Page 123 of The Stranger

Chapter 36

Delilah

Ibury my face further into the pillow and groan when the relentless ringing of my phone wakes me from a sound sleep. I let out a sigh of relief when it eventually stops, but within seconds, it starts up again.

Ugh.

Blindly reaching out, I feel for it on my nightstand. I grumble some weird sound into the receiver without looking to see who’s on the other end of the line.

“Delilah St. James, I thought we were friends!”

“Eloise.” I scramble to sit up, holding the phone closer to my ear. “We are friends! You’re like my best friend.”My only friend.

“Aww, that’s very sweet of you to say, darling … I feel the same. I adore you. You’re like the daughter I’ve always wanted, but your sweet words aren’t enough to get you out of this one.”

I gasp. “Have I upset you?”

“Upset me? That is the understatement of the century. I am positively distraught.”

“Oh, my God. Why? What’s happened? What did I?—”

“Don’tplay coy with me, young lady,” she barks down the line, cutting me off. “I can’t even fathom that my only child has gotten engaged and my best friend neglected to tell me.”

“Wait, what?” My heart drops into my stomach. Surely I didn’t hear that correctly. “Spencer got engaged? To who?”

“You.”

“Me,” I squeak. “When?”

“I just saw the status he put up on Facebook. You can imagine how my poor heart reacted to that news? Fancy finding out something like this online? The two of you could’ve had the decency to tell me first … before announcing it to the entire world.”

“Hold on a moment,” I say, pulling the phone away from my ear and clicking on the app to search his page. My heart is racing as I do. There must be some mistake.

I let out another gasp when I see what she’s saying is true. It’s right there in black, white, and blue at the top of his feed.“Spencer Prescott - Got Engaged today - With Delilah St. James”.

I’m going to kill him.

As if the rumour mill at the office wasn’t ripe enough. Although I’ve been back on Spencer’s floor for weeks now, and away from all the drama, I don’t doubt the whispers are still going on.

Placing the phone back to my ear, I say, “Eloise, I’ll call you right back.”

I end the call without even waiting for her reply. My hands are slightly shaking as I open the Messenger app.

Me: Wouldn’t you need to ask me to marry you before posting something like that?

I let out a tiny growl when I see the three dots appear.

Spencer: You never asked me when you posted our relationship status.

Me: Because I didn’t even know you then.

Spencer: Still.

Me: Still! Is that all you’ve got to say? I can’t even with you right now. Imagine the reaction this is going to get at the office. I really am going to have to quit my job now.

Spencer: Nobody is quitting anything, Delilah. Stop being so dramatic.

I’ll give him dramatic!