Page 110 of Fake It For Love (Faux Love)
“I’m giving you the check now because I wanted to pay my debt before I left,” he said.
“Before you left?” I knew I sounded like a parrot. I couldn’t help it. “Are you going with the guys?”
“I’m leaving. I’m going home.”
He turned and walked away. It took a few seconds for the words to hit. I scrambled out of my chair and rushed after him. “What do you mean you’re leaving?”
He stopped and turned to look at me. “I’m going home. Going back to work.”
“But what about the reunion?”
“Like you said, everyone is going to accept you whether you’re single or engaged,” he said. “It looks like you’ve made some good friends. You’ll have Norah and Tony to keep you company. You don’t need me or this stupid arrangement. You’ll be fine.”
“But what about you?” I asked. “You RSVPed. Don’t you want to go? You said you wanted to prove them wrong.”
He smirked. “About as much as I want to get a root canal or fly through another tropical storm. And I already proved them wrong. Although it turns out, it doesn’t matter. That was a stupid reason to come down here in the first place.”
“Is this because of last night?” I asked.
“Yes.”
That was blunt. I should have expected as much. He was pissed. I supposed that was understandable. “Ryan, don’t skip the reunion because of me.”
“It’s not because of you,” he said. “I’ve spent the last two weeks with these people. I don’t need to see them again. I lived fifteen years without them, I’ll survive another fifteen.”
He was back to his typical self. “Ryan, don’t leave,” I said. “Please. We should talk. Last night things got a little heated. There’s more that needs to be said.”
“I don’t think so,” he said. “You made your position clear.”
“No, I didn’t,” I said. “I was anything but clear. I made you feel like this was about the money. It has nothing to do with the money or the contract.”
“It’s fine. I already signed the contract. You can sign and get it back to Della. Or do whatever you want.”
He started to walk away again. I followed behind him. “Will you please stop?” I begged.
“If you’re worried this is going to make you look bad, don’t,” he said. “Just tell people I had an emergency with the business.”
“But what about the engagement?” I asked.
“What about it?”
“What am I supposed to tell people?”
He shrugged. “Don’t tell them anything. It’s none of their business. Once they all leave here, they aren’t going to think twice about either one of us.”
I took off the ring. “Here.”
He recoiled like I was trying to hand him a snake. “I don’t want it.”
“I can’t keep it,” I said. “Take it.”
“Keep it,” he said. “Pawn it. Sell it. Throw it in the ocean. I don’t want it.”
He walked away once again. I didn’t chase after him.
It was pretty clear he didn’t want to talk to me. He wanted nothing to do with me. I looked at the ring. I understood why he didn’t want it. I didn’t want to look at it either. It was a reminder of what we couldn’t have. I stuck it in my pocket and headed for my room. Once in the privacy of my own room, I pulled out the paperwork.
There it was in black and white. He’d ended the contract a week early due to a work emergency. There was an additional comment added to the contract. He was paying me for the full three weeks because he couldn’t give me proper notice.
