“And was she sexting him?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Was. She. Sexting. H—”
“No, she wasn’t.” I fume at the idea. “Thank God she wasn’t. But she was… very familiar with him.”
“Ah. Familiar as in…?”
I open a cupboard, not really looking for anything, to avoid punching my bestie for pushing so hard, probing wounds that haven’t scabbed over yet. “As in, she called him hon, and said she missed him. And sent him kissy pics!”
“Kissy pics. Wow.”
“Don’t laugh!”
“I’m not.” She puts down her mug to lift her hands, brows arching, all fluffy-kitten innocence. “I would never.”
“Ah-huh.” But I smile a little, my anger deflating.
“Was he replying to these texts?”
“I don’t know! I don’t… Look, wouldn’t you be upset? Finding the texts and pics?”
“I… guess.” She makes it sound like a question. I don’t like that. “If he was promiscuous. If he stared at other girls. Gave you strange excuses to come home late. Did he do all that?”
“No, but come on. He never talked to me about this woman.”
“Did you ask?”
I grab a random mug from the cupboard and study it for chips. I didn’t ask him. I accused him of seeing another woman, and he said he wasn’t.
I didn’t believe him.
“Hailey—”
“You say you have no experience in love, but now you’re saying you’d be above it all? That seeing a pic of another woman on the phone of the man you—” You love. “You just wouldn’t care?”
“I never said that. What I meant was… what if you jumped to conclusions because of your history?”
“You make me sound like a criminal. ‘History.’ Huh.”
“You know what I mean.”
Carefully, I put the mug back inside the cupboard. I do know what she means. She means what happened with Trent broke me, broke my trust.
Maybe she’s right.
And I hate the tiny niggle of doubt in the back of my mind.
“He didn’t take me to his apartment often,” I whisper. “And didn’t talk to me much about his family, his life.”
“But he did take you. And you know what his sister in law looks like.”
I nod. All true. He has trust issues, too, I know that. His ex, a casual hook-up if he’s to be believed, broke that trust, going behind his back and talking about their sex life, then officially accusing him of deviant practices. She dropped the charges eventually, but the damage was done.
Could Mags be right? Should I call Kaden? Should I—?”
No.