My Imaginary Ex (COMPLETE)

Chapter 19 (LAST CHAPTER)

I thanked Ramon by taking him to dinner. "Thanks. I really owe you. More than this dinner."

He smiled. "I'm glad my instinct was right. Zack looks happy. And I haven't seen him at all since last week."

"Has Kimmy been bothering you?" I frowned.

"I think she's only started to figure out my role in the whole thing," he said. "But don't worry about it. Marjorie's got my back at work."

Next, I debriefed Lena and Marjorie over dinner that weekend, on the day the wedding was supposed to have taken place. They were both happy for me, although I suspected that Marjorie was happier because of her complicated feelings about Kimmy.

"Does Zack know that we approached you about this?" Lena asked.

"Yes," I answered, "but he's not ready to see all of us together at the same time. The very idea of this freaks him out."

"I especially love the way you stood up to Kimmy." At this, Marjorie poured each of us a glass of wine, extra cheerfully. "She deserves to lose at something once in a while."

"I don't know. She seemed really affected by it. Maybe we should leave her alone and let her sort it out."

Marjorie was not as forgiving. "We did her a favor. She should be thanking us!"

"I propose a toast," Lena said, lifting her wine glass. "To first love. And true love."

"And self-awareness," Marjorie added.

"And meddlesome exes," I said.

"I'll drink to that!" Marjorie was unable to contain her glee.

When Zack picked me up, after killing time at the gym, he made sure that we were done with dinner.

I ran a hand through his hair—damp from a shower—and kissed him. "How was the gym?"

"Relaxing."

"You showered."

"I always shower when I have to drive you home."

"I'm still working out what's real and what we made up. But you're absolutely right. And hey, next time, you should at least say hi to the girls."

I could have sworn I saw him shudder. "Sorry, no. I can't do it. I hope you eventually stop telling each other stories about me."

"Hey, I never told them that we were never together to begin with. I'm good at keeping secrets!"

The great thing was, we could finally let the secret go. It was real now, and we could start over.

No more imaginary exes.

"I heard the funniest thing at work today," Zack said as we pulled into the highway. "Rumor has it that I left Kimmy for the stripper at my bachelor party."

"And you told them the truth, right? Right?"

He laughed. "Not exactly. It's a good story! And much simpler than the real one. Maybe we should add that to the canon."

And that is why, if you ask any of our friends, you wouldn't be able to get the proper story of how Zack and I ended up together. No single person—apart from the two of us—knows exactly how it happened.

Which was exactly how he wanted it. He was, in many ways, still my Zack from college.

The End