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)
Jasmine says, “What if he’s got something important to tell you about Max?”
I shake my head. “Max is estranged from his father. If there’s something important going on with Max, Gigi would tell me about it. Or maybe she’d tell my father, and he’d tell me. Either way, Alexander is the last person who’d have important information about Max.”
Victoria frowns. “I support your decision, but I can’t deny I’m curious what that man wants to say to you after all this time.”
“Me, too,” Jasmine admits. “Has he found out you and Max aren’t really engaged?”
“Probably. When we got back from camp, I told Gigi she could tell her closest family and inner circle the truth, so they won’t keep asking her, ‘So, when’s the big wedding?’”
Jasmine taps her chin. “Let’s think this through, Marnie Girl. Perhaps you could use Mr. BDE to light a fire under Max’s ass.” She cocks her head. “What if you could get a message to Max through his father? Even if they’re estranged, I’m sure if you talk to Alexander and let it slip that you’re madly in love with his son, that spicy nugget would somehow get back to Max.”
Everyone expresses enthusiasm for the idea.
“You haven’t told Max you’re in love with him yet, right?” Lucy asks.
“No, not in those words.”
“In what words?” Selena asks.
“I told Max at camp I wanted to wear his fake engagement ring for real. He has to know I wouldn’t have said that to him if I didn’t love him.”
Everyone’s suddenly got an opinion. They’re all talking at once. Above the din, Selena says, “Marnie, there’s nothing more powerful than a person saying the actual words. Maybe Max needs to hear them from you to realize the depths of his own feelings.”
I scoff. “Why would I tell Max I love him, when I know for a fact he doesn’t love me back? I’m not a glutton for punishment. If he loved me, he would’ve told me that night. Or since we got back. And he hasn’t.”
Selena says, “Sometimes, it takes time for a person to figure out their feelings. Grayson knew he loved me long before I knew I loved him back.”
We all laugh and tease Selena that Grayson fell in love with her, sight unseen, over their first text exchange, so the example she’s provided is meaningless.
Selena chuckles. “Okay, fair enough. But Max is a far more complicated and guarded person than Grayson. Maybe Max does love you, Marnie, but he simply doesn’t realize it yet. Maybe he needs a fire lit under his ass, like Jasmine said.”
Jasmine agrees and adds, “He could be sitting somewhere right now, missing you and yearning for you and slowly realizing he totally blew it. Hearing the news that you’re in love with him might be the very thing he needs to realize he’s feeling exactly the same way.”
I think about it but ultimately shake my head and say, “Max knows how I feel. I’m not going to chase him.” In truth, if my period weren’t three days late, I might very well go along with this diabolical plan. But with the possibility of a little Vaughn growing inside me, I’m especially loath to make the first move in this situation. As far as I’m concerned, the ball’s firmly in Maximillian’s court.
“Now’s not the time to be stubborn,” Victoria insists. “You love the man? Well, then, go get your man, Man-Eater. Call Mr. BDE and tell him you’re madly, wildly, irrevocably in love with his son and see what happens next. At the very least, you won’t wonder ‘what if’ that way.”
“And while you’re at it, also tell Mr. BDE to fuck off,” Jasmine adds. “You deserve to finally get to say that to him.” As my friends know, when I found out Alexander was married, I texted him a screenshot of the social media post that had tipped me off and asked if it was the real deal. Instead of answering me, he immediately blocked me and then ghosted me forevermore. And that was that. I never heard from the man who supposedly loved me again. Not directly, anyway. I certainly got an earful, indirectly, from Alexander when he told all those horrible lies about me to his son.
My eyebrow quirks up. “I agree it might be worth calling Alexander to tell him to fuck off,” I say. “But not for what he did to me. That’s old news. The only thing I care about now is telling Alexander to fuck off for the horrible way he’s treated Max.” My friends know about the lies Alexander’s told about me recently, the ones he told Max when he genuinely thought Max was engaged to me. But they don’t know the story of poor fifteen-year-old Max finding out his father was cheating on his mother, so I tell them that story now. Of course, my friends are outraged that Alexander had the nerve to demand his young son remain quiet to keep the family together, so they bang the drum for me to agree to a phone call with Alexander, all the more.