The Ex by Freida McFadden(66)

He shakes his head. “No, I didn’t.”

“But…” She coughs. “Then how…?”

He hesitates. “I used my own Epi-pen.”

“You need an Epi-pen?”

His hesitation is longer this time. “Well, no. But when you told me you stopped carrying one, I got nervous and I wrote myself for one so I could have it… just in case.”

She could be angry with him for not trusting her, but she isn’t. The fact of the matter is this man just saved her life. He’s been carrying that pen around just in case because he was worried about this exact situation, and if not for that, he’d probably be attending her funeral in a few days. He saved her life.

It is the most romantic thing she can imagine. It’s more romantic than Wuthering Heights. It’s more romantic than Marv and Bea.

“I love you,” she whispers.

“I love you too,” he whispers back.





Chapter 44: The Ex


Joel has turned off the WhereAmI app, just as he promised he would. When I open it up, the app reports his location as not found. I wonder if Olive has access to the app now.

He’s head over heels for her. I can see it in his eyes. He can’t listen to one negative thing about her. It goes in one ear and out the other.

She is going to get him killed.

The lock turns in the door to the apartment. Nonna is home. She shuffles into the living room, the wrinkles in her face even deeper than they were this morning. In the last few months, she’s slowed down a lot. It occurs to me that maybe she should be using a cane. Joel used to tell me about all the elderly women he’d get who came in with hip fractures. And how a large percentage of those women went on to die.

“How are you feeling, Nonna?” I ask her.

“I just had an appointment with Dr. Dino,” she tells me.

My stomach sinks the way it always does when I think of Dean. For three days after our date, he was texting and calling me. I answered a few texts and none of his calls. Since then, the communications from him gradually tapered, and now I haven’t heard from him in two days. I know I’m royally screwing this up, but all I can think of right now is Joel and Olive.

Dean deserves someone better than me. Someone who isn’t obsessed with another man. He’s a great guy, and I’m a train wreck. Can’t he see that?

“I told him he needs to call you,” Nonna says. “But he says you do not return his calls. Is this true?”

I don’t know what to say. “It’s complicated…”

“Not complicated!” She looks so furious, I want to duck. “What are you looking for? Why do you want Jo-el so much? He doesn’t want you! Dr. Dino—he wants you! He’s in love with you!”

“No, he’s not,” I mumble. “I hardly know him, Nonna.”

“It doesn’t take long to know, patatina.” My grandmother’s voice softens. “With Nonno, I knew the moment I saw him. I knew we would get married and have children and spend our lives together. And we did.”

“I don’t feel that way about Dean.”

“Maybe not.” Her dark eyes look sharply at me. “But he feels that way about you. So if you do not want that wonderful man, you tell him the truth.”

She’s right. I owe Dean that much.





Chapter 45: The New Girl


“I can’t believe you’re back at work.” Zoe gazes into her compact as she applies a fresh layer of lipstick, even though there was absolutely nothing wrong with her last layer of lipstick. “You were just in the hospital yesterday, for God’s sake.”

“I’m fine,” Cassie insists.

And she is fine. Thanks to Joel’s quick thinking, at least. They whisked her to the hospital and kept her overnight, but the swelling in her face and throat has gone away completely. But the whole incident served as a scary reminder that her peanut allergy isn’t gone after all, and she can’t go anywhere without her Epi-pen. She can’t count on Joel to save her life at all times.

After all, what if he hadn’t been there? What if she had decided to have her leftover Chinese without him? It’s a terrifying thought.

He was wonderful at the hospital. She was impressed and a little turned on by the way he took charge when the paramedics arrived. He never left her side through the whole thing. He traded his ER shift the next day so he could be with her.

Cassie’s phone rings within her purse. She reaches for it, expecting it to be a call from Joel. He’s picking her up for a quick lunch and should be here any minute. Cassie doesn’t want to spend much time away from the store today because it was closed half the day yesterday because of her hospitalization. She can’t afford for the store to ever be closed.

But it’s not Joel. It’s a blocked number.

She picks up the phone and hears only silence on the other line. And then the female voice that hisses: “Slut.”

Something inside her snaps. Isn’t she dealing with enough without Francesca harassing her? Joel broke up with her—doesn’t she get it? What is wrong with that woman?

“Listen to me, Francesca,” Cassie barks into the phone. “Joel is not your boyfriend anymore. You need to get that through your thick skull. He does not want you. And if you don’t leave me alone, I’m calling the police and telling them exactly what you’re doing to me.”