“Brad, are you listening to me?”
I jerked out of my thoughts. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
“I said, ‘How can you be sure Wendy won’t bother us?’”
“She’s going out of town.”
Not exactly a lie. The Madigans and the psychiatrist had arranged for Wendy to be hospitalized in Grand Junction so they could visit her easily. So yeah, she was out of town.
I didn’t like lying to Daphne. It left an acidic taste in my mouth—a taste I’d never grow used to, which meant I needed to keep lies to a minimum.
But how could I keep lies to a minimum? Already I was lying by omission on the daily because of what Jonathan had told me. I had to compartmentalize—had to—because just thinking about what Daphne went through sent me into a tense rage.
Yes, compartmentalize. It was the only way. I had to grow accustomed to the lies.
Besides, it was better Daphne didn’t know where Wendy was or why. Otherwise, I’d have to explain what Wendy was capable of, and that might scare Daphne.
Hell, it scared me.
“Oh. Where’s she going?”
“I’m not sure.” God, I hated lying. “I don’t really care, as long as she stays away from us, and she’ll be away from us.”
Daphne nodded. “Yeah. That’s good.”
I pulled up to Daphne’s dorm. “You want me to go in with you?”
She smiled. “You don’t have to.”
“Maybe I want to.”
“Okay.”
I opened the door of the truck for her, and we walked into the dormitory.
“Hey there, you two.” Daphne’s friend Ennis Ainsley, a British exchange student, stood at the reception desk.
“Hi, Ennis,” Daphne said.
“You’ve been scarce.”
“I took Brad home to meet my parents for the weekend.”
“Sounds fun.”
Ennis and I didn’t exactly see eye to eye. That was mostly my fault. I’d punched him the night I met him because I thought he’d gotten Daphne drunk. In reality, he was a nice guy and I’d been a jerk.
But he also had the hots for Daphne, which I didn’t like.
Of course, most guys who met Daphne got the hots for her. She was the most beautiful woman on campus.
And she was mine. Especially now.
“Want to grab a bite later?” Ennis asked.
“I don’t know…”
“I meant both of you,” he said.
“Yeah, sure,” I said. “Okay with you, baby?”
Daphne’s face split into a wide grin. “Yeah. I’d like that.”
“Have you been off campus yet?” I asked Ennis.
“Not really.”
“We’ll go for pizza. Ask Patty if she wants to go along. I’ll be by around six to pick you up.”
“Sounds great,” she said.
“I’ll be here,” Ennis agreed.
Good. I didn’t much like the guy, but Daphne did. He was important to her, so I’d get to know him. Even if he did look and talk like Prince Charles.
Chapter Fourteen
Daphne
Brad took us to the same place we’d eaten the first day we’d met. The second-best pizza in Colorado. I’d called Brad earlier and told him I wanted to tell Patty and Ennis about our situation at dinner. They were my two closest friends here at school—other than Brad himself—and I didn’t want to hide this from them, especially since things would be moving quickly. I told him not to mention my mother’s suicide attempt, though. I couldn’t go there yet, even with friends.
We ordered our drinks and pizza, and then the table got quiet.
Which was unusual, since Patty was there.
Did they know something was up?
“How’s Sean?” Patty finally asked Brad.
“He’s good. Likes his new place,” Brad replied.
“I hardly see him around anymore,” Patty said. “He’s always with that new girlfriend of his.”
“Lorraine? Yeah. But Murph isn’t serious about her. She’s just his flavor of the week.”
I winced. Patty had been Sean’s flavor of the week, except only for two days. Patty stayed her bubbly self, though, and didn’t seem to mind talking about Sean. “Tell him I said hi if you see him.”
“Will do,” Brad said.
He didn’t say much more. He was giving me time to bring up our news. I loved him for it, but I wished he’d talk. The silence was deafening, and it made my mind wander to my mom. I had to call Dad later.
“How did you like Daph’s parents?” Patty finally asked.
“I like them a lot. They’re both very nice.”
“Were they surprised that you guys got together so soon?” Patty asked again.
Brad looked at me.
Now or never.
“They were surprised about that, yeah,” I said. “They were surprised about a lot of things.”
So surprised my mother had a mental breakdown, but no…not going there.
I cleared my throat. “So…Brad and I… We have some news.”
“What’s that?” Ennis asked.
Brad picked up the pitcher of cola the server set down and poured us each a glass. I took a long drink, letting the sweetness flow over my tongue and down my throat. I was suddenly parched. I took another drink.
“We… Well… We’re going to get married.”
Patty, in the middle of bringing her glass to her mouth, stopped it in midair. Ennis’s eyebrows nearly flew off his forehead.