The Wife of Reilly Read Online Free PDF Page B

happen. Jennifer calls this the “seduction of potential.” Lemon fresh Pledge. It could change your life. The game clock ran out on the first half, and streams of maize-and-blue people headed out for snacks and drinks. I slinked over to his section before I noticed Mr. Could-Be-Matt walking away from the group of guys he was sitting with, and toward the exit. I followed his trail, which ultimately led to the concession stand. As I stood on line, just five places behind him, I realized it was absolutely, without a doubt, him.
    I wondered what I would say to him when he noticed me.
    Oh my God! Imagine running into you here. Too fake.
    It’s been so long! Why not hang a “Look at my crow’s feet” sign around my neck?
    How are you? Maybe. Save it as a last resort.
    Are you married? Definitely not.
    I think of you every year on your birthday. Swallow fatal amount of sleeping pills before uttering these humiliating words.
    As pitiful as it seems — even to me — it was true that every year for the past fourteen I remembered Matt’s birthday. Perhaps it was because the first time we slept together was on his twenty-second birthday, our fourth night together in Fort Lauderdale. The day before, I’d driven to town with Olivia, Libby, Cindy and Evie to stock up on alcohol and purchase a small cake for Matt’s birthday. I’d negotiated use of the hotel room until two that morning and planned to invite Matt over in the evening for cake and Jack Daniels. At midnight, I would be the first person to wish him a happy birthday. That was the plan.
    At around eight-thirty, I got a call from Libby. She was at the guys’ hotel room and whispered, “You’d better call Matt.”
    “Why? We agreed to get together later. What’s up?”
    “Olivia and I have been here for a few hours, and Evie and Cindy just walked in. Matt thinks you’re blowing him off.”
    “Why are Evie and Cindy there? I thought they were going for a walk.”
    “Look out the window.” Pouring rain. “This was the closest place they could run for shelter. Anyway, Matt is doing a really bad job at trying to act like he doesn’t care, but we can all see he’s bummed out ’cause he thinks you’re avoiding him.”
    “You’re kidding?” I asked. After just four days I could already see that unshakable apathy was very much part of the persona Matt had cultivated. Even though it was clear he liked me, he’d still pepper his conversations with “whatever.” I couldn’t help feeling just a bit giddy with the fact that he was showing visible signs of actually caring about me.
    “Put him on the phone,” I asked Libby.
    “No way. He’d kill me if he knew I called you. You call back here in a few minutes.”
    Blowing him off? I laughed. If he only knew I was actually writing his name in blue icing on a supermarket birthday cake.
    “Hey, are we still on for tonight?” I asked Matt when I called back.
    “Hey Prudence,” he said coolly. “Where’ve you been all day?”
    “Well, actually I’ve been shopping for birthday stuff for you. I thought we could celebrate together.”
    “Shit,” he said.
    “What an ingrate,” I teased.
    “No, it’s not that. Thank you, no, thank you really. It’s just, well, when I didn’t hear from you, I thought, you know. I thought you were, you made other plans so I told the guys we’d go out drinking. I should’ve called. Shit. I fucked up. Okay, how ’bout this? Why don’t I come over now and then I’ll go out with my friends later?”
    I didn’t love the plan, but I was already completely in love with him so I accepted it. I rationalized that this would be an opportunity to show him what a cool girlfriend I would be.
    He arrived a few minutes before nine in an orange mesh football jersey over a white t-shirt and crisp 501 jeans. His brown hair was wet and combed neatly in a side part. At the door, he smiled so powerfully it seemed to have the ability to swing the door wide open all by itself.
    “Hey,” he