Match Me Read Online Free Page B

and mortification of having passed out into a bin of tomatoes.
    “I didn’t eat much for breakfast this morning.”
    Come to think of it, I hadn’t eaten much of anything for almost three days. I’d been too nervous to eat on Saturday and too mortified to eat the day after. When I’d gotten up this morning and hadn’t been hungry, I’d thought maybe my stomach had shrunk. Kinda like my brain.
    “Hmm.” He stood next to my car and waited.
    “What?” I was anxious to leave. I wanted to get home and lock myself away for the rest of the day. Maybe for the rest of the week. Maybe for all of eternity.
    “I just…” He hesitated. “I just wanna make sure you’re OK. That’s all.”
    “I’m fine. Really. I just need to eat and I’ll be good as new.”
    “Not what I meant.” He looked down and kicked at a pebble with his sandal. “I mean about Chase. The wedding.”
    “Oh.” I straightened. “Uh, yeah. I’m OK.”
    “If it makes you feel any better, I think he made the wrong choice.”
    “What?”
    “Angela. You.”
    I swallowed. “Really?”
    He nodded and chewed his lip as he glanced back up at me. “Yeah. If it were me…hell, if it had been me, there wouldn’t have been a choice. None.”
     

EIGHT
     
     
    I stood in the parking lot with my mouth hanging open for fifteen minutes after Paul left.
    What had he just said to me? Was he telling me that Chase had been a fool and that being with me was the obvious choice? Or was he trying to tell me something else? That I was his choice?
    I mulled it over as I backed up out of my parking spot. I thought about it as I shifted into first and exited the lot. I obsessed about it as I drove the three miles home to my apartment.
    And I called Jill as soon as I got inside.
    “What?” Her voice was muffled.
    I shoved groceries into my cupboards. “Something happened with Paul.”
    “Did you crash his wedding, too?”
    “Shut up.” I stowed the milk in my fridge. “No. He said something. Something weird.”
    “I can’t hear you,” she practically shouted.
    “Where are you?”
    “Party at Lake Calhoun. You should come down.”
    An hour drive down to the Cities for a party on a Monday night? No thank you.
    “I have stuff to do.” Like try to figure out what Paul meant.
    “You have stuffed ragu?” she screamed.
    “Never mind.” I hung up.
    I grabbed the rest of the stuff from the bags and put them away. I blushed when I got to the pads and tampons, wondering how embarrassed Paul must have been when the cashier rang them up. I took them into the bathroom and tossed them in the bottom drawer of the vanity. I caught my reflection again and realized a shower had to be the first thing on the agenda.
    So I showered and washed my hair and thought about what Paul said. And when I was done thinking about that, I thought about Chase and Angela and what they might be doing on their honeymoon in Hawaii. And when that image brought a sickish feeling to my stomach, I switched back to Paul. What had he meant?
    I thought about it some more as I got dressed and towel-dried my hair. I made my way back into the kitchen to make an early dinner. I still wasn’t hungry but my stomach felt weak and I knew I needed to eat something.
    I opened the box of Cheerios and poured a bowl. I grabbed the milk but the thought of putting it on my cereal disgusted me so I shoveled them dry into my mouth.
    If it had been me, there wouldn’t have been a choice.
    So did that mean that, if he’d been acting for Chase, he would have chosen differently? Or did it mean that he—Paul—would have made a different decision?
    I stared at the wall, but the answer was not written anywhere that I could see.
    Paul and I had never dated. Paul and I had never done anything. He was one of those peripheral friends in high school. Sure, he was Chase’s best friend which meant we hung out a lot when he and I had been a couple. But it wasn’t like we went on double dates or anything. Paul had never