I sat up and could hear her scuttling around in the kitchen. It sounded like she was pacing, probably with her lip between her teeth as she imagined everything that could go wrong on her first day. I stood and got a pair of shorts and a T-shirt out of the dresser; she needed a distraction or a pep talk, maybe both.
Might have to blow off the run that morning.
I was pulling my shirt on when I walked into the kitchen and saw her face. She was leaning against the refrigerator, her cheeks red, her eyes glassy.
“What’s wrong, Livvie?” I took a step toward her—God, had something happened with the job already?—and she held out her hand to stop me.
And in her hand was my phone.
“Why do you have Misdial messages in here?” Her voice cracked and she blinked fast. “I keep trying to figure it out, but nothing makes sense. How in the hell would you get my messages?”
I felt my insides drop as her face begged me for a feasible explanation that I did not have.
I said, “Why do you have—”
“Don’t you dare pull the cheating boyfriend bullshit line and ask why I have your fucking phone, Colin. Have a shred of decency here.”
She was right, but I had no idea what to say. “I know this is going to sound crazy, Liv, but I am actually your wrong number.”
She just stared at me for a minute, unmoving, like she was trying to reconcile the facts. “I think you’re forgetting that I met my wrong number. So unless your name is Nick and you know how to break dance, you aren’t him. Try again.”
Shit. How the hell could I make her understand? I said, “I swear I’m telling the truth. Nick met you for coffee because I asked him to. Can we sit down and talk about th—”
“No!” She dropped my phone onto the counter and crossed her arms. “Just make me understand what this is all about.”
“Hell.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “I’m your wrong number. It was a total weird coincidence for both of us; I was as shocked as you when I found out. I tried ghosting you and ending it but—”
“Oh, my God . . .” She stared at me. “When did you realize it was me?”
No way was I answering that. “I don’t know, Liv, a while back—”
“Tell me.” Her voice was deep and low, like it was holding back a wall of emotion as she said through gritted teeth, “Because we both know that you remember the exact second you found out.”
“Liv—”
“When, Colin?”
“The night you made us spaghetti and meatballs, okay?” I stepped closer, needing to make her understand. “I was—”
“Wait. That was months ago.” She stepped away from me, her eyes darting around as she attempted to catch up. “You knew that long ago? Holy shit. You didn’t ghost me, you liar. You texted me all the time.”
“No, I—”
“You texted me when I was on a date, you texted me when you were on a date, you texted—” She broke off with a gasp. “Oh, my God! Have you been reading every single message I’ve sent when I was talking to myself?”
I opened my mouth but she kept going, her eyes wild as everything came back to her. “And is that why we had such great sex from day one? Because I’d talked about it with Wrong Number so you just dialed it up because you already knew how to get me off?”
“Liv, no—”
“Our first time was on the kitchen counter!” She was exploding, but anger didn’t take any of the hurt out of her face and it was killing me. God, I just needed her to understand.
“That was just a coinci—”
“Oh, my God.” She smiled and let out a hollow laugh, but her eyes were filled with tears. “I bet you felt like the king when you read that you were the best sex of my life. Oh, my God, this must’ve been hilarious for you.”
“It wasn’t. Shit. This isn’t how it was.”
She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. “So tell me how things went down with Nick. Did you tell him you were already screwing me so you couldn’t mess it up with honesty and needed a fill-in?”
As I watched her cry, I knew it was never going to be okay. “God, no. Liv—”
“No.” She walked over to the doorway and grabbed her purse and shoes. “Don’t call me that like we’re close. I’m not Liv to you anymore.”
I moved toward the door and put a hand on it. “You have to let me explain.”
“No explanations, remember?” She shook her head and swiped at my hand to remove it from the door. “We said when we got bored we could just walk away, right? Well, I’m bored.”