Mr. Nice Guy by Jennifer Miller

Author:Jennifer Miller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

CHAPTER 26

That night, Sofia finally called. “Sorry I’ve been MIA,” she said.

“Oh, it’s OK. Work. I totally understand.” He tried to sound nonchalant. If he pretended that everything was fine, then maybe it would be. “Sof, you won’t believe what I’ve found out about Nicholas,” he pressed on. “I’m in Wisconsin right now, flying home tomorrow. I can’t believe how gullible I’ve been, thinking that he was just misunderstood, thinking that he—”

“Luke, we need to talk.”

“OK.”

“This is getting to be too much.”

“What do you mean?” The prickling sensation was coming on full force, the top of his scalp hijacked by bees.

“I told you at the outset that I wasn’t looking for a relationship. But I think your feelings have changed.”

“OK?”

“Mine haven’t.”

“OK.”

“Say something more than ‘OK.’”

But Lucas couldn’t speak.

“It’s been amazing spending all of this time with you. But we’re not on the same page.…”

“If being together is amazing, why stop?”

“Because it’s not real.”

Lucas felt everything spin. Not real? He had a vision of Sofia in the abandoned casket factory, shivering and smiling as she posed for him. You’re my muse, Lucas. “How can you possibly say that, after everything we’ve shared?”

“Lucas—”

Yes, they’d been playacting at first. But over time, that had changed. If only he’d kept his mouth shut at Nicholas’s party, they could have gone on as before. And then one day, Sofia would realize that there was no distinguishing the fantasy from the reality. Instead, in the spirit of open communication, he’d been honest with her. And that honesty had forced Sofia to make a real-world—as opposed to a pretend-world—decision.

“You’re deluding yourself,” he said now. “You’re scared to admit the truth.”

“That’s extremely patronizing,” she replied. “Telling me I don’t know myself. However this feels to you, Lucas, it’s not like that for me. I’m sorry. I thought you understood. I thought you could handle this kind of relationship. But you haven’t been single for very long. It makes sense that you’d grow attached.”

“And you call me patronizing?”

There was a pause. “I’m sorry,” she said. “That wasn’t nice.”

Lucas snorted. Nice. Like they were kids on the playground.

“Look,” she said. “You don’t need me anymore. Your columns have been great. You’ve got Carmen on the defensive.”

“I don’t care about the fucking columns!”

“I’m sorry,” she repeated, but meekly as though shrinking from his outburst.

Something occurred to him. “How long have you known I had feelings for you?”

She said nothing. His head was buzzing so badly, he wanted to scratch his scalp off.

“How long, Sofia!”

Silence.

So it had been weeks, if not months. “You knew how I felt and you strung me along, letting me hope? Why would you do that? You want to talk about nice? That wasn’t nice.”

“We were having fun,” she said. She sounded defensive. “You were having fun.”

“I was falling in love with you and you let it happen!” Lucas heard her start to protest, but he quickly ended the call and threw his phone on the bed. All along he thought he’d been competing with Carmen. But she was not his adversary.

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