To Gael’s credit, he took her hand without questioning her, and they headed for the door.
Just as they were stepping outside, she heard Erik’s voice booming across the space again.
“I figured we’d have the celebration anyway,”he said, his voice light.“And just tell people afterward that it didn’t work out, and she’d go back to Boston.”
That was exactly what they had discussedbeforetheir date, and before they confessed that they cared for each other.
Now the words cut her aching heart like knives.
But she wasn’t going to try and untangle her feelings here. They hurried to the car, and she started the engine the moment their seatbelts were in.
“They know,” Gael said softly as she pulled out of the parking lot.
“Yes,” Jenny said.
“That’s worse than if he just told them the truth about the other lady,” he said sadly.
“Yes,” Jenny said.
“This isn’t what happened on Ridley Hospital,” he said, his voice achingly sad.
“I wish life could work out the way it does on that show,” she told him. “At least the happy parts of the show. I’d love to give you those.”
“We’re not going back in there, are we?” Gael asked after a moment.
“I don’t think we should,” Jenny told him. “I’m not sure what happened, but I don’t think Erik meant for everyone to hear that conversation.”
Her phone buzzed, but she decided to ignore it. Nothing good could come of picking up. It would only be someone questioning her. She knew she couldn’t handle that right now, and she didn’t want to fall completely apart in front of Gael.
“What are we going to do now?” Gael asked.
“What do you want to do?” she asked him. “Is there anywhere we could go right now that would cheer you up a little bit?”
“Could we feed the animals again?” he asked sadly.
“You got it,” she replied, determined to do whatever she could to cheer him up a little, or at least distract him.
18
ERIK
Erik stood in the office, wondering what he was supposed to say to Jenny and Gael now, wondering how he was supposed to open that door and face all those people who were like a family to him.
I lied to them.
All this time he’d been trying to tell himself that he was just soldiering on for them, just putting on a show. But now that he had to see things in the harsh light of day… well, it was clear that he’d only been lying.
The door burst open before he could bring himself to open it himself.
“Erik,” Fallon said. “Put the phone down.”
Erik held up the phone automatically so that his friend could see the call was over.
“We heard you,” Fallon said, casting his eyes down,like he knew how embarrassed Erik would be. “We heard that whole call over the speakers.”
“I’m an idiot,” Erik said automatically.
“Setting up wireless speakers is hard,” Fallon offered weakly.
