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PAIGE: And I haven’t been ignoring you, dickface.
Paige read those and made a face. “Why did you do that?”
“Because I wanted to. Anyway, it doesn’t matter, because he won’t get it.”
“He won’t get that you’re calling him a dickface? Sorry, that I’m calling him a dickface?”
“Girl.” Jules looked at Paige like she was a simpleton. “He’s not going to get the text, because he blocked you. He literally won’t get it. I just did that to make myself feel better.”
“If he blocked me, then why is he texting me?”
“He probably forgot he blocked you.”
“What?”
“You know, like he got drunk and drunk-blocked you, but doesn’t remember doing it and now he’s thinking you’re ignoring him.”
“Are you serious? That’s really stupid.”
“Why is that stupid? People drunk-dial … they can drunk-block, too. I mean, the only other explanation would be dementia and I think he’s too young for that.”
Paige made a face at the dementia explanation. “Well, I got texts from him after my concussion, so if he drunk-blocked me, it was after that.”
“Hold on.” Jules grabbed the phone again and re-read all the texts. “Look at this,” she said, tilting the screen so Paige could see. “He asks how you are … you tell him … and then there’s nothing else until the next time he texts. Most people would respond back and say, ‘Glad to hear you’re doing better,’ or something like that, right? A smiling emoji? A thumbs-up? But he never did. Which makes me think he blocked you before the concussion.”
Jules set the phone down and slid it over to Paige. “Do me a favor. Call him and see if he answers.”
Reluctantly, Paige did as instructed; it went straight to voicemail.
“Call him again.”
Paige hung up and then called him again and got the same result. Before Paige could hang up this time, Jules plucked the phone from her hand and when prompted to leave a message, said, “This is Jules. I just wanted to tell you to go fuck yourself for blocking Paige. That’s a total dick move.”
Jules then called David several more times in quick succession, leaving messages that grew progressively more insulting and physically impossible. The last one involved the strategic placement of a metal-studded dildo—which drew the attention of a nearby diner—before Paige could wrestle her phone from Jules.
Unable to stop herself from looking over the texts one more time, Paige realized something and looked across the table at Jules. “I can’t even let him know he’s making a wasted trip to the house.”
Not looking like she gave a single shit, Jules shrugged. “Maybe he’ll remember before he gets there, but if not, it’s his fault for blocking you. Actions have consequences, especially drunk actions.”
Paige pursed her mouth. “What if he blocked me years ago, like right after the divorce?”
“That would make sense,” Jules said slowly. “And it would totally support my drunk-blocking theory.”
“It would also explain Spook.”
Jules nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah. It would.”
Chapter 30
After texting Paige that he would stop by the house, David arranged for his mom to watch Jacob and then told Ashley that he and Jacob had been invited over for dinner, knowing she wouldn’t even try and be included. So, by 7 p.m., David had dropped Jacob off at Valerie’s and was headed to the house he used to share with Paige.
When David arrived, he lost his breath for a moment. It felt so surreal, driving up to it after almost five years of being away, and as he sat in his car at the curb to gather himself, he remembered the first time he and Paige had seen it.
They hadn’t been married very long, and weren’t even looking to buy a house. They had gotten into a somewhat strange routine of going to open houses on Sundays—he didn’t know why, other than at the time it was cheap entertainment and it had been fun to look at other peoples’ houses. Once inside, they would point out what they liked, or (usually) what they didn’t like, making a game out of it, sometimes getting a little carried away.
The minute they’d crossed the threshold of this house, though, it was over. Oddly quiet, they started walking around, cruising through rooms in record time, like they were on a tight schedule. When they were about half done and had stepped outside to check out the backyard, David had wondered if he was out of his mind and then pulled the trigger.
“It wouldn’t hurt to look into financing.”
