Page 31 of The Image of You

She got up and went in front of me, ignoring my hand. But she didn’t argue when I plucked the keys from her hand and opened the passenger door for her. Not a word about my head, not driving, or anything else.

We remained silent the entire trip home.

But this time, it wasn’t a comfortable one.

* * *

She sat on the stool, watching me pace. Twice, she opened her mouth to speak, but I held up my hand. Finally, I stood in front of her. Her teeth were buried in her bottom lip, and she was paler than normal, the dark circles under her eyes standing out against the pallor. I cursed myself for dragging her out shopping when she should have been resting, and then I remembered why I took her shopping in the first place, and my anger burned a little hotter.

“You sort of have a boyfriend, like someone is sort of pregnant? Is that it?”

“No. It’s not like that. I shouldn’t have said boyfriend.”

“Well, you did. After we spent the morning picking out sheets for you to sleep on when you’re here in my bed. You dropped that line.”

She cupped my cheek, and with a groan, I leaned into her tender touch. Her caress calmed me.

“Explain it to me.”

“I told you my parents were constantly pushing suitable men, ones they approve of, on me.”

“He’s one of them?”

“Bradley’s my friend. He’s a doctor—a surgeon. A good one.”

I didn’t want to hear a list of this asshole’s attributes. “Well, bully for him.”

“His dad and Ronald are business associates. They’ve been trying to match us up since Bradley moved back here after medical school. He’s older than me. We were constantly thrown together, and we went out on a few dates. He’s a great guy.”

“This isn’t helping.”

“Listen to me, Adam. He’s a wonderful man. But he isn’t the man for me. We’re good friends. That’s all.”

“Then why did you call him your boyfriend?”

“Bradley and I let them think we’re closer than we are. It gets them off our backs, and we use each other for dates for these events or any dinners we attend where our families are going to be.”

I narrowed my eyes, finding it difficult to believe any man would want to be only friends with her.

“It’s true. Bradley isn’t interested in settling down right now. He uses me as a cover, and he dates other women—” she chuckled mischievously “—lots of other women, he tells me. He just does it quietly.”

I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that he didn’t want Ally. It didn’t seem possible. “He has no romantic interest in you?”

“No.”

“Or you him?”

“I love him the way I loved Ollie. Like a brother. Nothing more.”

“And you’re seeing him on Saturday?”

“Yes. He’ll pick me up, we’ll make an appearance for a while, and once that’s done, he’ll drop me home.”

“No one ever gets suspicious?”

“We talk and text sometimes so we know what each other is doing. Then if we’re asked, it sounds like we’re seeing each other. Sometimes, he’ll come up, and we watch a movie or talk. A couple of times, he’s taken me to a bar or dinner, and we purposely take our picture and he posts it on Facebook where he knows it’ll be seen.”

“Have you kissed him?”