Why Lie? (Love Riddles #2) (21 page)

“Of course. It’s so sweet of you both to come see me,” she replies.

Mr. Fairlane is opening the door for us as we approach, making me wonder if he saw us kissing earlier. “I thought you kids would be gone longer.”

“My mom fell asleep,” I explain, oversimplifying and downplaying what happened.

Once we’re all inside, I glance at my watch. I need to leave in ten minutes to get back to work so, as much as I hate to admit it, Jake and Kacey had decent timing, showing up when they did.

Mr. Fairlane reclaims his favorite spot on the sofa but turns off the TV. Jake and Kacey move in to sit next to him while I angle Sydney’s chair off to one side, facing them.

“Can I get any of you something to drink?” I ask, moving toward the kitchen.

A chorus of, “No thanks,” follows me.

Since we didn’t have a chance to eat lunch at my parents’ house, I mix up a protein drink for Sydney and one for myself.

I know her well enough not to believe her if she says she isn’t hungry. She just doesn’t want to put me out. Hopefully, since I’m making one for myself, it won’t annoy her that I made her a drink.

Once they’re made, I set it on the coffee table in front of her. “Apple cinnamon.”

Her face gets soft. “You didn’t have to.”

I squeeze the back of her neck. “I know.”

Then I grab my drink and pull out a chair from my dining room table and set it next to her. Her eyes are on me as she takes a drink.

With all the running around I’ve been doing, it’s been awhile since I’ve seen Jake or Kacey. Their interruption annoyed me at first but now that that they’re here, I have to admit I’ve missed them.

Jake calls me so it’s not like we haven’t talked. In fact, he calls me more than anyone else. I think he’s still getting used to always having a phone signal so he’s trying not to waste it.

Kacey will send me the odd text but things haven’t gone back to how they were before our broken engagement. Sydney wasn’t the only relationship I screwed up with asking her to marry me.

Now, seeing Jake and Kacey sitting side-by-side, I question my own sanity for trying to stay engaged for as long as I did. They fit in a way we never would have.

“How’s the Bryant remodel going?” I ask Jake.

“Stupid mess up with the flooring order put us behind schedule. We had to send everything they shipped back because it was wrong. Now we have to wait for the new order to come in.”

“Oh, man.” I grimace. “Are they pissed?”

He shakes his head. “Yeah, but not with us. Mr. Bryant is related to someone who got him a discount on the flooring. That guy is the one who screwed up.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t bumped another project up in the meantime,” Sydney replies.

He shrugs and then glances down at Kacey. “I’m going to start on a back deck on a house a couple of streets over from your parents’ place tomorrow. Kacey was off from work today so we decided to spend it together.”

“Speaking of work,” I murmur, leaning over to kiss Sydney’s cheek. “I need to get back.”

“I’ll walk out with you,” Jake says, standing as well.

“Don’t eat all the brownies,” I joke with Mr. Fairlane before looking toward Sydney. “I’ll be here at four thirty to take you to therapy.”

She surprises me by tilting her face up for a kiss, an offer I do not refuse. When my lips touch hers, I mentally curse any minute I’ll spend away from her.

Jake holds the door open for me. Once it’s closed behind us, he says, “I’m happy you were able to work things out with Sydney. She’s good people.”

I don’t mince words. “I’m in love with her.”

He nods. “I figured as much when you started driving up to the hospital every day to see her.”

He stands in front of my car while I move to open my door. “Have you told her?”

I shake my head. “I’m trying not to scare her off.”

Jake glances back at my apartment, like he’s somehow gained the power to see through walls. When he looks back at me, he says, “I’m not sure that it would.”

I shrug. “I don’t want her to think we’re rushing into anything. She wants to take things slowly. Was there anything else you wanted to talk about? I gotta get back to work.”

He nods. “With everything that went down between the two of you, I wanted to give you a head’s up that I’m going to ask Kacey to marry me.”

This right here is an example of why I couldn’t stay pissed at Jake when Kacey chose him over me. We weren’t in love, he gets that, but still doesn’t want me to be blindsided by his news.

I move out from my doorway to give him a hug. “I’m happy for you both.” Once I pull away, I go on, “Let me know when she says yes so I can buy you both a drink.”

He wets his lips and blinks, emotion clearly getting to him. He then clears his throat, nods and says, “Thank you.”

I lift my boot and grin at it. It’s hideous, seriously not designed to be attractive whatsoever. That doesn’t stop me from being completely in love with it.

Today my casts came off, even the one on my arm which was unexpected. My orthopedic is being overly cautious about my ankle so I’ve graduated from my cast to this boot.

It’s gray. It’s a bummer that I have to wear it but it is so much better than my cast. Also, no more wheelchair. I now have a cane. It’s way cooler than the boot. I can’t wait to shake it at neighborhood kids, not that I ever see neighborhood kids. They come to the diner but are usually well behaved there. Heath’s building seems to only attract single people so I haven’t bumped into any kids there either.

I’ll just have to shake it at Pops; he’ll get a kick out of that. No matter what, this boot and cane represent my freedom. As much as I appreciate everything Heath and my grandparents have done for me, I’m over being taken care of.

I get to go back to Heath’s place and take an actual, nothing in my way, bath. As much of a pain in the ass it can be, I’ve been fantasizing about shaving my legs, and scratching them.

I might spend my entire bath gently scratching every part of me that was covered in a cast. Then I’m going to rub lotion all over my smooth, itch-free skin. I can’t wait.

“Are you sure you don’t want to keep any of them?” Gigi asks, glancing at my mountain of discarded casts.

“Don’t be a hoarder, Gigi.”

She shrugs, trying to hide her annoyance. She’s a saver. In a drawer of her jewelry box is a little plastic bag of my dad’s baby teeth. Apparently, when I was a baby, she got in a huge fight with my mom when she found out my mom didn’t save mine.

That’s why she still has my dad’s teeth. She doesn’t trust my mom with them.

None of these casts will fit in a drawer of her jewelry box so she’s out of luck.

It’s not until we’re in Gigi’s car that I ask the question that’s been on my mind. “When can I come back to work?”

“You can’t work with a cane,” she argues.

Carrying food and drinks would be complicated but I think I could do it. I don’t argue that point because she’s more stubborn than I and will only dig her heels in if I do.

“I could work the office. If you would have let me, I could have done some of that stuff from my wheelchair.”

She shakes her head. “The chair never would have fit in there.”

That’s a valid point. Heath’s closet was bigger than the back office of the diner.

“But,” she continues, “I don’t have a problem with you taking the schedule and payroll back over, as long as you promise not to overdo it.”

I glance out my window and smile to myself. Being idle was not something I was comfortable with. If I wasn’t terrified of reinjuring myself, I would have been out of that chair weeks ago.

Pops made a good watchdog. Hanging out with him made my days bearable. Since Gigi and I work together at the diner our relationship has always been close. Not that Pops and I weren’t close. I’ll always be the little girl he never had. He dotes on me. Seeing how happy it made him to keep an eye on me reminded me to set aside time for him. That’s not something I ever thought about.

“Now that you can do stairs again,” Gigi says, “where am I taking you?”

“Um, Heath asked if I’d keep staying at his place for a while.”

Her mouth falls open before she shouts, “You’re moving in together.”

Hurriedly, I correct her. “That isn’t what I said. It’s complicated.”

She remains facing forward. “Explain.”

“His mom isn’t doing well so he’s going to go stay there to help out his dad.”

She looks my way, her brows knit before asking. “If he is at his parents’ house, why do you need to be at his apartment?”

I frown, not sure I want to share Heath’s wishes.

Deciding he’d be okay with Gigi knowing, I tell her. “He wanted to be able to get to me if she passes away.”

She repeats my words, “Get to you?”

I hear the question in her tone and answer it. “To comfort him.”

She inhales, my words sinking in. To herself she murmurs, “That poor boy.”

“Please don’t say anything to him.”

“I won’t, sweetie,” she replies.

I press my lips together, building up the courage for what I’m going to say next. “Is there any way we can stop by the diner on the way to Heath’s?”

“Are you hungry? I thought you had lunch.”

I try my best to sound nonchalant. “Oh, I wanted to pick up some different clothes.”

She doesn’t say anything and I cross my fingers that she isn’t reading too much into my request.

“You want to get all dolled up, don’t you?”

Dammit.

“No,” I lie. “I’m just tired of track pants. I miss my regular clothes.”

She turns toward Lola’s. “If you say so.”

Once we’re parked and out of the car, she makes a point of following me up the stairs to my apartment. It’s slow going but she wants to break my fall. There is no way I’m going to fall on my grandmother, and take her down a flight of stairs.

Once we’re in my apartment, I purposefully ask her to find a couple of DVDs I have so she won’t see what clothes I pack. It’s not like I’m packing a corset or anything, just some cute undies and a couple of my favorite dresses.

“I couldn’t find the Thor one,” she murmurs, walking into my room.

“That’s fine,” I say as she hands the ones she could find to me.

I shove them into my backpack and zip it up. Then I slide my arms through the straps. Slowly, I take a few test steps with it on to see if it throws my balance off at all. It’s pretty light so I should be fine with it going down the stairs. Gigi still makes me walk behind her in the off chance I fall. I take my time with each step, grateful that I’m not in a public place with people behind me.

“Did you want something to eat while we’re here?” Gigi asks once I’ve made it down the stairs.

I didn’t think I was hungry when we were in the car but that was before I smelled French fries.

“I could eat,” I laugh.

She winks at me, clearly not surprised by my answer.

As soon as we enter the diner everyone working rushes us. I try to answer questions between hugs.

“Hey, Sydney. When did your casts come off?” Allen asks as we make our way through the kitchen to the main dining area.

“Today,” I reply.

“When are you coming back to work? We miss you,” Clarey asks, coming to stand next to Allen.

“Depending on how I feel, I might be in tomorrow,” I grin.

“Rock on,” Allen replies.

“But,” Gigi cuts in, “she’s only going to work in the office at first. Not serving.”

Clarey pouts but Allen replies, “That’s better than nothing.”

We move to the counter, getting stopped along the way by regulars asking how I’m doing. When I turn away, I notice Gina and Molly sitting at a booth. They quickly both look down, acting like they didn’t see me.

What the hell is that about?

The last time I heard from Gina, it was a text claiming she and Molly would come and see me once they had time to spare. She made it sound like they both wanted to see me but were busy with things outside of their control. That seems like bullshit seeing as how they have time to go grab a bite together.

Squaring my shoulders, I move to their booth.

“Hey, girls,” I call, angling my ass into the booth next to Gina.

They both talk at once but say the same, “Oh my God. We didn’t see you. How are you?”

It’s an effort not to curl my lip in disgust at how fake they both sound. They want to act fake? Oh, I can act fake.

“I’m doing great. My casts came off today.”

Molly’s mask slips when she asks, “Does that mean you won’t be staying at Heath’s anymore?”

Interesting how fast Heath comes up considering neither of them have seen me in weeks.

“I’m not sure.” I lie, curious to see what they’ll say.

They exchange glances and it’s Gina who speaks, “Now that you’re up and about again, it wouldn’t make sense for you to keep staying with him.”

Wouldn’t make sense?

Molly nods in agreement and adds, “You wouldn’t want to take advantage of him.”

I blink at her. “Take advantage of him?”

Her eyes slide away from me so I turn my head to look at Gina.

When she shrugs, I ask, “Do you guys think I’m taking advantage of him?”