Always(Time for Love Book 4)(44)

“I don’t know where he is, Amanda. I can’t reach him,” Brenna said over the phone, almost panicky.

“When was the last time you spoke with him?” Amanda asked, sounding worried.

“Yesterday. I was supposed to drive with him to work today. But he sent me a text late last night saying he had to leave real early so I should make my own way to the city. I called the clinic, but they said he’s uncontactable all day. Have you spoken to him?”

“He texted me last night and said he was busy with meetings, so I should talk to you about that invite. I was about to call you. You beat me to it.”

“What invite?”

Amanda paused. “The invite we all received. He talked to you about that, didn’t he?”

“No. What invite?” she repeated, realising there was more to Ash’s reaction than met the eye.

“What did you guys talk about, then?”

“My engagement to Darren,” she said in a low voice, so as not to be overheard by other people around her.

“Yeah, that was what the invite was about,” Amanda said, telling her the contents of the email from Jane.

“What?!” Brenna asked in horror. “You have got to be fu-cking kidding me!” She sank in her seat when she realised what she’d said with officemates busy working all around her. A couple of them smiled.

“Well, what on earth did the two of you discuss, apart from you getting engaged to Darren? How come the email never came up?” Amanda asked in confusion.

“I don’t know,” she said in a hush, almost whining. “He didn’t say anything about the email. He just asked if it was true that—” She clamped her mouth with a hand.

“That what was true?” Amanda prodded when she didn’t continue.

“He asked if it was true that Darren and I got engaged,” she whispered. “I said yes, but of course I meant it was a pretend engagement.”

“Of course it was a pretend engagement. What else could it—” Amanda gasped. “Oh, no. Don’t tell me that my genius brother who topped medical school thought that you really got engaged to Darren.”

They were both quiet for a long moment.

Brenna replayed her conversation with Ash in her head as best as she could remember. No, she hadn’t used the word ‘pretend’. It hadn’t even occurred to her that there was a need to mention that word.

“How could he even think it was for real, Amanda?” she asked, close to tears.

“Oh, honey. I guess when it comes to you, Ash thinks with his heart, not his brain. Unfortunately, when it comes to you and Darren, that heart has been bruised and battered repeatedly in the past. Ash’s default mode is probably to believe that you and Darren would get back together, especially with all this pretending you have to do. What’s more, this overreacting and being insecure about the person we love the most seems to run in our family,” Amanda added dryly.

Brenna had to smile at her friend’s last sentence, even if anger was fast rising within her. “At least you’re cured.”

“Connor’s love was my medicine. Your love is Ash’s, Bren. You just need to keep on forcing it down his throat to heal him of his ailments.”

Brenna took a deep breath. “I’m really mad right now, Amanda,” she said in a low voice. “Did he think I’d still be sleeping with him if I was really engaged to another guy?”

Amanda huffed. “Yes, that’s really stupid. How could he think that? I’m kind of mad at him, too.”

“Argh! This is driving me nuts!” she cried, wanting to scream in hurt and frustration right in the middle of her office.

Brenna understood that for Ash to heal, he needed to see that he was truly her first and foremost priority, before Darren or any other man. But the best proof she could think of was to stop pretending to be Darren’s girlfriend—err, fiancée. How could she do that without affecting Patty?

Gosh, she needed a voice of wisdom to guide her.

*****

“Thank you for seeing me, Magda,” Brenna said. “I’m sorry for turning up unannounced.”

“Don’t be silly, dear,” Magda said with a dismissive flick of her hand. “Come sit over there with me.”

Magda led her to a beautiful wrought iron bench under a magnolia tree in the massive garden of Magda’s primary residence.

“I’m assuming that since it’s Friday afternoon, you left work early to deal with problems of the heart?” Magda asked as they sat down.

Brenna flushed. “I don’t know what to do, Magda. I can’t see a solution to my problem that would give a satisfactory outcome to all concerned. I was hoping you could help me see things I’m not seeing.”

“Tell me what’s been happening so far,” Magda said.

She did, repeating some of the things she’d already told Magda when she last saw her at Zach and Bec’s pool party, and adding all the details that had happened since then. “I want to prove to Ash that he’s the one for me, not Darren. And I do want to stop all this pretension that Darren and I are doing. But I feel guilty about what it would do to Patty. And I know Ash would feel guilty too, if Patty were to be affected negatively because of a decision I made because of him.”

“What do you think is Patty’s motivation for wanting you and Darren to be together?”