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Tornado yipped, and I turned to look at him as I yanked the drawer open. “It’ll be fine,” I assured him. “We’ll get a ratty old pair of socks he never wears anymore. He won’t even care. Trust me.”
I dug around toward the back of the drawer before stumbling on a pair of black socks that had been washed so many times they were gray and fuzzy. There was a hole in the heel and the elastic was all busted. “Oh, for crying out loud. Why would he even keep these? They’re straight garbage.”
I yanked them out, but in doing so, I jostled something underneath them. “Huh.” With a furrowed brow, I reached back in the drawer and felt around, my fingers brushing against something that felt almost fuzzy. I grabbed it and pulled it out, my lungs stalling mid-inhale when I looked down at the black velvet ring box in my hand.
I sent up a silent prayer that this wasn’t what I thought it was, that he hadn’t kept it tucked away all these years, but deep down, I knew it was pointless to hope. My heart began to race as I stared at it, a whirlwind of emotions swirling inside of me. I flipped it open and my heart sank to my feet.
Pillowed in the cushions of the box sat a shiny solitaire ring. The round diamond winked in the overhead light like it was mocking me as Marcia’s words came flooding back.
This was the ring he’d kept with him at all times during that deployment. The one that acted as a good luck charm. The very ring he intended to give to Vanessa before she broke his heart.
It had meant everything to him back then, and apparently, it still meant something to him now. Why else would he have kept it all these years?
“Shit,” I hissed out, my chest trembling on a shaky inhale as the backs of my eyes began to burn. I blinked, trying to will the tears away, but it was no use, the image of the ring grew blurry as my eyes flooded.
Tornado yipped, and I thought I could almost hear concern in his little doggy voice as I collapsed onto the edge of the bed with a sniffle, unable to look away from that freaking ring.
I’d never hated a piece of jewelry more in my entire life. Sure, it was pretty, but it had nothing on the ring Gage has slid on my finger. The difference was, although the diamonds might have been real, the engagement itself wasn’t. Gage might not have had the opportunity to give this ring to Vanessa before thy broke up, but when he bought it, he had every intention of spending the rest of his life with her. It was what he wanted.
I was never going to be anything more than the runner-up, the filler girl he’d used to make his ex jealous then banged because it was convenient.
My chest started to ache. I snapped the box closed and tossed it onto the bed, rubbing at my sternum right above my heart. “Shit, shit shit.”
Man, that hurt. And I had no one to blame but myself. I knew the risks, I knew the likely outcome, yet I’d gone and fallen in love with my best friend anyway. And all along, he’d been pining after another woman.
I’d been right. The pain Darrin had caused didn’t come close to what I was feeling at that very moment.
I couldn’t do this on my own. The secrets I’d been keeping all this time had finally caught up to me. I needed to talk to someone, to get everything I was feelingoutbefore it had a chance to fester and rot.
Tossing the ratty old socks onto the floor to keep Tornado entertained, I marched out of the bedroom and down the hall. I snagged my purse and keys and started for my car. I knew exactly where I was going. She’d give me a ration of shit for lying all this time, but eventually, she’d help talk me through it.
ChapterTwenty-Nine
WYNN
“I can’t believeyou’ve been keeping this to yourself all this time.”
I sat at Poppy’s kitchen table, spinning one of her delicate teacups around in its saucer, staring at the hazy amber liquid inside. I wasn’t much of a tea drinker. I preferred coffee with a heaping helping of sugar, but Poppy was always about the tea, and if she found a reason to put the kettle on, she didn’t hesitate. She found that reason the moment she opened her front door to me, standing on her porch with glassy, red-rimmed eyes.
I spent the better part of half an hour telling her everything. From Gage’s relationship with his ex, to her showing up unexpectedly and him kissing me as a result, to finding the ring in his drawer that morning, and everything in between. I might have left out a few personal details, but now she knew it all. She knew I’d gone into this fake relationship in order to help my best friend, we were sleeping together, and I’d fallen for him even though I’d warned myself not to.
My confession came like a geyser, spewing out of me over tea that had gone tepid as I spoke.
“I know. I’m sorry. It started because I thought I was doing the right thing, then it all kind of spiraled out of control.” I shook my head and wiped my nose with the back of my hand. I’d managed not to cry as I recounted everything, but only because I was a hell of a lot more stubborn than my tears and managed to fight them back. The effects were still there, though. My nose was both runny and stuffy, something that happened every time I cried. My eyes felt swollen and scratchy, and there was a lump in my throat that wouldn’t stop growing, causing my voice to come out all croaky and painful. I sounded like Kermit the Frog after a week-long bender.
“I hated keeping it from you guys, believe me. The guilt ate at me.”
She let out a sigh, dragging a hand through her long, glossy red hair as she lifted her teacup to her lips and drank. She swore there wasn’t anything tea couldn’t cure, so I lifted my cup and sipped, hoping the blend in my cup worked miraculously on heartbreak.
I wasn’t so lucky.
My face pinched up in disgust as my chin jerked back into my neck. “Blech. This is awful! It tastes like watered-down dirt.”
She let out a little giggle and moved to her dedicated tea cabinet. She returned a minute later with a new china cup and a fresh tea bag. She filled the mug with steaming hot water before sitting down across from me once more. “Try that one instead. It’s hibiscus tea, much more subtle. If it’s still not good, you can put a sugar cube in it.”
I looked at her with an arched brow. “You’ve been hoarding the sugar all this time?” I asked accusingly.
She rolled her eyes and propped her chin in her hand. “Just try it.”
