“I don’t believe it! You’re lying, aren’t you? What’s his name?”
Thrum. Thrum. Thrum. Her heartbeat banged inside her ears, almost drowning out his voice. Why did I say I was dating someone? What do I do now? I can’t even think of a pretend name. Wait... “Horatio... His name is Horatio.”
“How could you do this? What did I do wrong?” His voice cracked and he turned his head away, but she saw the wetness on his face.
“I’m sorry,” she choked out.
“Why Grace?” Brad fell back against the door and slid slowly to the ground. “We were so good together.” Grace saw him bury his face in his hands before she turned to walk away.
Chapter Two
Grace felt achy, inside and out, like she had the flu—only this flu made her emotions sick too. She was angry with herself for hurting Brad. She still couldn’t get the image of his stricken face out of her mind. She’d meant to break off the relationship without hurting him any more than necessary, but her plan had failed. Her lie had injured him severely, but it was too late for the truth now. She ought to feel a sense of relief she was free from her weighty relationship with Brad. She couldn’t understand why her heart was so heavy, unless it was a sense of guilt.
Perhaps she simply needed more time—it had only been one weekend since the fateful breakup. The sight of her puffy swollen eyes in the mirror almost made another barrage of tears come. But it was Monday, and she had to go to the school and be cheery for all of those six-year-olds who were counting on her. After splashing cold water on her face and applying a generous portion of concealer, she forced herself to head to work and put up a brave front.
The day dragged on. Her pulse was rapid as she checked her cell phone for messages, but there was still no word from Brad. Not that she wanted him to contact her. She wanted a clean break—they both needed to move on. Even though she’d done a poor job of breaking up, it was probably the best thing for Brad. He could find someone else—someone who would be thrilled if he professed his love for her. He deserved that.
She was meeting Josh after work, hoping to hear news of Brad. Josh might already hate her if Brad had told him she was dating someone else. So be it. Right now, she hated herself for lying.
Josh hadn’t told Brad he was meeting Grace for dinner. He knew about the breakup, but Brad wouldn’t give any details. And now his roommate was avoiding him and all of his other friends except for the necessary interactions at the hospital. He recognized the signs of heartbreak since he’d been living with it for several months. He owed it to Brad to see if he could help.
“Hey Grace. You look great,” he said with a bright forced smile, thinking she looked rather rough.
“Thanks Josh, but I know better.” She rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Tell me the truth... How’s he doing?”
“He’s... He’s surviving. What happened, Grace? You two looked like things were going just fine when I left the other day. In fact, it looked like things were more than fine.” He chuckled a bit.
He saw her face flush as she kept her eyes glued to the table. “Uhmm... What did he tell you?”
Josh tilted his head and studied her. She was definitely hiding something. “Not much. Just that you weren’t who he thought you were.” He reached for a slice of pizza and attacked it with zeal.
Her face turned several shades of pink and red. “I broke up with him so I could date someone else.”
“Really? Who is this guy?”
“His name is, uhmm... his name is Horatio. But I don’t want to talk about him. I want to talk about Brad. Is he okay? I know he’s mad, but...” Her voice cracked and her hand swiped quickly at her face.
“He’s hurt and upset, Grace. How did you think he would be?” Josh failed to keep the annoyance from his voice, but he regretted his harsh tone when he heard a sob.
“I know. It’s totally my f-fault. I just s-sort of went crazy.”
“So let me get this straight,” he said between bites. “You had a hot make-out session and then went crazy and broke up with him so you could date someone else? Is that right? I don’t get it... If you want to date someone else, why do you care what Brad thinks anymore?”
“I don’t know. It sounds w-worse when you s-say it that way. We needed to break up, but I didn’t want to h-hurt him.”
“I thought you and Brad really liked each other. Why did you start dating someone else?”
Grace shrugged, sniffing. “He was getting too serious.”
Huh! It’s usually a guy saying stuff like this. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it from a girl. “What exactly is too serious? What do you mean by that?”
“He said he loved me.”
Now Josh felt defensive. He’d told Charlie the same thing. A guy shouldn’t be penalized for speaking about love if it was true. “What’s wrong with that? Why wouldn’t you want him to love you?”
“But I don’t feel the same way.”
“Yet,” he corrected. “You don’t feel the same way yet. Why won’t you give him a chance? What’s this Horatio guy got that Brad doesn’t have?” Josh snagged another slice of pizza.