Free A Twist of Date by Susan Hatler Page A

Argh.
    I bit my bottom lip, then tapped my phone to lock it. I really did want to be a good maid of honor for Kaitlin, but how could I with my ex as the groom-to-be? The cheating ex that had to have been two-timing me with the bride-to-be? I mean, it’s not like we’d broken up that long ago.
    Hmmm. Maybe Nick could help me decide what to do about Paul. If there was anything to do, that is. If I was going to get to know Nick, then that should include venting to him. So, I went down the hall and knocked on his office door.
    “Come in,” he called out. 
    Opening the door, I entered to find Nick, sitting at his desk and staring at his computer screen. “Good morning, Nick.”
    “Hi.” His face lit up and he gestured to the chair across from him. “You’re just the person I wanted to see.”
    “I am?” I slid into the chair and crossed my legs slowly. 
    His eyes dropped from my face to my legs. “I, uh, went by your class this morning.” 
    “Can I ask you something first. I need a man’s opinion.” My eyes floated to a name plaque on his desk that read, “Nick Zambini.” Suddenly, my eyes flared. In the (very) unlikely event that things worked out between us, I’d become Melanie Zambini? Ick. Another strike against Nick and me. They were really stacking up.
    “Okay.” Nick eyed my legs a moment longer, then leaned back in his chair with that dimpled smile. “Shoot.”
    “I have this friend.” Not a lie. A person could be her own friend, right? “She really liked this guy.”
    He laced his fingers together in his lap. “Past tense, huh?”
    “Definitely past tense.” I bit my lip. Past for me, but not my stepsister. Paul was going to be her future. Which meant he’d be my future, too. Ugh. “Anyway, this guy cheated on her.”
    Nick nodded. “So, she dropped him?”
    “Well, no. She didn’t know he’d cheated until after he’d broken it off with her.”
    Nick raised his brows. “Huh.”
    “So then . . .” I paused, wondering what his raised brows meant. “What?”
    “Nothing.” He sighed. “It’s just that a girl knows when her boyfriend’s strayed. Woman’s intuition and all of that. Maybe your friend didn’t want to admit it to you, but she knew.”
    As if. I shook my head. “No, she would’ve told me. Believe me.”
    “She knew.”
    “No, she didn’t,” I gritted out.
    “She. Knew.”
    He said it so confidently that my mind raced for clues that Paul hadn’t been faithful. Sure, he’d worked late a lot, but successful men had to put in the hours. But it had been a clue. A clue I’d completely ignored. Had I been that desperate to be in a relationship?
    My chest went hollow. Yes, I had been. The truth was, I hadn’t known Paul that well. Hadn’t taken the time to get to know him. I’d been too busy trying to make sure he wouldn’t leave me.
    Like my mom had.
    Had my fear of him leaving made my woman’s intuition malfunction? The idea was overwhelming. How could I ever trust myself when it came to relationships again?  Was I going to abide by The Boyfriend Bylaws forever? I started to hyperventilate and decided a change of subject was needed pronto. “Didn’t you say you wanted to see me about something?”
    He reached beneath his desk and pulled a white plastic bag with “Totally Fit” written in snazzy red letters outlined in black. “This is your new uniform.” He handed it to me. “It’s from my cousin Peter’s new clothing line and he asked if his photographer could snap some photos of the employees later this week for ads and stuff. If you don’t mind.”
    “That’s fine.” The only thing I minded was ignoring the clues about Paul being faithful.
    “By the way . . .” Nick leaned onto his elbows and looked me in the eye, “I wanted to give you a heads up. We’re changing the aerobics schedule and will only need you three days a week from now on.”
    I clamped my teeth together. “You’re cutting my schedule in half?”
    He nodded. “It just