If she was hoping to dredge up feelings from our romantic trip to France, it was working. I felt shifting uncomfortably in my seat, trying not to let the memories weaken my resolve.
“I don’t,” I said sharply. “I’ve had better trips.”
Natalie looked at me carefully for a moment. “I don’t believe you,” she said.
“No?” I said. “Doesn’t make it any less true.”
“You’re really good, you know,” she said unexpectedly. “If I didn’t know any better, I would have been thoroughly convinced. You could have gone into acting. Hollywood would have been all the better for it.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Is there anything – anything at all – you want to tell me, Chance?” Natalie asked pointedly.
I frowned. “No,” I said. “But why don’t you tell me what you expect me to say.”
She nodded. “Okay, how about, ‘I’m sorry I broke up with you, Natalie… I’m sorry I broke up with you because I didn’t really want to. I only did it because I was being blackmailed.’”
I stiffened at her words. “What are you talking about?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” she said. “I know everything, Chance. I know all about Jason and the deal he made with you.”
I just stared at her for a moment. “That fucking asshole… He told you?”
“No,” Natalie shook her head. “Jason didn’t say a word. I actually haven’t spoken to him in months.”
“Then how did you know?”
She laughed. “It’s a strange story,” she said. “And, I was hoping you could fill in that part for me.”
“I’m feeling very confused right now.”
“This morning during my graduation, I received a text,” she told me. “It was from an unknown number, telling me to ask you out to dinner, that it would pay off.”
“An unknown number?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “I decided to follow through and ask you out to dinner. Just after I got ready and just before I left to meet you, I got a call from the same number. She didn’t tell me who she was – I don’t even know her name – but she did tell me all about Jason and the real reason you broke up with me.”
I took a few moments to process that. “You got a call from a strange… Was it a woman?”
“It was,” she nodded.
“Lindsey,” I breathed, remembering the message she had sent me only moments ago. It could only be her; there was no one else apart from Sophie who knew about my relationship with Natalie. And Sophie didn’t know the real reason behind our breakup yet.
“Lindsey?” Natalie repeated. “Is that her name?”
“Yes.” I nodded, but now I was starting to get angry. “She had no right to contact you, much less tell you all that. I confided in her because I trusted her and expected her to keep my confidences.”
“She was trying to help you.”
“By butting in?”
“By sorting out the problem.”
“How has she sorted out the problem?” I demanded. “Jason’s a psychopath – he will go through with his threat and the university will rescind your degree. I’m not going to let that happen.”
“We don’t have to worry about Jason anymore,” Natalie rushed to assure me. “Lindsey took care of it.”
“Excuse me?”