Kraft smiled. “See? If you’re also worried that you might stick your foot in your mouth, that tells me you care.”
Jason downed the rest of his beer and grabbed Kraft’s second one. “For now, I just want to get drunk. It doesn’t matter if I care or not. I’m done with conniving women who only keep me around as some kind of side toy.”
Chapter 25
Libby was a mess by the time she rushed into her condo a few hours later.
Christa was on the couch watching TV. She jumped up when Libby entered. “Oh my God. What happened?”
Libby knew she looked awful. She’d been crying. Her face was streaked in tears. Her eyes had to be puffy and red. She dropped onto the sofa next to Christa and started crying yet again. “I fucked up.”
“Oh shit. Did Jason find you? He came here looking for you. Said he wanted to go to your parents with you. I gave him their address. I’m so sorry if I overstepped.” Christa’s voice wobbled.
Libby shook her head and wiped at her tears. “Not your fault. This is on me. He could have tracked me with the GPS anyway. He asked me to tell my parents about us repeatedly. I was weak and chicken, so I didn’t do it. I was going to tonight. I meant to. But then my mother sabotaged my evening with another one of her blind dates.”
“Oh no.” Christa winced.
“Yeah. He must have gone to my parents’ house first. I bet my mother was more than happy to tell him in her flourishing way that I was on a date and where I was.” Libby grabbed a pile of tissues from the end table and wiped her eyes.
“Why would you go out with someone else even if you were blindsided?” Christa cautiously asked.
Libby groaned. “It’s complicated. Javier was in the same boat as me. We decided to commiserate together and share our stories. It was harmless.” Libby sat up straighter. “And I’m furious with Jason for not even letting me explain. He just took off. I ran after him, but he wouldn’t listen.”
Christa cringed. “Can you blame him?”
Libby shook her head. “No. But I’m still angry. He didn’t trust me.”
“What happened next? Why are you here instead of groveling?”
“Because I couldn’t find him. He didn’t go home. I waited for a while outside his house, but he never showed up.”
“He can’t stay gone forever,” Christa pointed out tentatively. “It’s his home. He probably needed to cool down somewhere before he spoke to you.”
“Yeah, well, I’m exhausted and pretty angry with myself now, so he can have all the time he wants to cool down. I’m going to bed.” Libby shoved off the couch and stood. She leaned down and hugged Christa. “Thanks for listening. I’m sorry to dump on you.”
Christa smiled. “Any time. You know that. We’re friends.”
Libby swiped at another tear. “I know, but…well, thank you.” She turned and shuffled toward the stairs. This was not how she’d imagined her evening ending. Not by a long shot. She’d spent the day imagining arguing with her parents and possibly being kicked out of her childhood home by an irrational mother. In that scenario, she’d pictured ending up in Jason’s bed at the end of the night, probably crying on his shoulder until he calmed her down.
Libby stripped out of her clothes and pulled on an old T-shirt before turning off the lights and climbing into bed. She curled onto her side and let another wave of tears fall. She was mad at herself for not being more assertive with her mother. She was mad at her mother for being so intolerant and putting Libby in this position in the first place. She was also mad at Jason for being so stubborn that he wouldn’t listen to reason.
Why does everything have to be so damn complicated?
Something he’d said came rushing back into her mind. Been there. Done that. Won’t do it again. She wondered what the hell he’d been referring to. It was such a specific thing to say. And it made no sense.
Libby groaned as she rolled onto her back and remembered everything that had transpired last night. She tossed her forearm over her eyes to block the light coming in from the open blinds that she hadn’t bothered to shut the night before.
After a few deep breaths, she reached for her phone on the nightstand and found no new texts or calls.
Shit. She couldn’t decide if the ball was in her court or his right now. After all, he was the one who stormed off and sped away from her while she was trying to explain. Then again, she was the one who had no spine, which caused him to find her in a compromising position in the first place.
She considered sending him a text and then spent at least fifteen minutes typing and retyping words before finally hitting send.
Can we talk? Please call me.
She didn’t expect an immediate response. After all, it was early in the morning. He was probably out late and sleeping in. However, an hour later after she’d showered and dressed and had some coffee, she switched from thinking it was too early to thinking he was ignoring her text.
An hour after that, she was pissed. Fuck him. If he didn’t want to listen to reason, fine. She didn’t need that shit in her life.
Two hours after that, she decided to go to the grocery store and run a few errands. There was no food in the condo. She still hadn’t eaten yet today, and her stomach was rumbling, but the thought of chewing and swallowing was more than she could handle.
Christa was in the kitchen grabbing a soda from the fridge when Libby returned with an armload of grocery bags. “Hey,” Christa said softly. “You okay? Did you find Jason?”
Libby shook her head. “Didn’t even try.”
Christa’s eyes went wide. “Why not?”
“I sent him a text
