AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh, well, that’s not so bad,” he says, keeping pace with me as I crutch my way out of the ER. “Will you need help this weekend? I could probably check in on you if you do.”
He glances at me and then his eyes slide away. Is he asking because he wants to help or just to be nice? “Thanks, but I’ll be fine. I live with my friends, so there will be no shortage of people to help me.”
“Oh, that’s good.”
Is he disappointed? And if he is, what does that mean? “But we can talk about places to go next week,” I say as he opens the door for me. “Plus, we should probably get the site up so we can upload our photos. Maybe you could come help with that?” I have no idea if he has any website experience, but two heads are always better than one.
“I could probably make that work.” He smiles and holds my crutches as I maneuver into the car. Getting in and out of a vehicle is suddenly much more complicated than it was this morning.
We arrive back at work, and just like last time, he waits until I’m in my car - a feat I’d thought I’d mastered until I had to do it with crutches. If nothing else, I will say Derek is a gentleman. Then he waves and I head home.
“What happened to you?” Belle asks as I enter the house. I’m rather glad it’s Belle who’s home right now. I doubt I would have much sympathy from Charlie or Hannah and Piper is just too analytical for me to deal with right now.
“An unfortunate fall while trying to get a picture,” I say, hobbling over to the couch and sinking down. I’ve only been on crutches for a few hours and I’m exhausted. There will be a lot of sitting in my weekend.
“Oh, I’ve done that. I ruined a perfectly good pair of Jimmy Choo shoes falling in a fountain once.”
I’m tempted to ask her how she fell in a fountain, but I don’t think I can handle it at the moment, so I simply nod. “Well, I probably ruined my shoes too, but I’m much more concerned about my ankle.” I take my other sock and shoe off and place them on the ground. Now, both of my feet are free, but one is still much larger than the other. “Do you think you could get me some ice?”
“Absolutely.” She rummages in the freezer for a bit and then returns with a Ziplock bag filled with ice and an envelope. “This came for you today too.” She hands the envelope to me and places the ice on my ankle.
I’m so focused on the envelope that I barely notice the intense cold surrounding my ankle or the front door opening and closing. It is just an envelope, so why does it fill me with such a sense of dread? Oh, I know why. Because it has Adam’s name on it. Adam, the man I dated for years in college. Adam, the man who proposed to me. Adam, the man who then left me for another woman who happened to be my friend Amy. Well, ex-friend, and I know she must have dropped this off after seeing me at the museum because there’s no postage on the envelope. I also know what’s in it, so why bother opening it at all?
“Whoa, what happened to you?”
I glance up to see that Charlie, Hannah, and Piper have entered and are staring at me.
“I fell trying to get a picture for our app,” I say, “and now I’m deciding if I should open this or just throw it away.” Opening it will make it real, final. The last nail in the coffin so to speak, and even though I know it will happen anyway, I’m not sure I’m ready to see it in print.
“What is it?” Hannah sits next to me and peers over my shoulder.
“I’m fairly certain it’s an invitation to Adam and Amy’s wedding. We ran into her today.”
“Why would she want her fiancé’s ex-girlfriend to come to her wedding?” Piper asks.
“To rub it in, of course,” Charlie says with a growl. “That’s pretty low.”
“You could be wrong, you know. Maybe it’s an apology,” Belle says. Poor Belle. She is always looking for the rainbow and the pot of gold, but it’s not there. At least not this time.
“No, I’m almost positive. I just can’t understand why she would even send this to me. She can’t imagine I’ll go, can she?”
“Maybe if she’s a type three,” Hannah says. “Those types have a bad habit of wanting to parade what they have and don’t really care how they make others feel. But you could turn it back on her.”
“How’s that?” I turn the envelope over in my hands wishing I had something else to do to keep them busy.
“Show up with a hot date. That would actually get them both. Adam would see what he’s missing and Amy would be jealous that you landed someone better than Adam.”
It sounds so simple when Hannah says it, but I don’t have Hugh Jackman waiting in the wings or anything. Not even someone close to him. I don’t even have a man in the wings, hottie or not. “Not sure that would work even if I did have a guy, but I don’t. I can’t just magic someone up.” Maybe, they should have looked into a magic boyfriend for me instead of the magic eight ball.
“Oh, but you do,” Charlie says, an evil gleam glistening in her eyes.
My eyebrows arch. “I’m sorry? Do you know something I don’t know?”
“Derek. You have Derek.”
“What? No. No way.” My voice squeaks and I try to get it under control. I don’t need them to realize that I do find Derek attractive in a weird stiff sort of way. “He’s not a hottie.”
“But he could be.” Belle’s eyes widen, and I know she is picturing the perfect makeover for him. “Remember that movie, Can’t Buy Me Love? I bet if we changed his clothes and his hair, he would be handsome.”
