Unbreakable (City Lights, #2)(51)

“Is he?” Minnie asked, delighted. “I hadn’t seen.”

“God yes,” Rashida chimed in. “He looks like one of those fire fighter pin-up men. You know, like from that calendar? Hot Heroes?”

Antoinette laughed. “Exactly! All muscle and brawn. One of those men who are so astonishingly good-looking you just want to set your house on fire so he’ll show up.”

They laughed, but for Lilah, who was shaking her head at me.

“He’s not like that at all,” I said. “He’s smart and funny and noble—”

“I’m sure he is, honey,” Antoinette said, her laughter subsiding. “We just can’t help but appreciate his more obvious attributes.”

I could see they were expecting me to smile politely and let them off the hook for laughing but I said nothing.

Minnie cleared her throat into the silence. “But let’s talk about you! You were all over the news! In that hospital parking garage. They called you the—”

“Jackie Kennedy of United One,” I finished. “I know and it’s ridiculous. Such sensationalism.”

“Well, what did you expect?” Rashida asked. “It’s a sensational story, in the more tawdry definition of the word. You, covered in your hero’s blood.”

“He has a name,” I said.

“Cory Bishop,” Antoinette supplied with authority. “He’s a construction worker, or was. Someone let it slip that he has no job and no health insurance. A struggling working man.”

“Was that you?” Rashida asked.

I was so appalled, it took me a moment to realize she was talking to me. Do we always talk about people’s personal business like this? As if it was nothing?

“Was it me that what? Let it slip? No,” I said, tossing my napkin over my salad, my appetite vanished. “I would never talk about him like that, let alone spill it to the media. And he has a job,” I snapped. “Though not every job comes with a full boat of health insurance.”

Another silence fell and I fought for calm, to not let them see me so flustered.

“Anyway, what difference does it make? What he did was completely heroic and selfless, and has no bearing on his income whatsoever.”

“Are you going to see him again?” Rashida asked. “Have you seen him? Since the robbery?”

“Of course,” I said. “He saved my life. I visited him in the hospital on Saturday and we…said our goodbyes.”

“You did?” Lilah asked with more curiosity than I thought even she intended. “You won’t…remain friends with him?”

“I haven’t thought about it,” I replied, pleased that that lie came out as casual as if I’d been discussing the weather. “Now, I don’t want to talk about him—or the whole terrible mess—any more.”

Antoinette smiled in a way that was supposed to appear sympathetic but looked more satisfied than anything. “Of course not, dear. You’ve obviously had a terrible ordeal. You don’t need to talk to us about it if you don’t wish to, but I do hope you’re talking to someone. Professionally, I mean.”

“You mean a therapist? Not necessary.”

“Have you thrown yourself back into your work?” Rashida asked. “I know that getting back into the same routines after a crisis can help restore a sense of normalcy.”

“Um, no,” I said, faltering again. “I’ve taken a leave of absence from work.”

Shocked stares and raised eyebrows met this from three of the four women around me.

Lilah sat up quickly. “A paid leave. Just for a few weeks, and didn’t you tell me you were thinking of taking some vacation time to help your mother plan the wedding?”

I smiled gratefully at my friend.

Antoinette frowned. “Just last week you said your mother was going to handle everything and that your schedule would remain ‘blissfully unaffected.’”

“I remember that too,” Minnie said, only she clapped her hands together. “Oh, but I’m so glad you’ve changed your mind and are going to jump in and spend some time planning your big day. Drew must be ecstatic. Can you pull him away from EllisIntel long enough to at least pick out the cake?”

“Drew can’t spare the time,” I said slowly, and though I hated to do it, I knew I had to tell them first. Antoinette’s husband worked with Drew at EllisIntel and if I didn’t talk about it now, Antoinette would hear it through her garden club or tennis club, or any other club in which the EllisIntel ‘family’ congregated.

“In fact, we’re going to be spending some time apart before the engagement party. I’ve moved back into my bungalow.”

Another round of stares, this time from everyone, as I hadn’t told Lilah either.

Minnie put her small, birdlike hand to her chest. “You’re…separated?”

“Honestly, Minnie, don’t be so dramatic,” I said, firming my voice. “Of course not. Drew and I have been together every day for six years. We both think it a romantic gesture to spend time apart leading up to the big events.” Another lie that slipped easily off my tongue. I watched it land on my friends from behind my ice tea glass.

“So you’ll still see him occasionally?” Antoinette asked, skeptical. “It’s not a total blackout?”