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Vaughn barked out a laugh. “Right. Let me guess; she was abandoned by her PI and boyfriend. Right? And she told you that I left her all alone and jobless.” Vaughn shook his head, looking up at the ceiling like he was praying to Saint Michael for patience. “You didn’t even change your story this time? Really? Did you not learn from this the last time?”

I wanted to die. I truly, ardently, wished I could cease to exist because this story Vaughn was so effortlessly spinning rangtrue. It was filled to the brim with half-truths and expertly twisted miscommunication. And it was the only—the easiest—way out of this without the possibility of Cal putting his hands aroundVaughn’s neck and getting himself arrested. And the look of agony on my features didn’t need to be hidden. Because it fit either way.

I put a hand to my face. “Oh, God.”

“What are you saying?” Cal asked, and his tone cooled. His body language angled away from us.

Vaughn waited like I might explain. It gave him the illusion of deferring to me. Fuck, he was smart, and I loathed him for it. I hated him so much, I was sure it would seep from my pores and coat his clammy hand in poison. Finally, he sighed. “She does this when I’m on location for a few weeks. She gets lonely, and then she tells a sob story about being abandoned or whatever so she can reel in a new lover.” He chuckled mirthlessly. “And I’m the idiot who keeps coming back. Right?”

I wrenched myself away from his hand and slammed into the door behind me, swinging it open. “I’m sorry, Cal. I have to go.”

“Sorry, man,” Vaughn said with an apologetic wave. “Really, I am. If she and I didn’t work together… well, never mind. It is what it is. Sorry again.”

“Hold on,” Cal said angrily, and the warmth had returned to his voice. He took a step toward me, but I knew. I knew if I stayed, if I let him touch me or truly look into my eyes, he would see through me. And I couldn’t risk that. Not for him and not for Gemma. I hurried away, tripping into the lingering heat that clung to my skin and filled my lungs with thick moisture. The gray clouds overhead hung heavy with impending rain like an omen of emotions to come, and as tears blurred my vision, Istumbled down the stone staircase.

Vaughn caught up to me, and as he snared his arm around me again, he bent down to whisper in my ear. “Well done, Ruthie. Your doctor is safe, and so is your friend. Now let’s leave this all behind and start the rest of our lives together.”

The rain trickled down from the burdened sky, and I turned my face to it. Where my tears began and the rain ended, I couldn’t tell. It was all the same at that moment, and neither could wash away my burning regret.

Chapter twenty-three

Cal

Cal

My ears rang like I’d been a foot away from a detonated flash bomb. I watched Ruth go, and then I watched another man pull her to his side, but I couldn’t make myself believe it. This had to be a mistake. I started after her, but Ruth refused to look at me. Head down, she hurried down the stairs and away from the event center with purposeful strides that her “boyfriend” matched.

That look of pain and regret on Ruth’s face had been real. There was no denying that she felt horrible about being caught with Vaughn. And Vaughn had seemed so sure, so confident that Ruth had been playing games with me. But even with that evidence placed before me like a numerically sound report, I couldn’t make sense of the results.

I stood in the doorway, hand on the heavy metal door andheart frozen in place, like it had forgotten how to beat at all. Ruth got into a car parked on the road in front of the center, and then they were gone. But still, I couldn’t make myself move.

It wasn’t until a burst of applause from the ballroom behind me punched through my consciousness that I snapped out of it. They were long gone, and there I stood, staring at the spot the sedan had been as the copper summer sunset fell into blue shadows. Blinking hard, I released the door and stepped away. It creaked shut, heavy and aged, and when it slammed closed, I pressed my palm against the cool metal-plated detailing on its surface. The bite of cold against my heated skin was the only thing that felt real.

That, and the name that echoed through the empty foyer. “For outstanding patient service, Dr. Laura Reynolds.”

Applause thundered through the open doors, rolling over my shoulders and slamming my ears with a deafening roar. With confusion clouding my thoughts, I pushed away from the door and headed fast across the ornate flooring and back to the darkened ballroom where my colleague and friend would be making her way through the crowd to accept her award.

That was real.

I wasn’t sure what else was.

When I entered the ballroom, it was just in time to see Laura climb the stairs to the stage and greet the presenters with a gentle smile. She accepted her award, and we all clapped again, but this time, it stuffed my ears like cotton balls. A faint buzzing rattled my thoughts.

She’s gone. With him.

It doesn’t make sense.

Laura shook the last of the Business Bureau members’ hands and then made her way down the other side of the stage. I stood in the doorway of the long room, hidden in the shadows that fell between spotlights and phone screen glares as the attendees filmed the event.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you, but…”

I shook my head. It couldn’t be true. There had to be an explanation I was missing. But that vibrating anger and hurt had taken over my logical thoughts, and I couldn’t seem to piece things together in a rational way.

I still had the scent of her wrapped around my senses. The feel of her hand in mine still burned against my palm. And yet, inconceivably, she wasgone.

Laura was making her way back down the aisle between tables, her eyes bright even in the dimmed lighting, and a glass trophy between her hands. I forced myself forward.

I didn’t know what was going on with Ruth, but I needed a minute to process everything. I knew that much. Because there was something I was missing, but I couldn’t find it because I was drowning beneath years of neglect and abandonment, swallowing choking mouthfuls of self-doubt and trauma that filled my lungs. I tasted boiled eggs on my tongue, and a surge of abandonment from the past took over my senses.