Page 51 of Let’s Make a Scene

“So—” I start, but Hannah cuts me off.

“We need to talk,” she says.

“Okay,” I agree, and then I wait as the four of them exchange lots of significant eye contact. Finally, Patty huffs an impatient sigh.

“We need to know your intentions,” she says.

“My intentions?” I assumed that Cynthie’s best friends would all be in on the plan, but maybe I was wrong. Maybe they also think we’re a couple? This could get complicated… fast.

“Obviously we know about the arrangement,” Hannah says briskly, and I exhale a sigh of relief, but then no one says anything more.

“In that case, I’m not totally sure I understand the question,” I reply, finally.

“Look.” Hannah crosses her arms, leaning over the table toward me. “I was the one who told Cynthie this could be a good idea, and I still think that on balance it was the best option, but…” She trails off here, and bites her lip. She looks uncertain. “Cyn has been through a really awful time,” she says quietly after a beat, and her face is suddenly bleak. “I mean really fucking awful. And despite what you might have read, she did absolutely nothing to deserve it.”

“I never thought for a second that she did,” I interject, which earns me a slight softening of her expression.

“I’d like to get five minutes alone with that shithead,” Patty growls under her breath, and Arjun takes her hand, rubbing his thumb back and forth across her knuckles.

“Get in line.” Even gentle-hearted Liam looks like he’s ready to start cracking skulls.

“So maybe you can understand our concern,” Hannah presses on. “This might be the best plan we have right now, but you’re a wild card. And you and Cyn… didn’t exactly leave things on good terms.”

I wince. That’s the understatement of the century. “I do get it,” I say, leaning back in my chair. I want to choose my words carefully. I’ve been so worried about how this was going to work, about Cynthie’s animosity toward me and the complication of our history, but it’s clear that she’s hurting, perhaps more deeply than I realized. This intervention makes me think I’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg.

“The last thing I’m interested in doing is upsetting Cynthie or making her life harder,” I say, finally. “We both have our own reasons for going along with this plan, and for what it’s worth I’m not the same person I was thirteen years ago. I doubt she is either. It’s been a long time and… I want us to do better this time around.”

That is definitely the truth. Looking back on everything that happened between us, I can see now that I made a lot of mistakes, the sort of mistakes a hotheaded twenty-four-year-old is bound to make, but that justification doesn’t necessarily make things easier. Those mistakes sit between the two of us, dark and heavy, and now Cynthie and I have to find a way to deal with them.

“I know she’s been going through a lot,” I add. “My guess is she could use someone else who’s on her side. I’d like to be that for her, if she’ll let me.”

It’s a big if.

I clear my throat and take a sip of my coffee, trying not to flinch as the four of them stare at me like we’re in an extremely intense job interview.

Eventually, Hannah blinks. “Okay,” she says. “We’ll take you at your word. But I should warn you, if you hurt her—”

“We know ways to make you suffer,” Liam says sweetly.

“And how to get rid of the evidence.” Patty’s smile is like a knife.

“Welcome to the family!” Arjun beams.

Chapter 18 CYNTHIE

When I get back to the table after giving myself a stern talking to in the bathroom mirror, it’s obvious that my friends have been grilling Jack. He has this slightly glazed look in his eyes, and I notice that his coffee cup has been refilled again.

He summons a smile when he sees me, and that smile does something to my knees. I really thought that thirteen years would have been enough time for the relentless sexual tension between us to dissipate, but if anything it’s even worse. He’s so gorgeous it’s dazzling. Ever since he walked into the restaurant, I’ve been trying not to look directly at him, like trying to safely observe a solar eclipse.

He’s also not being a dick, and that’s just as confusing as his outrageous good looks. He’s being funny, and charming, and he’s getting on so well with my friends, while I’m here struggling with the heat and the wanting and feeling pretty bewildered by it all—especially considering that a week ago I swore off all men forever and committed myself to a life of celibacy and self-improvement, a claim that Hannah had found insultingly funny.

“Oh, no,” Jack says, looking down at the photo Arjun has thrust under his nose. “You guys made the actual cutest kid on the planet.”

“Right?” I agree. “Embarrassing for all other children. The pinnacle has been reached.”

Jack glances back up at Arjun and grins. “She’s got to be, like, ninety-nine percent Patty’s DNA, right?”

“She got her mum’s looks,” Arjun agrees, “but her dance moves are all me.”