The Ex by Freida McFadden(43)

“Ma’am,” Officer Rogers is saying to Maureen. “Did you seen anyone enter the bookstore during the night last night?”

Maureen hugs her giant coat closer to her body. “Nope,” she says. “Didn’t see nobody!”

And then she cackles hysterically.

“But you were here all night, weren’t you?” the officer persists. “You must have seen something.”

“I didn’t see nothing,” Maureen says with a smile.

Officer Roger does what he can, but it’s obvious this crime won’t be solved today or ever, and definitely not with the help of Maureen. When he’s gone, Cassie gets that now familiar rush of relief every time a police officer leaves her store without snapping handcuffs on her. She had been right not to call the cops about the incident at her apartment—there’s nothing they can do.

Cassie keeps the store closed the rest of the morning, while they try to clean up. It will take ages to get the books organized the way they were before, but they try to at least get the books back in the correct sections. As for the word “SLUT,” Zoe scribbles over it with permanent marker, but Cassie can still tell what it says.

“I wonder if it’s my roommate,” Zoe muses as she toys with the new ring she just got in her lower lip last month. That one looks painful—but they all sort of look painful. “Lindsey totally could have swiped my key and copied it.”

Cassie picks up a sports almanac from the ground. “I think it was aimed at me.”

“You?” Zoe laughs. “You’re not a slut. You’re practically a nun. At least, before Joel.”

Cassie shakes her head. “There was… another incident. At my apartment.”

Zoe’s mouth falls open. “Seriously? What happened?”

Cassie tells her about the paint on her door at home. And how it was the same paint smeared on the door to their shop the other day. Zoe’s eyes widen as she hears the story.

“Holy crap,” she says. “Why would someone do that to you?”

Cassie hesitates. “I have an idea, but… you promise you won’t say anything to Joel?”

“Sure, of course.”

Cassie sighs. “I think it could be Joel’s ex-girlfriend.”

“You think so?” Zoe pulls a face. “Didn’t you say she was some sort of gorgeous successful chef or something? Why would she still be pining over him all these months later?”

“I don’t know, but…” Cassie chews on her lip. “Joel acts really weird about it whenever I bring up her name. I really don’t want to start accusing her of anything to him.”

She doesn’t say what she’s really afraid of, which is that Joel might take Francesca’s side.

Before Zoe can say anything else, they’re interrupted by a rapping at the door. Cassie goes to tell their potential customer that they’re closed for the day, but then she sees Joel peering into the store. She suddenly remembers they agreed to have lunch together. Before.

She opens the door for him after a beat of hesitation. His eyes widen as he takes in the disarray of the store. “Christ, what the hell happened here?”

“We had a break-in,” Zoe says before Cassie can shush her.

“Wow.” He looks around. “The vandals sure did a number on this place.”

“I know.” Cassie’s shoulders sag. “It’s pretty bad.”

“This neighborhood isn’t great,” Joel points out. “Lots of crime. You literally have a homeless woman living a few feet away from your store.”

Cassie’s cheeks burn. It’s not like she chose this neighborhood. Back when Grandpa Marv’s parents opened the store, it was a fine neighborhood. Those were the exact words he always used. A fine neighborhood. “Well, there’s nothing I can do about that.”

“Right, of course.” Joel frowns. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I know.” She nods, pushing away her frustration. “Anyway, it’s taking us forever to get it cleaned up.”

Joel is looking at something. She doesn’t know what it is until she follows his gaze to the front desk. She isn’t sure how they missed it before, but the word “SLUT” is written on top of the desk, in the same black marker.

“Jesus,” Joel says.

“We’ll get it cleaned up,” Cassie says, ignoring the tears suddenly pricking at her eyes. “But lunch probably isn’t a good idea.”

“I disagree,” he says. “If you’ve been dealing with this shit all morning, you need a break.”

She just looks at him.

“Come on,” he says. “If you come to lunch with me, I’ll help you guys clean up after we get back. I’ve got nothing to do this afternoon anyway.”

“Your boyfriend is way too nice, Cassie,” Zoe says. “I think you should take him up on his offer.”

Cassie looks around the store, at the mess still on the ground. It would be nice to take a break. And even nicer to have Joel’s help while they’re cleaning this up all afternoon.

“Okay,” she says. “Let’s go.”





Chapter 27: The Ex


I’d like to talk to you.

I spend far too long staring at the text message from none other than Joel Broder. I haven’t exchanged words with him since that engineered meet-up at Starbucks. He’s been dating Olive for a while now, and I figured I was the last thing on his mind. But apparently, I’m wrong.