Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 111732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 559(@200wpm)___ 447(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 559(@200wpm)___ 447(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
“It’s pretty on-brand for him.”
Marnie shakes her head while keeping her eyes on the road. “What a dick.” She pauses. “Hey, would you be willing to call me after you speak with your father today? I’d love to know how it went.”
“Yeah, sure. I don’t have your number, though.”
Marnie tells me her number, and I enter it into my phone.
“I just sent you a text,” I report, “so you have my number now, too.”
“Awesome. Thanks.” She shifts her grip on the steering wheel. “When you talk to your father, will you say you already know about my history with him?”
“I don’t know. I think I’ll feel it out in the moment.”
“You could tell him I’ve already told you everything, and you don’t care.” She chuckles. “You could also say you’re going to rat him out to his wife, if he doesn’t tell her first.”
“That’s what I said to him before I went to my mother and told her about his affairs. He thought I was bluffing that time. He wouldn’t make the same mistake again.” I snicker. “I’d never actually go to his wife, though. I only went to my mom because I love her so much. When it comes to Ashley, I don’t owe her a damned thing.” I look out the passenger side window. “The question is what will torture my father the most? Will it torture him to think I don’t know anything . . . yet . . . but I might find out the truth at any moment and do God knows what with the information?”
Marnie giggles. “That sounds like a winner to me. Will you please call me right after you talk to him? I’m dying to know how it goes.”
“Aren’t you going to work after dropping me off?”
“My Monday client is never home when I cook for them. I can talk to you while I work.”
“Okay, I’ll call him on the way to the office and then call you right afterward.”
Marnie squeals. “I can’t wait to hear about how brilliantly you tortured him.”
We reach Marnie’s driveway, and she parks her car next to mine. After she turns off the engine, we sit and stare at each other, neither of us moving a muscle. It’s like we’ve both got a thousand things we want to say, but neither of us is willing to go first.
Finally, I unbuckle my seatbelt and say, “Okay, well, I’ll call you later—right after I talk to my dad.”
“I can’t wait.”
“Bye, Marnie.” With one last lingering look at her, I slide out of the car and walk to mine.
As I open my driver’s side door, Marnie shouts my name. My heart crashing, I look over the roof of my car at her, but she shakes her head, exhales, and says, “Never mind. I’ll talk to you later, Max. Sorry again. For everything.”
16
MAX
I disconnect the call with my father and murmur, “Fuck you, asshole.” But cursing him out isn’t doing a damn thing to relieve the fury coursing through my veins.
I’m parked in the garage at my office building, feeling physically ill and enraged about the things my father just now said to me to save face. It’s not that I believe his lies. It’s that my father is willing to say such horrible things about Marnie—the woman he genuinely thinks is his son’s fiancée—in order to protect himself from being unmasked as the serial cheater he is.
With a sigh, I scroll to Marnie’s number but pause before pressing the button to call her. I promised to call her immediately after speaking with my father, but that was before I knew he’d stoop to such depths. When I told Marnie I’d call, I pictured us laughing at the masterful way I’d tortured my father during my phone call with him; but now that things didn’t go as planned, the last thing I want to do is call Marnie and upset her.
As I’m still staring at my phone, waffling on making the call, a text from none other than Marnie lights up my screen.
Did you talk to Darling Daddy yet? Dying to hear how it went!
Fuck. The woman’s not only a mind-fucker—she’s also a mind-reader.
With a deep sigh, I push the button to make the call, and Marnie picks up immediately.
“Hello there, Maximillian!” she chirps happily. To my surprise, her tone is jovial. Light as a feather.
“You sound happy.”
“I am! Now that I’ve come clean to you and your mother, I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off me. I didn’t realize how much that secret has been weighing on me, but now that it’s out in the open, I’ve been singing a happy tune all morning while cooking for my client.”
“The truth shall set you free.”
“Enough about me and my happy tune, though. Let’s hear about yours. Have you spoken to your dad yet?”