Why Lie? (Love Riddles #2) Read Online Free

town but trying to fill her shoes will be impossible. I was scared of failing. Now I have something to prove. This diner will be mine. The people who come to it will do so because the food is good and it’s well run.
    I’m working my ass off, soaking up everything Gigi will teach me. It was my idea to add the TV and so far, people like being able to glance up and see the score of the game without having to pull out their phones. I have more ideas too. Lola’s is going to thrive because of me. It’s cool to see how proud Gigi is of me, too. She’ll tell anyone that’ll listen.
    My self-esteem took a hit after that shit with Heath. It hurt. Hell, it still hurts but I am so much more than one man’s opinion of me. Focusing on Lola’s has reminded me of that. I’m finally beginning to see what I’m capable of. It doesn’t suck knowing that Heath will see that too and he’ll have to live with the fact that he threw me away.
     

 
     
    That went well. I slam the door of my car and touch the button to arm it. My hands are tense as I unlock the door to my place. It’s fucking late as hell but I still move to my couch and not my bedroom. I’m not sure what possessed me to try and talk to her tonight. My own lack of sleep is clearly affecting my ability to make rational decisions.
    Asking Kacey to marry me had been a drunken mistake. At the time it seemed like a brilliant idea to solve problems for the both of us. People would no longer give her crap for being hung up on Jake and my mom could see me settled down with someone I already knew she adored. I’m a problem solver and in my head, after too many drinks, it seemed perfect.
    Except for the fact that Kacey was more like a sister to me and she was in love with someone else. Instead of owning up to it, I grabbed a shovel and went whole hog to dig that hole deeper. Why is it so hard to admit when I’m wrong? Would it be that terrible if I didn’t live up to my own hype?
    No, digging my way out of the pit of my own creation was absolutely worse. As a result of my own actions, I almost fucked up my friendships with Jake, Kacey, and Reilly.
    That was nothing compared to explaining to my mom and dad that the wedding was off.
    At first they had been furious with Kacey. They assumed she led me on only to drop me for Jake. When I came clean about the real reason for the engagement, the disappointment on my mom’s face took the strength from my legs.
    I fell to my knees beside her bed, ashamed of myself. With my forehead to the back of her hand, I quietly begged for her forgiveness. She forgave me. But, she hesitated before she did it. She felt responsible. That because of how sick she was, I wasn’t thinking clearly. She took that on, shown by the pinch of her lips and the sag of her shoulders. Her learning of my actions physically weakened her.
    My dad walked me to the door. I saw it coming and braced when he stepped out with me onto the porch. There, where we were in no danger of my mom overhearing him, my father handed me my ass.
    I deserved every single thing he said. In trying to hide my mistake, I had done the opposite. Not only that, I had shone a spotlight on it. You could get a pass for stupid shit like this when you were in your twenties, by your thirties, it’s just sad.
    An offhand remark after too many drinks the cause.
    I hurt Sydney. What sucks is, she was 100 percent right about me. In my eyes, we were only having fun. She was a great girl, sexy as hell but not my type. Or, she wasn’t until she poured that soda over my head. No, it was before that. In fact, from the moment I left her, I’ve done nothing but try to convince myself she wasn’t what I wanted.
    Kacey was what I thought my type should be. She was cute and she was shy with people she didn’t know that well. She was so different from the woman I was fighting against being my type.
    After I talked Kacey into staying engaged to me, I heard Sydney took off with some guy to San Francisco. That