Lost Along the Way(65)

“She told me all about you guys. All of it good,” he added, as if reading her mind. “I know how much she misses you.”

“I had no idea that she thought about us at all,” Jane said. “I hate to admit it, but I really thought she didn’t care anymore.”

“Just because she never said she misses you doesn’t mean she doesn’t,” Nick said. Jane was impressed that Nick was comfortable enough to get even marginally involved in their relationship. Most men would rather kill themselves than get anywhere near women fighting.

“And just because someone doesn’t say she’s sorry doesn’t mean she isn’t,” Jane answered.

“Have you told her that?” he asked.

“Did she tell you why we haven’t seen each other?”

“No. But I’d like to hear the stories now that the infamous friends are sitting here in the living room,” Nick admitted.

“Not on the first date, Nick,” she said. She wasn’t flirting, just trying to let him know nicely that these were not questions any of them was willing to answer just yet. Instead, she thought this was the perfect opportunity to get some answers of her own.

“Does she talk about Steve?” Jane asked.

“She used to. Not so much anymore. I know she misses him, too. She stares at that photo on the mantel all the time.”

They turned to look at the framed photo of Meg and Steve sitting in the backseat of the Rolls-Royce they’d rented to take them from the ceremony to the reception. They held champagne flutes and laughed as if that car were the most wonderful place in the world. Jane had only been in the backseat of a Rolls with a guy once, and she sincerely hoped there were no pictures.

“We stopped by to see him before we drove out here. He’s worried about her. So am I,” Jane said.

“Do you want to know a secret?” Nick asked.

“Are you sure you can trust me to keep my mouth shut?” Jane said. Jane had never been all that good a secret keeper, but since she was intent on trying to improve herself, she decided that no matter what Nick told her, she’d take it to her grave—unless it was something just way too big to keep to herself.

“I’m willing to take a gamble.”

“Sure,” Jane answered. “What is it?”

“Steve and I talk once a month. I told him I’d check in on her every now and then. I think he sleeps better at night knowing that someone out here is keeping an eye on her.”

“You’re spying on her?” Jane joked. The soft spot she had for Steve grew even bigger. She found it adorable that he loved Meg enough to let her go out there alone. So much, in fact, that he’d enlisted Nick to check up on her.

“I don’t like to think of it as spying,” Nick said. “I’m her friend, and I’m Steve’s friend. I just want to make sure that she’s doing okay. And he deserves to know that, too. That’s all.”

“How did that happen? Did he actually call you up and ask you to hang out with Meg as some kind of charity case or something? She trusts you. She thinks of you as an actual friend, and if you’re only spending time with her because Steve asked you to, you’re going to break her heart. I don’t know that lying to her is helping her in any way,” Jane said.

“It’s not like that. I swear.”

“What’s it like, then?”

“Steve called me and asked me if I would mind doing him a favor. I assumed that he was going to ask me to stop over and collect the mail, or water the plants, or make sure none of the windows had broken if we were hit with a storm. It turned out he wanted me to spend time with Meg while she’s out here. I could tell it was a tough call for Steve to make. He kept coughing, which I’m pretty sure was his macho attempt to disguise the strain in his voice.”

“I don’t get it. Why would he want you to spend time with her?”

“He was worried that she was really depressed because she wouldn’t talk to him. The way he made it sound, she wouldn’t talk to anyone. At first I didn’t really feel like it was fair of him to ask me to do it, but he didn’t know what else to do. He needed to know that Meg wasn’t going to be sitting in the house alone all the time, and he didn’t want me to tell her because then she’d feel like she was being chaperoned.”

“Isn’t that what you’re doing, though?”

“Only because I love her too much to let her just waste away any more than she already has. Steve was clearly desperate. He wouldn’t have asked if he wasn’t. I couldn’t say no to him.”

“They’re separated. Don’t you think she’d like to know that Steve is worried about her? Isn’t it worse if she thinks he doesn’t care?”

“I thought the same thing. Steve seemed to think that Meg would be angrier if she knew that he blatantly disregarded her request for space. He needed her to know that he loved her enough to leave her alone. At least, that’s what he said. To be honest, I didn’t really think it made any sense,” Nick said.

“It does, actually,” Jane answered.

“Women are complicated.”

“Men aren’t much better.”

“If it makes a difference, I don’t give him progress reports or anything. Not that he asked me to. It just made him feel better to know that I was around.”