Coffee Cup Confessions - Trish Williford Page 0,62
we kept things quiet for so long.”
My head is throbbing with all this new information. Guilt doesn’t even begin to explain what I feel. Here I thought Mandy was just being a mega bitch for the fun of it, but it was because I was making her life a living hell. There’s no way I can imagine how hurt and miserable she must have been every day.
“Mandy, I’m so sorry. Had I known—”
“It’s okay, Misha. You didn’t know.” She wipes her face of tears and inhales deeply. “This is the part where Jake came in.”
Just hearing his name makes my heart pound against my chest. As much as the Noah part was hard to hear, I imagine what’s next is about to be worse on my heart.
“I wanted to be able to tell people about Noah and me. We were so in love. I couldn’t shout it from the rooftops, and it was killing me. Noah said he wouldn’t go public until you seemed happy and back in the dating pool. Jake was my coworker, and I knew you would think he was attractive. I booked him to take you out twice, and I thought that would give you the push you needed to get back into the dating world.”
“I was already dating, Mandy. I didn’t need your help.”
“I know … but I was so focused on Noah and me that I didn’t want to hear anything you said. Jake was really hesitant to take you out because you didn’t know that he was an escort. I paid him under the table at a higher than usual rate, and he finally agreed.”
Ouch. “That makes me feel better.”
“Just wait.” She holds her hand up. “After the second date, he met me in the parking lot of Mama Java’s to get his check. This is what happened.”
She hands me her cell phone, and there is a video waiting to be played. The time stamp at the top of her phone says it was taken at the end of February, which proves it was on our second date. I push the screen, and the video plays. Jake is standing in a dark parking lot in front of his truck. It was the night we went to dinner and listened to the band play. It was the first night he kissed me.
“It’s recording,” I hear Mandy say from behind the camera.
Jake’s hands are shoved in his pants pockets. “I’m Jake Malone, and I officially consider the contract that Mandy Gallagher and I had void. I refuse to accept payment for taking Misha Gallagher on two dates.”
“And why are you refusing?”
“I’m refusing because I am interested in Misha, and although I might not know her well yet, a possibility of a future with her is definitely worth more than a paycheck to me. No matter how much.”
“You like her? Seriously?”
Jake looks pissed that she would even ask the question. “Why’s that so hard to believe?”
“She’s just … plain. Kind of boring. You’re extremely attractive. It seems like you could have just about any girl you’d want.”
Jake shrugs, like the answer is simple. “And I want her.”
The video stops, and tears blur my vision at seeing him and hearing the words come from his mouth. I want to believe it all … so much … but I still feel guarded. A tear falls to my cheek, and I swipe it away.
Handing Mandy her phone back, I clear the emotion from my throat. “Keep going.”
“Other than how you met, everything about you and Jake was real, Misha. He loves you so much.”
If I was one hundred percent sure that she was telling the truth, I would go to Jake’s house right now and beg for the last few weeks to be erased.
“I don’t know what to believe. It feels like I’ve been hit by a tidal wave, and I’m stuck underwater. I don’t know which way is up or down.”
“With everything that has happened between us, I understand that you can’t trust me. I’m telling the truth, and I hope you don’t wait too long before realizing that he would do absolutely anything to have you back.”
“But his job … I can’t handle the fact that he …” I can’t finish the sentence without feeling nausea creep up my throat.
“He doesn’t work there anymore. Actually, it’s been quite a while since he quit, although I can’t say for sure if it was before you two became official.”
“When you worked there, did you sleep with your customers?”
“No. We