I leaned over, my hands resting on my knees for support, as I shook my head before quickly standing back up. “This can’t be right,” I said, my voice shaking.
“How do you think we know each other?”
“I don’t know.” I remembered that I had just wondered the same thing.
“Kate’s been with him for two years. Why would I lie to you?”
“But he said he broke up with everyone else,” I confessed, my voice not sounding like my own.
“When? When did he tell you that? Because I can assure you that they are still together. She just sent me this picture.”
I watched as Ben dug out his cell phone and fumbled with it. He shoved a picture in my face. It was Daniel with Kate in his arms, smiles covering both their faces. It looked recent, too recent. Daniel’s facial hair in the photo matched exactly the look he currently sported.
Glancing behind me, I noticed Daniel in the distance, his body tense, as I started to fall apart. Tears pooled in my eyes. “I-I,” I stuttered. “I have to go.”
“I’m really sorry to be the one to tell you, Elizabeth. Maybe we could have dinner soon?”
“Sure. Whatever.”
His words hadn’t registered. Nothing registered, except the fact that Daniel was a piece-of-shit liar, just like all the others. I dropped the rose he had given me to the ground, and I walked away as quickly as my shaking legs would allow.