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Lila let out a shudder of breath as she held her position at the door and glanced from Heidi to Ann. Ann’s mind still spun. Heidi knew who Lila was. Perhaps they had met at the hospital one day—but they wouldn’t have, would they? Heidi rarely came to the hospital and only ever for lunch with her unless it was work related, and Lila wasn’t a nurse. Their paths wouldn’t have crossed,Would they?
Heidi stood up, straightening her shirt as she spun on her toes to face Ann. Her look went from soft, to confused, to afraid—very afraid. Ann tried to school her features so that Heidi would open up, so she wouldn’t turn tail and run in the other direction, but she couldn’t. She could do nothing but stand there and gape at the two of them.
“I don’t believe it,” Ann finally whispered, breaking the silence.
“I didn’t either.” Lila stepped forward with her hand out in front of her as if to stop Ann from running. “I didn’t know until this week, I swear to you.”
“How could you not know?” Ann’s voice rose to the point where she was yelling.
Lila shook her head. Heidi stepped toward Ann, but Ann moved back and shook her head to halt Heidi. She couldn’t be touched right now, by either of them.
“I swear she didn’t know. I didn’t know,” Heidi stated. “I met Lila at the hospital when I came to bring you lunch one day, and I met her randomly at the grocery store after that and at the hospital again while I waited for you, but we didn’t start dating then.”
Ann lobbed a glare through the room to Lila. “How could younotknow?”
“You never told me Heidi’s name!” Lila pleaded. “You never told me what she looked like or where she worked or introduced us. You kept that part of your life so separate—how would I have ever known? You have to believe us. When Heidi asked me to come here for the weekend is when I finally figured it all out. Before that? I was completely in the dark.”
Ann drew in slow deep breaths, trying to calm her racing heart. She couldn’t even think straight. All she wanted to do was lob accusations at each of them, yell and scream, and storm off. Except she knew that wouldn’t get her anywhere, and they were now pretty much stuck there. She wasn’t going to drive the three hours back home that night, not for this.
“I need a minute,” Ann’s words were rushed. She stepped around the couch and straight out the front door. She moved to the side of the wraparound porch where she could see nothing but the two lights on the barn.
She plopped down on an old wooden rocking chair and leaned forward, running her hands angrily through her hair. She couldn’t even formulate words to describe what had just happened. If Heidi hadn’t said her name, she would never have known. But it also meant that both Heidi and Lila had known for days at that point and neither had bothered to share that information with her.
They had planned against her.
Ann pulled her hair tightly between her fingers and groaned.What the hell was she supposed to do with this?None of this was in the plan for the weekend. Everything was completely messed up now. The weekend was a waste. How were they supposed to have honest conversations now?
Growling, Ann sucked in a breath and raised her face to the sky. She couldn’t believe it. But she had to. Lila and Heidi were together. The image of the two of them wrapped around each other, fucking, of Heidi riding Lila into oblivion, struck her so hard it made her sick to her stomach. She wanted that. Ann wanted that with Heidi, and Lila, a woman she trusted and loved, had had that.
Standing because she couldn’t take it anymore, Ann moved to the railing and leaned out over the edge of it. The cold air bit at her cheeks and arms, reminding her where she was and what she was doing there. They had all come there to learn from each other—that was what Heidi had said. To learn, to be open minded, to ask questions. Ann had checked in with each of them every day since they’d agreed to the trip.
“But this?” Ann muttered. “What the fuck is this?”
She leaned her elbows against the white railing and stretched her back. She needed time to sort it out before she went back in there to talk to the two of them, before she even thought about being open to a conversation with the three of them. She’d even booked three damn rooms and now that third was going to go to waste.
“She already cancelled it.” Lila’s voice was soft as she stepped out of the back doorway, letting the weather door slap shut.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I can see your mind working about the wasted money, and I know how much that matters to you. Heidi called Eli earlier and cancelled the third room but asked Eli not to tell you.”
Ann rolled her eyes. “This is an entire fucking conspiracy.”
“It’s not.” Lila moved closer and put her hands up as she stepped in front of the light. It was so hard for Ann to see her face in the shadows. “I swear to you, it’s not. This happened entirely by accident.”
“I believe you,” Ann whispered, not sure that Lila even heard her, but it didn’t matter. It was true. She did believe them.
Lila leaned over the railing, her jacket still on. She stared down at her hands as she clasped them together. “I told her it would be a bad idea to tell you before we came up here because you wouldn’t have come.”
“You’re probably right,” Ann confessed. “I would have pulled the plug on the entire thing.”
Lila frowned. “We were at the Lounge when I figured it out. I ran outside because I couldn’t breathe in there.”
Ann snorted. “I can see that happening. Just like I did now.”
“Yup.” Lila turned and looked Ann over. The scrutiny was noticeable. “So how are you handling it?”
“Finding out my two girlfriends are actually sleeping together and dating is not something I think I could ever have been prepared for.”
