"I need to talk to someone or I'm going to burst, but I can't risk it getting back to my parents.”
"Does this have something to do with that jack—" He cleared his throat and changed his wording. "That jerk, Phillip?"
"Who?" Paige was taken back. Phillip couldn't possibly be farther from her mind.
"My mom told me how he played you. I'm sorry, Paige." The phonejostled around with Damon's face bouncing in and out of view, then the inside of his truck appeared. "It's a good thing I'm on the other side of the country, or I'd have driven to Seattle and broken every bone in his body." The movement of his phone settled, showing Damon's face again.
"No, this isn't about Phillip at all." Paige spun around, changing directions, and waved an arm through the air. "Well, I guess it kind of had something to do with him at first, but so much has happened since then, that all feels like ages ago."
"I have no idea what you're talking about. And I still don't understand why you can't talk to Riley about this." He held up a hand. "I mean, I'm glad you called me, but are you sure everything is okay between you two?"
"Yes, they're fine. I just can't risk her telling Daniel, and him letting it slip—to his parents or Jake and Robert." She made a broad circle with her arms. "If Aunt Faith gets wind of this, it'll be all over town in a heartbeat. Then my parents will find out, and that could be disastrous."
"What could be disastrous?" Despite the confusion filling Damon's face, he looked like he was on the verge of laughter.
He and Daniel had often accused her and Riley of being melodramatic. But Paige didn't feel like she was being overly dramatic. She was in love, and she wanted to shout it from the rooftops. Keeping it a secret was killing her.
She sucked in a deep breath, then blurted, "I'm engaged, and I can’t tell any?—”
“Whoa. Back up. You’re engaged? I didn’t know you were even dating anyone.”
“I’m not. Not technically. I mean, we can’t go out in public or anything.” Paige couldn’t help motioning with her hands.
“How did you get engaged to someone you haven’t even dated?” Damon’s brow furrowed. “And why can’t you go out in public?”
“Because he’s my physical therapist, and he could lose his job over this.” She threw her hands up.
Now Damon’s brows hiked up, his eyes wide. He opened his mouth to speak then closed it again.
“It was supposed to be fake, but then I fell for Gabe.”
“I take it Gabe is your physical therapist?” When she nodded, he asked, “Why was it supposed to be fake?”
She was about to explain that Gabe needed a fake girlfriend because his mother had cancer, but Damon stopped her. “Paige, I need you to sit down and prop up your phone. You're talking with your hands while you pace, and you're making me dizzy."
"Fine." Paige dropped into the chair at her desk and propped her phone against the stack of overdue library books she had yet to read.
"Okay. Now start at the beginning." He barely glanced at his phone now, which meant he was driving.
Paige told Damon how she’d been attracted to Gabe from day one, about his mother’s diagnosis, and her desire to see her children married. Then she went into Phillip showing up, trying to win her back.
"Let me guess, you had your physical therapist in mind when you told Phillip you were dating someone.” Damon shot a lengthy glance toward his phone.
"Well, of course. I'd only been out of the rehabilitation center for a couple weeks by that time. It's not like I'd had a chance to meet anyone else. Especially in this small town."
“Okay, so you agreed to be Gabe’s fake girlfriend. How did you go from that to being engaged?”
Paige continued with her story, sharing more personal information than Gabe would have liked, so Damon would understand why she'd fallen head over heels for her therapist.
“So now we’re engaged, and I can't tell anyone." She dropped her head into her hands.
“Because it’s taboo for doctors to date patients?”
“Yes.”
"Your dad did." Damon shrugged.
"Technically, my mom was no longer his patient when he took her out."
