I shut the door, trudged back upstairs, and finished filling the tub. I climbed in, only to discover that the water had cooled while I'd been downstairs talking to Joel. It wasn't cold, but it wasn't exactly hot either.
Given my finances, running a new bath was a luxury I couldn’t justify. So I sat in the lukewarm water for less than a minute before climbing out, toweling off, and getting dressed for bed.
Somehow, I'd hoped that telling him off would give me some satisfaction. But it hadn't. The bed was cold, and my life felt empty.
I stared into the darkness, half-wishing that I'd ignored what Cassie had told me and let Joel in, anyway. Maybe the girls were friends. Maybe nothing had happened. Maybe I'd overreacted.
Or more likely, I was just being pathetic.
It was just past dawn when my cell phone rang. With a groan, I reached for it and checked the display. It was Derek.
I hadn't slept, or at least not enough to matter. I was tempted to let it go to voicemail, but then figured I might as well get this over with. After all, my mood couldn’t get any worse – or so I thought until Derek started talking.
Chapter 44
"Listen," Derek said, "I don’t know what in the hell you were thinking, but I don't appreciate it."
I rubbed at my eyes. "Huh?"
"Yeah. Nice trick you pulled. Who was the guy?"
The more he talked, the less I understood. "What guy?"
"The tough guy you hired to do your dirty work."
Tough guy?
Dirty work?
I sat up in bed. "Derek, seriously, what are you talking about?"
"As if you don't know."
"Idon't," I insisted. "So either tell me, or let me get back to sleep."
"Hey, don't get pissy with me," he said. "I'mthe one who's gotta smooth this over. And just so you know, Biff wasn't happy."
My mind was too muddled to think. "Biff who?"
He gave a derisive snort. "Very funny." And with that, he ended the call.
I flopped back onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling. Well, that wasn't weird or anything.
Derek was definitely losing it. Or who knows, maybeIwas. Giving up on any hope of sleep, I climbed out of bed and got dressed. I'd been scheduled to work at the cookie shop, but now, thanks to that broken pipe, I wasn't.
But I still had plenty to keep me busy. In just a few short weeks, we'd be having the final meeting to select the recipients for this year's art- endowment.
I had paperwork to review, letters to write, and tours to arrange. I also had to finish the cleaning, and not only to avoid grief from Derek and his dad.
If I didn't get scrubbing, the place wouldn't be in any kind of shape for visitors, even if they were just traipsing through to eyeball my parent's stuff.
Normally, this was an exciting time. But today, I wasn't excited about anything.
It was because of Joel. I missed him. And I hated him.
But most of all, I hated myself. I should've known he was too good to be true.
Stupid me.
