Page 66 of The Plus One Professional
“Why didn’t you tell me she was back?!” Sara demanded.
“Why do you sound mad?”
“Because I’ve just spent the last five hours stressing over how I was going to tell you. If I should wait until after you got back or if you’d feel like that was a betrayal.”
“A betrayal? We broke upthree yearsago.” Sometimes I felt like I was the only one who had actually moved on from our relationship.
“I know, but you know, you were Cole and Lindsay.”
“That’s exactly what Finn said,” I mumbled more to myself than Sara. “We broke up threeyearsago,” I reiterated.
“I think it’s just that, since you haven’t really dated anyone since, everyone still thinks of you two as a pair. Youwerepretty inseparable.”
Yeah. We were. And I’d thought we always would be, but life didn’t turn out like that, and I really wished people would just fucking move on.
“She asked about you.” Sara’s voice was quiet, the way it got when she was walking on emotional eggshells.
“Oh.”
“I think she wants to see you.”
“Oh.”
“Do you want to see her?”
“Not really.”
“Not even for closure?”
I sighed at the same time I heard the door being unlocked. “Bailey’s back. I gotta go.”
“Oh, um, okay.”
“Call me if you need anything,” I told her, even though I doubted she would. She talked about trust, but that went both ways.
“I will. Love you.”
“Love you, too.” I disconnected the call as Bailey walked in.
“Sorry.” Bailey slinked in sheepishly as the door shut. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your call.”
The woman truly did apologize for everything. I would have pointed it out, but when I saw the dark circles under her eyes, I decided not to. She looked tired. Exhausted.
“I was just checking in on my sister,” I explained, but then caught my mistake. She had no idea that Sara had health issues. I quickly recovered, “To see how my nephew is doing.”
“Oh, how is he?”
“Good.”
Her head tilted to the side. “You look upset. Are you sure everything is okay?”
“Yeah.” I wasn’t about to tell her that I’d been pacing the floor thinking that she might be with her ex or that I’d missed her all day. Or that I didn’t know what to do with myself if I wasn’t holding everything and everyone together. That seemed like a lot. Instead, I figured I’d change the subject. “Did you eat?”
She yawned as she shook her head. “No. I’ve been working.”
“Working? I thought you were a guest here.”
“Oh, no, not for this wedding. A venue canceled on one of my September weddings, and I’ve been on the phone for the past six hours trying to call in favors to get somewhere else booked.”
