Yours Truly (Part of Your World, #2)(6)

“Okay, can we not?” Jewel said.

“Your father and I are sexual beings,” Mom said. “Let’s not pretend like we don’t know how you kids got here.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. I am in hell.

“Jacob, are you having sex with anyone?” Jill asked. “I feel like we should just clear this up.”

I threw up a hand. “You know what? Yes. I am.”

The lie was so out of nowhere it almost felt like someone else said it. And why had I said it? But then I knew why.

It was one of those falsehoods you told to make someone else feel better. Telling a dying man that everything was going to be okay when you knew it wasn’t. It was a sort of mercy. For all of them.

I think deep down my family wanted to be okay with this wedding. They loved Amy, and they loved Jeremiah. They were upset on principle and for my benefit, not because they hated either of them. They just hated how they thought it made me feel. It was obvious that as long as I was unattached, I was the jilted ex in need of their protection and indignation. Amy and I would never get back together, so what was the point? Why make this stand in my honor? I didn’t want it.

Amy and Jeremiah would get married with or without my family’s support. And they’d have kids, and those kids would be blameless. Even if the whole family shunned my brother and my ex for the rest of their lives, it wouldn’t change a thing. So if I had to tell a white lie to redirect the focus, that’s what I was going to do.

“You’re seeing someone?” Jill asked. “Who is she?”

“It’s just someone I work with,” I said, hoping they’d drop it.

“At Royaume?” Jewel asked. “Is that why you quit Memorial West?”

“Uh…”

“Because we all thought you quit so you wouldn’t have to work with Amy because you were so heartbroken and sad!” Jill sounded excited. “But you quit because you’re in love and you want to be close to her?”

I blinked. “Yes?”

Everyone made an awwwwwww noise.

“When can we meet her?” Jane asked excitedly.

“I…I don’t know,” I stuttered. “I’m not ready to introduce her to anyone yet. It’s still new.”

I could feel them bubbling on the other end of the line. Damn. They’d never let this go now.

“Listen,” I said, putting the phone to my other ear. “I am okay with this wedding. I have moved on, and I am happy for them.”

“Will you bring your girlfriend to the wedding?” Gwen asked, a smile in her voice.

“Uh…I guess. If we’re still together, yes.”

More squealing.

I heard Jewel sigh dramatically. “Okay,” she said. “Fine. I guess, since you’re okay with it, I hate it less. But I’m still not excited.”

“I do like weddings, though,” Jill said. “But you’re right, I’m still mad at them,” she added quickly.

I shook my head. “Don’t be mad at them. Look, I gotta go. I’m on shift.”

“Will we see you on the nineteenth for dinner?” Mom asked. “I want lasagna, but your father might smoke a pork roast.”

“Yes, I will be there for dinner,” I said.

“Can you bring a bottle of wine?”

“Yes, I will bring wine.”

“Okay. Love you!”

They all said good-bye in unison and hung up. I set my phone on my thigh and put my palms to my eyes.

I’d have to say I broke up with my imaginary girlfriend when it came around to it. But hopefully it would take the pressure off in the meantime. Maybe everyone would finally stop looking at me like I was going to crumble into dust.

Granted, it had been a bad breakup. But at least I got the dog.

I dragged myself up and let myself out of the supply closet—and someone crashed into me. I let out an oomph, and my phone flew from my hand and went skittering across the hard floor.

The doctor who hit me didn’t stop. She launched off me and continued running down the hallway toward the patient rooms.

“What the hell?” I muttered, picking up my phone. The screen was cracked.

“Watch where you’re going!” I shouted after her, annoyed.

She didn’t even glance back. A nurse gave me a dirty look like I was the asshole.

Was everyone rude like this here? What the hell was wrong with this place?

I peered forlornly at my cell. It still worked, but the corner was shattered. The perfect ending to the worst week ever. I gritted my teeth.

I stalked down the hallway in the direction the woman ran. I didn’t know exactly what my plan was. Give her my thoughts on running in the halls? Demand she cover the screen repair?

I poked my head into the rooms one at a time until I spotted her. She was bedside, her back to me, talking to a young man.

The patient was gray. He had a dialysis catheter in his chest. The skin around it looked red and swollen.

“Why didn’t you call me?” she asked the man in the bed. “This is totally infected.” She fluttered around him, looking at his vitals. “You could have gone septic. This is so dangerous.” She took a thermometer out of his mouth and shook her head. “You can’t let things get this bad, Benny. You need to tell me when stuff isn’t right.”