Reed was already dialing Cecily’s cell. Of course she didn’t answer. He left another voicemail. “Look, it’s me, and nothing is what you think. I didn’t cheat on you. Selina’s not even a real girl. And okay that sounds ludicrous, but there’s an explanation. Please, just…call me back.”
The moment he hung up, he looked to Norah. “How long ago was this?”
“A couple of hours.”
Maybe she hadn’t made it out of town. Reed bolted for the door.
“Reed!”
He turned back at Brenda’s shout.
She seemed to deflate, curving in on herself in misery. “I’m sorry.”
Reed didn’t have time to deal with this. He aimed a finger in her direction. “Stay here and man the store. I’ll deal with you later.”
Sprinting to his car, he tore through town at speeds that would’ve gotten him arrested had any of their boys in blue been looking.
Please still be here. Please still be here.
Her car wasn’t in the drive when he screeched to a halt. But Christoff’s was.
Reed pounded on the door. Christoff opened it, and Reed narrowly avoided the fist the other man led with.
“It’s not what you think!”
“What I think is that you broke my best friend’s heart, you son of a bitch.” He landed a firm thump against Reed’s shoulder.
“I didn’t cheat on her. It’s all a misunderstanding.” Reed kept his arms up in a defensive position and slowly edged off the porch under Christoff’s onslaught.
“I fail to see how that’s possible since she heard it from your first girlfriend’s mouth.”
What? “That can’t be possible. Selina is a fake girlfriend. From Virtual Match.”
Christoff stopped trying to hit him. “What the hell would you need to use that for?”
“Because Brenda’s a cougar and she was after me.” And if he’d ever made a more emasculating statement, he couldn’t remember it. God.
Christoff cocked a considering head. “Okay, yeah, I can see that. You figured having a fake girlfriend would be less awkward than confronting her about it.”
“Yes! Selina isn’t real. But Cecily doesn’t know that and I have to tell her. Where is she?”
“I wish I knew. She didn’t even come home to pack. Just called to tell me she was going.”
Panic was starting to claw its way up Reed’s throat to strangle him. “When’s she coming back?”
Christoff hesitated. “I don’t know that she is. She was really upset.”
All the starch went out of him, and Reed sank down onto the porch step. Cecily couldn’t be gone for good. Surely she’d come back when he explained.
But how could he explain when there was no way she’d take his calls? She’d probably delete any voicemails or messages or emails from him entirely unread. So unless someone got through to her, explained…she’d go on to…anywhere else that wasn’t here.
All because of a woman who wasn’t even real.
What have I done?
Chapter 10
Cecily came to wakefulness like a diver rising slowly from the deep. Her body ached and her skull felt stuffed with cotton. But she could hear the rhythmic wash of the sea, and that soothed something soul deep. When she opened her eyes, her face was stiff with salt from dried tears.