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“Jay? Where are you?”
“I’m just coming back to Serenity. Why?”
There was a beat of silence before Gareth said, “Where have you been?”
Jay bristled at the question, but he reined in his annoyance. Getting defensive would only alert his family that something was wrong. “I had to run an errand out of town.”
“You usually let us know in advance if you have to leave early. And why haven’t you been answering your phone?” Gareth asked. “We’ve been worried.”
“Sorry. I forgot it in the car.” That was a stupid answer, but it was the best one he could give his brother right then.
Gareth sighed. “What’s going on, Jay? It’s not like you to leave in the middle of the afternoon.”
“I told Janessa that I was gone for the rest of the day. I didn’t realize I had to account for my whereabouts like I’m Cole or Skylar.”
Okay, he couldn’t keep from getting a little defensive with Gareth. But as a bonus, it helped to distract him from the pain in his heart.
“You don’t. It was just… That woman showed up and then you left. Janessa and Aria were worried.”
“I didn’t mean to worry them,” Jay said, which was the truth. “I just needed to take care of a few things.”
“I won’t pry further, but I make no guarantees about Janessa or Charli. Nessa alerted everyone when she couldn’t get hold of you. We’ve all been trying to call.”
Jay gripped the steering wheel tightly, knowing he had the opportunity to tell Gareth what had happened. But he couldn’t. Gareth had been the perfect son. He wouldn’t understand how hard it was to live up to the standard he’d set.
“Well, you can let them know I’m fine. I don’t feel like calling them all back tonight.”
Gareth hesitated again before he said, “You should probably know that Janessa also called Misha to see if you’d been in contact with her.”
“Okay. I’ll call her and let her know everything is fine.” A lie… a whopper of a lie… but he needed to keep the truth to himself for a bit longer.
“Sorry for panicking, bro,” Gareth said. “We were just concerned.”
“I appreciate your concern, though I’m sorry for causing it.”
He still wasn’t sure why everyone’s reaction had been so extreme. There was no way his leaving the office in the middle of the afternoon should have warranted that. Not answering the phone hadn’t been a wise move, but still. He was an adult. He didn’t have to if he didn’t want to.
“Have a good evening, Jay,” Gareth said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
After ending the call, Jay blew out a frustrated breath, though honestly, he was glad for something else to focus on. Dealing with Gareth had helped him push the other feelings back. If he was going to be able to deal with everyone, he needed to get himself together.
Lucky for him, Jay had a lot of experience showing one face to the world while he was falling apart inside. There had been times that it seemed like Casey waited until he had a big gamebefore breaking up with him. Like she didn’t want to just affect their relationship, she wanted to make it hard for him to focus on his game.
The first time it had happened, he’d played so horribly during the first half that his coach had benched him for the rest of the game. His first-string status had been in jeopardy after that catastrophe.
He’d had no choice but to learn how to stuff the hurt and anger aside so that he could function without falling apart. Given how often he and Casey had broken up, it was a skill he’d perfected. He hadn’t had to do it recently, so hopefully he wasn’t out of practice.
By the time he reached his apartment, he’d rehearsed what he needed to say to Misha. He had an hour before they were supposed to meet at the gym, but he needed to talk to her first.
“Jay?” Misha said when she answered the phone. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. I’m fine.” He sighed. “Not sure what got everyone so fired up. I just had some stuff to take care of and left my phone in the car.”
Technically, all true.
For a moment, Misha didn’t say anything, and Jay wondered if she didn’t believe him.
“Does this sort of thing happen much?” she finally asked.
