I’d felt when finding out that she’d left town for good.
It was like a punch in the stomach.
And a knife to my heart.
At some point over the past two weeks, from the time she’d left my place after our last talk to now, Tiffany’s press team had released a statement. It explained that the false claims reported by many of the gossip columns had severely affected her relationship with Adam King, and for the time being, she asked for privacy while she and Adam worked things out. As for now, they claimed that Tiffany was safely out of the public eye with no indication as to when she expected to return.
It was all so bogus. There was no way that Adam would’ve left over that. Although, it did make me question if he really did leave her. If so, then that would’ve been the only piece of truthful information in that entire press release.
“Why don’t you just call her?” Jessa asked when I went to her looking for help.
I was on the verge of pulling my hair out. “Do you really think I haven’t already tried? Her phone is turned off. I literally have no way to reach her.”
“Don’t you know her best friend? Oh, what about the guy she was with all the time…the one who works for her sister? I’m sure he’d know how to find her.” Her brows knitted together and her lips pursed, as if an obvious thought had just crossed her mind. “Didn’t she tell you where she lives?”
“Kind of, but it’s a large city, so there’s no way I’d be able to just go there and find her.”
“Let’s back up for a second.” She paused, contemplating other suggestions. “What do you know about her that could at least get you closer to finding her? Has she ever said anything about her job, where she works, where she hangs out…?”
Running through our conversations in my mind only made things worse. It reminded me of how amazing she was, which immediately caused an ache in my chest for letting her go. Granted, I didn’t know that she
