“Probably. As Annie has pointed out, the hair’s more famous than I am,” Liam said with a laugh.
“Oh, I doubt that. It’s your talent that’s gotten you where you are. You make all your reports so interesting and so informative. Sometimes I feel almost as if I’d visited those places myself after I’ve watched one of your shows.”
“Thank you. That’s what I hope to accomplish.”
Haley glanced at Anne. “It must be hard for you to sit here in this apartment studying while Liam’s off seeing so many fascinating places.”
Anne forced a smile. “I’m doing what I have to do to pursue my own career,” she said with a light shrug. “Liam has his dreams and I have mine.”
Something about that statement didn’t sound right, she thought after she’d said it. Too much “his” and “mine” and not enough “ours,” maybe. But since that was the state of their marriage for the time being, there was no use fretting about it.
She stood rather abruptly. “We should start transferring those files you need, Haley. It won’t be long before we have to go meet the guys for our study session.”
“And I should get to work myself.” Liam stood and smiled at Haley. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Haley. Anne, I’ll be in the office if you need me for anything.”
She nodded, not quite meeting his eyes as he walked away. He closed himself into the other room, leaving her alone with her friend. Fortunately, Haley seemed to sense that Anne needed to concentrate on school concerns for a while, rather than any further discussion of her complicated relationship with Liam.
While there was some relief in having her friend know the truth, Anne was beset by a sudden, uncharacteristically superstitious fear that one accidental discovery could lead to a domino effect of everyone she knew uncovering the secret she’d been trying so hard to hide for more than a year. Though at the moment, discovery seemed to be only one of the perils she and Liam faced.
As Anne had expected, Haley was entirely circumspect in front of their study group about what she had discovered. With the exception of making no more jokes about blind dates or singles’ clubs, she treated Anne no differently than she ever had, making it easier for them both to pretend that nothing had changed. And yet, Anne felt that the accidental revelation had deepened their friendship. Perhaps it was because she no longer needed to lie to Haley, even by omission, which gave her the freedom to be completely herself in front of her friend. It was nice to have one person, at least, other than Liam with whom that was possible.
The group met for intensive study sessions both Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Maybe because they were so focused on their common goals, the tension Anne had been sensing among them lately seemed to ease. Even Haley and Ron stopped sniping at each other and started cooperating more with helping all of them learn as much of the material as possible.
Still, Anne believed something had changed in the past couple of months, and she couldn’t quite figure out what it was. Maybe it was her own guilty conscience, she thought with a slight wince, though she didn’t know why she should feel at all remorseful about keeping her private life hidden from the guys in the group. It wasn’t as if she knew everything about their lives, after all.
She didn’t know why Ron had grown slightly less jovial during the past few months. He was still the one who could most easily make everyone else laugh, but he wasn’t quite the class clown he’
d been when she’d first met him. Maybe it was just that he, too, was having trouble dealing with the pressures of classes and tests.
As for James—well, she doubted that any of them really knew James. They all liked him, they considered him a real friend, an important part of their group—but there were parts of James that he kept hidden from all of them. She and Haley had discussed that a couple of times when they were alone, wondering idly together what made James so obsessively private. They’d decided it was none of their business, really, and they chose to like him, anyway, just as Anne believed he genuinely liked all of them.
If she could respect his boundaries, why should she feel so uncomfortable about having one rather significant secret of her own?
They ended their session at just after five Sunday afternoon, because several of the group had other plans. Anne and Haley paused by Anne’s car for a moment before going their own ways.
“I dread Daughtry’s lecture tomorrow,” Haley confided in a grumble, continuing a conversation they had started inside. “He was so boring last week, it was all I could do to stay awake.”
“Not to mention all those snide comments he made about how if we were too stupid to understand all the material he was throwing at us, we’d never pass Step 1 and we’d all wash out of med school.”
“I know, right? He was just in an all-round lousy mood that day.”
Anne was aware of that, but it hadn’t stopped her from being stung by the instructor’s grim warnings, even though they had been addressed to the whole class equally, and certainly not to her personally.
“How are things at home?” Haley asked in a furtive voice, changing the subject after looking around to make sure no one else could hear them. It was the first time she’d asked about Liam, even indirectly, since she’d left Anne’s apartment Saturday, probably because this was the first time they’d been alone since.
Anne wrinkled her nose. “I haven’t been there much to tell. You should know. We spent all day studying with the group yesterday until late last night.”
And there came the guilt again, she thought, squirming a little. She should be spending more time with Liam, especially since he had just lost his father. But he had insisted she meet with her group, as she would have had he not been there. He was fine, he kept telling her. Busy with his revisions, which he still seemed reluctant to discuss with her.
“No more unexpected visitors?”
Laughing a little, Anne shook her head. “No. Our secret is still safe.”
“Was Liam upset that I barged in that way and saw him there?”
“No, I don’t think so. He enjoyed meeting you.”
“So he’s been here a few weeks and I’m the only one who has recognized him?”