Page 63 of Lead Me On
Jane stopped at her car, thumb hovering over the button on her key chain that would unlock the doors. Where was she going? To work? To the lawyer’s office? Home?
Something was gnawing at her from the inside out. Anger and words and regrets. She found herself wishing for another explosion, something that would draw the feelings out of her, like lancing an infection.
If Chase weren’t mad at her, she’d call and propose a quickie.
Crud.
Jane pulled her cell phone out and scrolled through her contacts. Nearly every single one of them was filed under the “work” heading. She found the name she was looking for and hit the call button, hoping she wasn’t making a big mistake.
* * *
LORILOVE POPPED THE CAPSoff two bottles of beer and handed one to Jane. “Come on. Let’s sit in the living room.”
Jane clutched the beer bottle awkwardly. It was only four-thirty. Wasn’t that too early for beer in respectable society? She followed Lori into the cheery living room. “This is pretty.”
Lori’s eyes looked surprised when she glanced over the pale yellow walls and the white curtains billowing in the spring breeze. “Thank you!” Her gaze went to the tight grip of Jane’s fingers around the neck of the bottle. “Do you need a glass?”
“Oh…” Did she? She hadn’t drunk beer out of a bottle in years. “No, this is fine. Thank you.”
“So… What’s going on? Why’d you call?”
Jane met Lori’s sympathetic eyes and couldn’t think what to say. She’d come here to talk, but now… “Are you getting excited about your trip?”
“I can’t wait!”
“You’ve really changed your life, haven’t you?”
“I have.”
Questions bubbled up in Jane’s throat.How did you do it? Do you feel different inside or the same? Did you turn your back on your past? Are you faking your way through every day?But if she asked those questions, she’d have to explain, wouldn’t she? She’d have to tell Lori that Jane Morgan wasn’t real.
Lori’s head cocked. “Jane? What’s going on?”
“I…” She’d kept her secret for too long. She couldn’t do it. Better to go with a smaller truth. “I’m seeing someone inappropriate.”
“The big guy?”
“Yes.”
“The one with tattoos on his neck?”
“Yes. His name is Chase.”
Lori nodded. “Quinn told me about him. He very reluctantly admitted that Chase seemed like a nice guy before he started abusing you.”
“He’s not abusing me!”
Lori’s grin spread across her face. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t resist. Quinn’s been so upset about his sweet little Jane dating a big, scary man. Do I get to meet this mystery guy?”
“No.It’s not serious like that. In fact, it’s probably over. He’s… We’re nothing alike.”
“Well, look at Quinn and me. I was a mechanic, and now I’m a thirty-year-old college freshman dating a successful architect. We’re not anything alike, we’re not in the same place in our lives, but I can’t imagine life without him.”
Lori looked down at her hands. “You two are amazing together. You make him so happy.”
“So does this Chase make you happy?”
She shook her head. “He can’t. I feel nice when I’m with him. He’s easy to be around. But I have plans that don’t involve someone like him.”
