Say Yes To The Fake Date (How To Win At Love #3)

5. Luciana

5

LUCIANA

“I can’t believe you’re home,” Violet says softly as she looks at me across the table at the Whiskey Whistler. Violet and I were friends in high school. She owns Red’s Diner, the most popular diner in Whiskey Run, and she’s now married and has two kids. We’ve kept in touch through the years, and it feels like we haven’t missed a beat. We picked up right where we left off.

I pick up my drink and take a big draw off it before I set it down and nod my head. “Yeah, I can’t believe I’m home either.” It’s hard to think about considering I’ve been avoiding this place for so many years.

Violet leans toward me. “You know your life is like something out of a television show, right? ”

I just told Violet about my business, my ex-fiancé, Ray, his cheating, and everything that has transpired in the last few days. I didn’t leave anything out, even telling her about seeing Dominic again.

“Trust me, I would give anything for my life to be boring. Hopefully, I’ll get to that point.”

Violet shakes her head in disbelief. “So how was it seeing Dom again?”

I lean back in my chair and shake my head. “Just like I thought it would be.”

Her forehead creases. “What does that mean?”

I roll my eyes, disgusted with myself. “You know how I felt about him, and you know I didn’t want it to end. But you would think after seventeen years I would have been over it, right? What draws me to men that want to hurt me?”

She tilts her head to the side and gives me a doubtful look. “I don’t think that’s true.”

I wave at the bartender for another beer. After he acknowledges me, I decide to lay it all out for Violet. “Really, I think it’s completely true. My first love, Dom, might as well have ripped my heart out of my chest. I dated a few guys since then, but they were never anything serious. Not until Ray and now look, he cheated on me, hit me, and now I’m fighting him to keep my share of our business.”

Violet’s shaking her head. “Ray’s going to get his, I’m sure of it. And the fact that he did that to you tells me he’s not a man, Lucy. Not a real man, anyway, but what I mean is that I don’t think Dominic meant to hurt you. At least, not on purpose.”

I sit back in my seat. “Not on purpose? He cheated on me. He told me he never wanted to see me again.”

Violet runs her finger around the rim of her empty glass. “Luciana, he was in jail and about to go to prison. He dealt with all that shit with your parents and—”

Stunned, I ask, “What shit with my parents?”

Violet rolls her eyes. “Please, they hated Dom. They hated that he was a foster child, they hated his friends, who he was… they hated everything about him, and they made sure everyone, including him, knew about it.”

“They didn’t—”

Before I can get it all out, Violet interrupts me again. “Luciana, you should talk to your mom or talk to Dom. Ask them about it. Trust me, everyone knew how much your parents did not want you to be with Dominic Evans.”

I try to think about my past and when I was with Dom. We met my senior year, and from the first moment I talked to him, we were inseparable. I fell hard and fast for the town bad boy, and my whole life revolved around him. I didn’t care about anything or anyone but Dom. But there’s no way I would have missed how my parents treated him. Yeah, they were reserved with him, but not in a mean way. “My parents were super protective of me, you know that. I was their only child and—”

The server drops off the chips and dip we ordered, and as soon as he walks away, I continue. “I was their only child, and you know how it is. They were never happy with any of my boyfriends.”

She deadpans, “I think it was more than that. They treated Dom like he was a criminal.”

I start to say he was when Violet holds her hand up. “Don’t. Yes, he got caught driving the getaway car in a robbery.”

I blurt out a laugh, but that doesn’t stop Violet. “But you also know that Dom was trying to save Jamie. He was trying to get him on the straight and narrow. He said he didn’t know that Jamie was robbing that place, and I believe him.”

From the moment I found out that Dominic was arrested, I knew he was innocent, but I’m not about to agree with Violet about this. I had no doubt it was a case of wrong place, wrong time, but it didn’t matter because Dom ended our relationship. I cross my arms on the table. “What’s happening here? You’re defending Dom… aren’t you supposed to hate him?”

She picks up a chip and dips it into the guacamole before eating it. “Hate him? Why would I hate him?”

I grab a chip and wave it at her. “He opened a mechanic shop. Your brother had the only one in town, and now he’s the competition.”

She blurts out a laugh. “Really? I should hate him because of that? You know that’s crazy, right? Tate and Dom actually do a good job of coexisting in this small town. They send each other business when one of them is too busy.”

I angrily dip the chip and chew it, lost in thought. Violet is not telling me anything I don’t already know. Dominic Evans is a good man. Yes, he hurt me, but it doesn’t make him a bad person just because he didn’t want to be with me anymore .

“So…” Violet waves her hand in front of my face. “Finish the story. You broke down, and Dom was the one that stopped.”

I grit my teeth, remembering Dom walking toward me and seeing him for the first time in forever. “Yeah, he refused to leave me on the side of the road and packed all my bags in his truck and took me home.”

Violet wants to say something but is obviously holding back. “So… you want me to send Tate to tow your car?”

She picks up her phone, ready to call her brother, and I shake my head. “Nope… I told Dom I’d take care of it, but he went back and picked it up.” I let out a harsh breath. “And then he towed it to his shop, fixed the fuel pump, put on new tires, a new battery and who knows what else.”

I can hear the frustration in my voice, and it’s obvious Violet hears it too. “That asshole. How dare he?”

“Har, har. You’re funny. I appreciate him doing all that, but I can’t even afford to pay him for the fuel pump, let alone all the other stuff he did.”

Violet shrugs like it’s not a big deal. “Let me pay for it.”

I wave her off. “No, I hired an attorney, and he should be able to help me get my share of the money from my business soon. Or at least access to it.”

Violet shrugs. “Well, you know Dom, just talk to him. He’ll let you take your car and just make payments.”

I nod. “Yeah, he said he didn’t want money and that I could take my car, but I don’t want to owe him anything.”

“He’s not like that,” Violet deadpans.

I’m taking another drink when Violet smirks, gesturing toward the other side of the bar. “Well, well, well, speak of the devil.”

I turn in my seat and scan the room. I suck in a breath when I see Dominic sitting across the bar with his foster brother, Gabe. Dom is staring at me, and I turn in my seat so fast that I feel I might have whiplash.

Violet laughs and sits back in her seat. “Well, that’s a reaction.”

I bury my face in my hand. What is it about Dom that makes me react this way? How does he still have a hold on me after all these years?

I lift my head and look at my friend. “I have to go.”

She bursts out a laugh, and when she sees I’m not joking, she shakes her head. “Lucy, you’re kidding me, right?”

I shake my head as I move to the edge of my seat. “No, I need to leave… right now.”

Her mouth drops. “What is wrong with you?”

I grab the edge of the table. “I can’t do this. I’m not ready to see him again.”

Violet continues to shake her head and holds up her glass. “I’m drinking… you're drinking. I’m not sure exactly what you want to do. Neither one of us can drive right now.”

I’m about to jump up and run out the door. I can walk home, but guilt for leaving Violet here alone makes me stay in my seat. “What time is Josh coming?”

She looks at her phone and checks the time. “He had practice. He’ll probably be here in around thirty minutes.” Violet’s husband is the running back for the Jasper Eagles.

I suck in a breath and let it out nice and slow. “Thirty minutes. Okay, I can do that.”

I can feel Dom’s eyes boring into me, and I peek over my shoulder. Sure enough, even from a distance, I can see him watching me. As long as he stays on that side of the bar, I’ll be okay. I turn back to Violet and silently repeat to myself all the reasons why I should avoid Dominic Evans. Number one on the list is that I don’t trust myself with him. Today he not only fixed my car, but he held me and tried to fix my heart. I need to resist him, and in order to do that, I need to keep as much distance between us as possible.