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“Mm-hmm. Won’t be the last, I’m sure.”
“Why does everyone keep calling him that?”
She shrugged. “Because he is.”
“He’s not always like that.”
I hadn’t told Sarah anything about our relationship, but I was dying to talk to someone. I needed advice, but the only way I could get that was if I told someone the truth. It couldn’t be any of our friends, and Sarah wouldn’t tell a soul.
“Can I talk to you about something?”
She sobered when she looked at my face. “Sure.”
We sat down at the table in the break room. I took a deep breath and spilled everything. About what happened at the gala, and how Sid stepped in to save me but ended up making up this elaborate lie, and how we had to keep up the ruse since the gossip column had outed us. How we were lying to our friends and family and how we were so far in that I didn’t know what to do.
“And you thought complicating it further with sex would help?” she asked.
I chewed on my thumbnail. “No, that sort of just happened.”
She sighed. “I’m glad you told me because I wasn’t completely convinced. Not because of you, but because of him.”
“Why?”
She bit her lip. “What do you know?”
I frowned. “Know about what?”
“His past.”
“Not much. I mean, I know about how he met Frank and how he competed in jumping and roping events.” I looked down and picked at the hem of my shirt. “I know something happened that he doesn’t want to talk about, and it’s the reason he can’t open up. It’s also the reason he’s so guarded and angry.”
She nodded. “I don’t know much, only what I’ve heard through the rumor mill. But it was because of a girl, and there was some kind of accident.”
“An accident?” I asked.
“Yeah, but I don’t know the details.”
Poor Sid. What if the woman died? It would explain a lot of the things I’d heard him mutter about not being good enough and not being able to give me what I deserved. Those last two were a few nights ago when he thought I was asleep.
“I feel horrible about lying to everyone. I don’t know what to do.”
“Why not tell the truth?”
“I don’t even know where to begin.”
“Start with what you told me,” she said.
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. The only reason you guys started this was to fool your parents, and you’ve already done that.”
“Yes, but if we stop now and then tell everyone it was a lie, it will defeat the purpose, and we’ll be right back where we started. Worse off, actually. I don’t even want to think about the wrath I’ll face from my mom and dad when they found out.”
“So what are you going to do? Marry him?”
I sighed. “I haven’t figured it out yet.”
She looked away. “You’ve fallen for him, haven’t you?”
