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Desi’s stomach flopped and she turned beet red. Closing her eyes, she prayed that wasn’t loud enough for Dean and Kim to hear. She should have known better, Kim had better hearing than a dog. When Desi opened her eyes, Kim was staring at her, and said, “Did he say he’d rather lick your body?”
Everyone could hear Lane laughing his ass off through the speaker on her phone.
Desi made a face. “No! He did not!”
Kim smirked. “Are you sure, cuz it sure soun—”
Dean leaned onto the turkey box and said, “Kim...”
“What?!”
Dean shot her a side eye glance. “You know what. Desi, if you need to go, we can handle this.”
Desi nodded. With her lower lip trembling, she said, “Thanks. I’ll take you up on that.”
As she walked away, heading towards the laneway, she could hear Lane calling her name through the receiver. Instead of answering him, she hung up.
“Desi, wait!” Kim came running up behind her.
She stopped and waited for her boss to catch up.
“I didn’t mean anything by what I said.” Kim felt terrible when she saw the tears in Desi’s eyes. “I have a habit of sticking my foot in my mouth all the time. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine.” When she saw the pained look on Kim’s face, Desi said, “Really it is. I’m just tired is all.”
“You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”
Desi choked on the lump in her throat and nodded. “Is it that obvious?”
“Not really. You hide it well.”
Dashing the tears from her eyes, she said, “Good, please, let’s keep it that way Kim.”
“Tell Lane. How else is he supposed to know?”
“He’s not. He’s leaving after the wedding, and I can’t stop him. Iwon’tstop him,” she reaffirmed.
“But...”
“No. No buts. I knew he had plans, and I’m not one of them.” She fell silent for a moment, then said, “Besides, when the wedding is over, I’ll be handing in my two weeks’ notice.”
“What? Why? I thought you loved Pearl Lake?”
“I do... but it doesn’t love me.” Desi dropped her gaze and looked at the ground. Taking a deep breath, she said, “My old boss offered me my job back. I’ll be heading back to Montreal.”
“Oh... okay then. Well thank you for letting me know before you hand in your notice. It will give me time to find a replacement... I guess.”
Desi looked up. For the life of her she couldn’t look Kim in the eye and instead fixed her gaze above Kim’s shoulder. “You’re welcome....” Jerking a thumb over her shoulder, she said,” Umm, I’m gonna go now.”
“Oh sure! Go get some rest.”
With that Desi turned on her heel and left Kim standing there staring after her.
Desi sucked in a steadying breath and slowly exhaled. She hated doing that, lying to the one woman who took her under her wing, but she had no other choice. She was not staying there hoping and praying that Lane would one day come to visit his family and she might catch a passing glimpse of him. No, she would rather eat dirt than endure that agony.
