Page 9 of What Maple Heard

“River was home,” I said. “He had his troublemaker friends over. I had to deal with it.”

“You could have texted me. I would have come. I could have helped, or talked to River—“

“I handled it. He’s my brother. I know how to handle my own brother.”

Cade stopped. The anger dialed back. He looked at me carefully, as if he was trying to solve a very difficult puzzle.

“Maple.” he said quietly. “What’s wrong? Are you mad at me about something?”

Am I mad?

Let me think about that for a second. You told your best friend I’m good under the sheets and that’s where I belong. You told him you’re only with me for fun. You said you don’t even care if I believe we have a future together because it’s not your problem, and then you laughed about it, and I was standing outside and I heard every syllable.

No, Cade. I’m not mad. I’m completely serene.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “I just think we’re too different. It’s better to part ways now, while it’s still easy.”

He stared at me.

“Easy? What part of this is easy, Maple? You’ve been ignoring me for a week and now telling me this is easy and you made that decision — by yourself, without telling me, without asking for my opinion—“

“I didn’t need your opinion.”

“Because in my opinion—“ He caught himself. Started again, slower. “In my opinion, something serious was happening between us.”

I thought something serious was happening between us too, Cade. And then you ruined it.

Girls like her don’t belong here. She’s good under the sheets and that’s where she belongs — until it’s time to pack up and move on. A Sonnenberg doesn’t marry a pole dancer.

“Never mind, Cade.” I crossed my arms. The cold was getting worse. I refused to acknowledge the cold. “I don’t want to see you again. Please leave.”

“What?” He looked genuinely floored. “Maple, what are you saying—“

“Please leave.”

He didn’t leave. He looked at me with that expression — distraught, open, the one that had been making me trust him for three months, the one that had worked so well and so completely — and said, very gently: “Maple. Please. Open up to me. Please just tell me what’s wrong.”

There’s plenty wrong, Cade.

For one, you played me. You played me so well I didn’t even see it coming. And I should have. I should have seen it because men like you have been playing women like me since the beginning of time and I knew that, I had a whole policy about it, and then you came into my life, and I threw the entire policy in the trash.

“There’s nothing wrong,” I said. “Go home. It’s cold and I cannot afford to get sick. I have bills to pay.”

“Then let me come inside—“

“No.”

“Let me give you my jacket—“

“No.” I looked at him directly for the first time. That was a mistake. He was looking right back at me and his face was doing too many things at once. “I don’t need your jacket, Cade. I only needed the truth from you. And you couldn’t manage that.”

He went very still. “What truth? Maple, what are you—“

“Oh, that’s right.” I laughed. It came out wrong, too bright and too brittle. “I forgot. You don’t like serious conversations with me. You’re only here for fun.” I uncrossed my arms. “Well. Fun’s over, Cade. You’ll have to find a different girl who’s a great fuck. But this time, do her a favor and tell her up front. Don’t pretend you care about her life and her brother and then laugh about her with your friends at a party. Don’t play her, Cade.”

His forehead, which had been knotted in confusion, went smooth. The creases between his brows disappeared. His whole face changed in the span of about two seconds, cycling through confusion and then understanding and then something that looked very much like devastation.

He knew.