Faking It with My Ex's Best Friend novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: The Coffee

Pittsburgh Roast had six tables, a chalkboard menu and a window facing the street.

I picked the table by the window.

Cade took the corner one behind a laptop and a newspaper he wasn't reading.

"If I scratch my ear," I said on the walk over, "that's a bad sign."

"If you scratch your ear I'll walk over and spill coffee on her."

"That's the signal for a good sign."

"Lainey, I'm a terrible actor."

"Then stare at your screen."

Candice came in at ten sharp in sunglasses and the gold key necklace.

She ordered nothing and sat down across from me.

I pressed record on my phone under the table.

"Hi, Candice," I said. "Thank you for the text. Who sent it?"

"I did."

"From a number I don't know?"

She took off the sunglasses.

Without makeup her eyes were swollen and pink.

"Humor me for ten minutes," she said. "I'm going to ask you some things."

"Okay."

"What was the first thing I ever said to you?"

"I don't know."

"It was 'Nice shoes.' Do you remember the shoes?"

"No."

"What's your grandmother's name?"

My heart stopped, but my face did not.

"I don't know that either," I said softly. "Trevor said she's gone. Was she nice?"

Candice watched me for a long time.

Her lip trembled.

"She was the nicest woman in Pittsburgh," she said, and a tear ran off her chin.

I handed her a napkin.

She laughed, wetly, and pressed it to her face.

"You're good," she said. "Either you're really gone or you're good."

"I'm sorry, I don't understand."

"I wish I didn't." She twisted the necklace around one finger. "Trevor says you hit your head and went sort of blank. He says the best thing is to let you rest and not push."

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