Shine Not Burn(64)

I shrugged, sitting alone in Ian’s room, trying to remember back to that day two years ago in the hotel room. “I couldn’t.”

“You couldn’t what?”

“Call him. I didn’t have his number.”

“Are you sure? You blacked out for half the night. You blacked out during a whole damn wedding. Surely he could have put his number in your phone and you wouldn’t have remembered that either, right?”

My face burned right along with my stomach. “I … I don’t remember seeing a strange number on there.”

“Pfft. You have like a million numbers on your phone. Didn’t you even think to look for his name?”

A memory came rushing back. “I couldn’t!”

“Why?!”

“Because you dropped my damn phone in the toilet, don’t you remember?!” I was gripping the bedsheets, feeling like I could shred them with my nails.

“Oh, crapski. I do remember that. Oh, maaaan. And all your contacts had to be loaded on to a new phone when you got back to your office.”

“Except for the one that was added in Las Vegas, since it wasn’t in my office back-up,” I said sadly. “Assuming there was one added in Vegas.”

“I guess you have a mission, then,” said Candice. “You need to ask him if he gave you his number. Maybe you were supposed to call him, and when you didn’t, he got mad.”

“But why wouldn’t I have given him my number? If he wanted to talk to me, he could have just called me, right?”

“You’ll never know until you ask.” A stranger’s voice spoke softly next to Candice. “Shit, I have to go. My next client is here. We’ll talk more about this later. Promise me you won’t disappear!”

“I promise.” I wanted to curl up in the bed and sleep the day away. This was a royal mess, and now I realized on top of everything else how I’d basically almost thrown my best friendships in the garbage. When the man-crap hits the fan, girlfriends are the only ones who can make things better. Why had I let them go for Bradley?

“Good. Chin up, gorgeous girl! We’ll figure this out. Meanwhile, I’ll bring Kelly into the loop and get an update from Ruby.”

“No! I don’t know what Ruby’s doing over there, but Bradley cannot find out what’s going on here!”

“Uhhh, it might be too late for that. Gotta go, lovebugger. Tah-tah!” The line went dead.





Chapter Twenty-Seven





MY FINGERS SHOOK AS I dialed the phone. If Ruby had told Bradley, my ship was sunk. Not only my lifeplan ship but my work ship, too. I’d built up a reputation as a professional, hard-working woman, and the rumor that I’d gotten married to some guy who I didn’t even know out in Vegas during a drunken party binge would destroy all of it. Poof! Six years, out the window. Back to square one with zero plan for the voyage and shame as my baggage.

I didn’t even wait for the receptionist to finish her introduction to the firm. “Jackie, can you pass me to Ruby? This is Andie and it’s kind of an emergency.”

“Sure, Andie, hold on a second for me.” I got no indication that she knew anything about what I was going through from her tone, but that didn’t mean anything. Jackie was as professional as they come. She could be in on who assassinated the president and she’d still sit there with a bland look on her face and act clueless.

I waited for what felt like forever before the phone connected again.

“Andie?”

My heart sunk. The voice was way too deep to be Ruby. “Yes…,” I squeaked out, barely more than a whisper.

“Andie, this is Bradley. Where in the hell are you?” He sounded both worried and angry.

I swallowed hard. “Pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Where are you?” I wanted to smack myself on the forehead. Way to sound confident, Andie!

“What do you mean, where am I? I’m at work, where you should be.”

“But what are you doing answering Ruby’s phone?”

“I heard it was you and I intercepted. I don’t know why you’re calling her and not me. Something’s going on, Andie, and I want to know what it is.”

I could hear Ruby’s voice in the background now, and she didn’t sound happy. Thank God for Ruby. “I just need to talk to Ruby about some paperwork and then I’ll call you. My phone was dead and my charger wasn’t available, so that’s why I haven’t called.” And I was with another man. Ahhh! This is horrible. I’m going to hell for sure. I need to confess. My ears burned with the idea of coming clean, but it was the only way to handle this now. Lying was wrong and unfair and not who I am.

Bradley was not happy. “Ruby’s threatening to impale me on her fountain pen, so I have to go. Call me immediately, Andie, I mean it. As soon as you’re done with her.”

“Okay, I’ll call you as soon as I’m done with Ruby. I promise. We have to talk.”

“You’re damn right we do. Here.” He passed the phone away and Ruby’s voice came on the line.

“I’m filing a complaint, Bradley. You hear me? An official complaint. You’ve gone too far.”

Bradley responded, but I didn’t catch the actual words.

“Ruby?”