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I didn’t want Zane anywhere near Ray. I didn’t even want to say her name, or to tell him anything about her. But I knew I couldn’t avoid it. Zane would be at the wedding, and Ray would be there on my arm. There was no doubt that he would make it a point to talk to her. I didn’t have a choice. I gritted my teeth and twisted the handle for the shower. “Her name is Ray.”
“Another ski-obsessed blonde?”
“No.”
“Tell me about her.”
“No.”
“Such a buzzkill,” he said, adding in a few hearty tsks just to piss me off.
“She’ll be at the wedding. I’m sure you’ll try to talk to her much as you can there,” I snapped. I reached out to the water, letting it fall over my hand and scald my skin. “Try not to make her want to run away.”
“Oh, come on, Wade. I’m not that bad.”
“You absolutely are. And unfortunately, I have plans for my evening with Ray, so I’m going to have to let you go.”
“She’s there?” he asked, and goddammit, I knew I’d fucked up. “Can I say hello?”
“No. Goodbye, Zane.”
I pulled the phone from my ear, entirely ignoring any words coming through the speaker, hanging up on him the same as Ray had with me earlier. I needed to keep him as far out of the loop as possible. Zane was prone to digging, to finding out every last detail, and using it to his advantage. If he found out what I was doing I’d be fucked. He’d find a way to warp it for his own gain. Ray didn’t need to be involved in that, and I was going to do everything in my power to keep him out of the way.
I needed to calm down.
Chapter 19
Ray
Slamming my hands against the steering wheel trying to suppress the urge to scream seemed to be the only thing that remotely calmed me down.
This morning was a goddamn disaster. It was the third anniversary of Dad’s passing, and usually I was the only one affected by it because Mom wasn’t aware enough to understand what day it was. Even if I explained it to her, it would just result in a fit of tears for twenty minutes before she forgot why she was crying. But this year, with Mom’s new medication making her much more lucid and less forgetful, she knew exactly what day it was. She was inconsolable.
I would be going to the cemetery alone.
But of course, nothing was going right. As I sat in the parking lot of the hospital, the snow falling around me, my engine refused to start. It wouldn’t even rev. I wanted to fucking cry.
My phone rang from my purse. I swiped away the few stray tears that had managed to slip out as I searched for my phone, slicing my finger open again as I got my hands around it. Brute lit up my screen.
I didn’t want to answer. Today was not the fucking day for him to beg me to sleep with him—again. But I also knew damn well that I was expected at work almost an hour ago, so the call was more likely regarding that.
“What do you want?” I said, my voice breaking far more than I wanted it to.
“Where are you?” he asked, concern tainting his voice instead of the irritation I expected. At least that was a single, lonesome positive in an otherwise shitty start to the day. “You were meant to be here an hour ago.”
“I’m having the worst fucking morning of my life.” I sniffled and wiped my nose with the back of my hand. “I’m sorry. I’ll be at work soon.”
“What’s happened?”
I didn’t need to explain myself. But it all seemed to bubble up, desperate for some kind of escape, and poured from my mouth before I could stop it. “My car won’t start and I wanted to go to the cemetery before work because it’s the anniversary of Dad’s passing. Mom is too lucid to go with me and understands everything that’s going on so she’s impossible to comfort right now.” The backs of my eyes burned as more tears managed to pass through. “She’s inconsolable. And my phone is fucking broken and I’m exhausted but I need to go to Dad’s grave. I also need to get to work, and I can’t fucking breathe right because I’m a snotty mess?—”
“I’ll come get you,” he said without any hesitation. His voice was calm, soft, a cool breeze on a hot day. If only I wasn’t freezing my ass off in my car. “I’ll take you to the cemetery. Where are you, Ray?”
I didn’t want him to have to do that. I didn’t want to be a burden. But I also didn’t have any other choice. “I’m at the hospital,” I sobbed, more of me cracking from the relief. “I’m in my car.”
“Hey, hey, calm down,” he cooed, the jingling sound of keys and a door closing coming through the phone. “It’s okay. Do me a favor and go inside, okay? It’s fucking freezing and you don’t need to be sitting out there in it.”
I nodded and pushed the door open before remembering he couldn’t hear a nod. “Okay.”
