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“Don’t hang up!”
“I wasn’t going to,” Colby said. Debbi gave her a look and Colby waved dismissively. Like this call, from one of Nate’s college roommates didn’t have her heart practically beating out of her chest.
“Sorry,” Zane said. “Just making sure. Look, Nate doesn’t know I’m calling.”
Colby’s heart fell.
She was so mad at herself. As much as she tried to let him go and stop hoping for something from him, a part of her still did. A big part. When would this stop breaking her heart? She didn’t say anything and moved around behind the garage apartment, not wanting Debbi to see her face.
Zane continued. “He told all of us what happened with you and I just wanted to clear something up with you. It may not be my place—”
“It should be his place. He should be the one calling.”
“I agree,” Zane said, his voice soft. “There are a lot of things he should tell you and I wish he would. But I need to tell you something. It’s important. Nate didn’t use the app and our data to track you down or stalk you or whatever.”
“You’re working on the app with him?”
“I am. And I can actually show documentation. I’m going to send a document to your email. The algorithm paired you guys as a potential match. He didn’t set that up. I checked.”
“What about finding my address? Somehow becoming my mail carrier?” Colby’s voice sounded harsher than she meant it to, a mask to hide the hope she didn’t want to be feeling. Again.
“About that—I don’t know where you were staying when you signed up, but the address we have on file here was a P.O. Box, not a house. We don’t have your current actual address on file.”
Colby went still. She had temporarily gotten the box while staying at Liz’s. She thought it might be easier than getting all the mail mixed up. After a month at the house, she got tired of having to go pick things up and it didn’t work for the frequent deliveries. It must have been the address she used when signing up for the beta test.
“Oh,” she said.
Trying to grasp what this meant, she turned this idea over in her mind. Nate didn’t stalk her. He didn’t use the info on the app to fake a relationship with her. Did this make things better?
To a degree, yes. But unless he could tell her everything, starting with what happened four years ago, she couldn’t fully trust him. Because he wasn’t trusting her either with whatever it was.
“But he did know that it was me when we got matched up?”
“Yes. He did know that. We were all supposed to test the app a bit, but not really use it in that way. Not to really date. He didn’t tell us at first that he was talking to someone—to you—on the app. He said that he wanted a second chance. In hindsight, he knew it was dumb. I think he was just so excited to see you again that he didn’t think about the repercussions.”
“Okay. Thanks, I guess.”
Zane sighed into the phone. “Colby, I don’t want to overstep, so I’m trying to be careful here. I think he would be mad if he knew I was calling.”
“So why are you doing it?”
“I’m calling because he’s being dumb. And he’s hurt.”
“He’s hurt?”
There was silence for an awkward length of time. Colby wasn’t going to be the one to break it, so she waited.
Finally, Zane spoke up. “I know he hurt you. I know that. He messed up in a bunch of colossal ways. It was wrong, and I know how sorry he is, even if he can’t ever get himself to tell you himself. I hope he does. Because he’s been insufferable since he met you. He wouldn’t shut up about you in college and then after when he had—uh…after college, he didn’t say as much, but it was like you were always there. He never dated anyone else really. You weren’t just the standard he held other women up to. It was like he felt that he should be faithful to you.”
Colby felt hot tears in her eyes. She was sad, but she was also angry. “If that’s true, then why did he walk away? Why didn’t he call me back when he didn’t show up for our date back then? Why did he leave the other night without just telling me the truth? That’s all I want, but I can’t trust him because he won’t be honest with me.”
“I can’t answer that, even though I wish I could. I wish he would. I know he wants to.”
“Did he kill someone? Get some girl pregnant? I just can’t even think of a reason.”
“No, nothing like that,” Zane said. “See, this is why he should just tell you. You’re thinking much worse. I want to tell you, but it’s his story to tell. I really can’t. But I wanted you to know that he isn’t some crazy stalker who used our app to connect with you. I needed you to know that. And though he’s the one who owes you, I wanted to ask for a favor. For him.”
“You’re calling to ask me for a favor? For Nate? The guy who walked away from me—twice?”
