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"What is wrong with you?"
I'd barely stepped into his office and he was already scowling like I owed him millions.
"Don't you know Evelyn has a bad stomach? If she doesn't have porridge in the morning she feels awful all day."
"You know she's only used to the porridge you make."
He hadn't asked where I'd been last night. He was furious for one reason only: I hadn't gone back that morning to make porridge for Evelyn Simmons.
Since when was I Evelyn Simmons's nanny?
"Lucy, you're not upset because Caspar drank in my place last night, are you?"
Evelyn looked at me. "You know I really can't drink. Caspar only stepped in because he knows how close the two of us are."
"If you're jealous over that, you'll break my heart."
I'd already made my decision before coming in, and I hadn't wanted to fight with Caspar.
I'd meant to end it cleanly. But watching the two of them play off each other, I couldn't hold the anger down after all.
"I had surgery last month for a perforated stomach. Do you think I can drink?"
Caspar's face softened a little, and something like concern came into the way he looked at me. "Surgery last month, for a perforated stomach? How did I not know about this?"
Evelyn hurried over and took my hand. "Why wouldn't you tell us about something this serious?"
"Caspar's your fiancé, I'm your best friend. Why would you keep it from us?"
Why.
They were actually demanding to know why.
It made me laugh out of sheer anger. "Evelyn, have you forgotten? That day it was storming, thundering, and you were too scared to be home alone. So Caspar stayed with you."
"Now I remember. It's all my fault." Tears welled in Evelyn's eyes. "But why didn't you tell us? If you had, I would have gotten over being afraid of the thunder and stayed with you for the surgery."
Caspar joined right in. "Lucy, at the end of the day it comes down to you not telling Evelyn and me, and that's how this whole misunderstanding blew up. If I'd known you'd had that kind of surgery, I never would have let you drink last night."
He came toward me, reaching to ruffle my hair. I stepped away.
That displeased him. "You did have surgery, but you didn't say a word. Evelyn and I can't read your mind. Throwing a fit over this, don't you think you're being a little unreasonable?"
I looked at that face of his, and it felt like a stranger's.
That day, I'd called. I'd texted.
He didn't pick up. He didn't reply.
When I needed him most, I couldn't find him.
And now he was blaming me for not telling him.
To protect Evelyn Simmons, the facts didn't matter to him at all.
"Lucy, don't carry everything alone from now on. Tell Caspar and me. I'll always be your best friend, and he's the most important man in your life."
I looked at the two of them. There were some things I truly didn't intend to carry anymore.
All of this had to end.
