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She turned the phone to ossip site There was a picture ofat that ed to Mystery Woman” Someone at the party had taken a candid shot of us and sent it around The secret was out

“’Mystery Woman,’” I said “How do you feel about that description?”

“Guess it could be worse”

I glanced around, spotting more than a few pairs of eyes on us No doubt ere the center of attention And not only there, but likely in New York too

“The secret’s out,” I said “As ht’ve been”

“No going back Iback”

Out of the corner oftoward us I looked up to see that it was Paul, Mike, and Carter—h-school friends from in town

“Buddy!” said Mike, a big grin on his face like he was about to try to sell -lations!”

The three of the a look at Cass as if trying to figure out what to think of her

“Thanks,” I said “Been a hell of a month”

“Yeah, I’ll bet,” said Carter “Can’t believe we only found out about this shit tonight Your ass went and got engaged, and you didn’t tell us about it?”

“All kind of happened so fast” I gestured toward Cass “But you guys know Cass, right? Cass, this is Mike and Carter and Paul”

Cass was tense—no doubt about it

“We know each other,” she said in a terse voice

Mike appeared thoughtful, his eyes going wide once he’d realized soirl from the ice cream shop!”

“Two Scoops,” she said “And yeah, that’s me”

“Fuck,” said Carter “I re you all kinds of shit back in the day And now, da up”

I didn’t like Carter’s tone There was soht ood way

“Marrying up?” asked Cass

“Yeah,” said Paul “Girl from the poorhouse finally lands her rich husband”

“Like so out of one of those Hallmark movies,” said Carter