That too. The others hadn’t told him I’d come back — we figured we’d leave that news to me. All day long my stomach had been a knot of excitement. I couldn’t wait to see him, to hold him, to kiss him again. In fact, I was in a spectacular mood.
“Your five-thirty appointment is here,” said Raj, as he breezed past me. “Room two.”
Damn, the man moved fast. He was ten steps away already by the time I reacted.
“Five-thirty?” I balked. “Wait, I don’thavea five-thirty!”
“You do now,” he said, pointing with a pencil. “Someone new.”
“What?”
Raj sighed dramatically and turned around. “It’ll be quick,” he said, clearly annoyed he had to stop moving. “Consultation only. Fifteen minutes, tops.” My frown prompted him to roll his eyes. “Don’t worry, she’s nice.”
She.
I was relieved by that part, at least. All day long I’d been calculating the chance of Cole showing up, at the tail end of a long, angry drive. He could at any moment, obviously. Especially since my phone had been uncharacteristically silent.
I could’ve said something else, but Raj was already around the corner. Instead, I put my coat back on the hook, straightened my posture, and pushed into room two.
The big head of thick red curls stopped me dead in my tracks.
“Oh no,” I seethed, my mouth going tight. “This is NOT happening.”
Amy looked up at me, her green eyes hopeful. She had her chin down and her hands in her lap, fingers interlaced.
“Hayden,please,” she said quietly. “I just want to tell you—”
“NO.”
I popped my head back into the hallway, looking for Raj, or Heather, or anyone. But the hallway was empty.
“You won’t take my calls,” Amy pleaded. “You won’t read my texts…”
“Should I?” I laughed in her face. “Can you track my location if I reply to them? Tell Cole where I am?”
“No, no, I can’t—”
“Or maybe it was you who put the GPS tracker on car,” I growled angrily. “Was that you, Amy? Did you do that?”
“No, I swear it wasn’t me!” she gasped miserably. “I didn’t even know therewasa tracker. And if I did, I would’ve told you.”
I shook my head, disgusted. “You told Cole I was in Maine.”
“Yes, I did that,” she admitted, her voice cracking. “And I’m so, so sorry that I did. But I did it for a reason, if you’ll hear me out. Please, Hayden—”
“Don’t even,” I shut her down. “Save it for the next person you pretend to be friends with.”
Amy took my words stoically, mouth closed, her lip twitching. To her credit though, she still hadn’t cried yet.
“Now, get the hell out of my clinic,” I swore, throwing the door open. “The only therapy you need isn’t physical at all. But you could use someone to teach you about loyalty, and friendship, and—”
“I did it for the money!” Amy blurted loudly.
I could feel my jaw clench so tightly I thought my teeth would shatter! The hand I used to close the door again trembled with rage.
“I—I needed it, to help my mother.”
I stopped to look over my now ex-friend. Amy was beyond miserable; her face was swollen and her eyes were puffy. It looked as if she hadn’t slept in a week.
