Rebekah took Isaac’s hand. “Are you okay? What took you so long? I was starting to worry.”

“Oh nothing,” he said, avoiding eye contact. “I’m feeling better now.”


“Are you sick?”

Isaac glanced at Trey and blushed again. “Probably.”

“Do you want to go?” Rebekah asked. “I can take you home.”

He shook his head. “No. That would be rude. Your mother worked so hard to put this wonderful meal together, and your friends want to spend time with you.”

“Think nothing of it,” Mrs. B said. “If you’re feeling poorly, you should go lie down, dear.”

Eric wondered if she’d ever refer to him as dear. Not likely. Not even if he and Rebekah had still been together. Not that Rebekah would ever dump Dr. Perfect for him. Eric glanced at her, his heart in his throat, and then picked at his mashed potatoes.

“You’re a fantastic cook, Mrs. B,” Brian said. “Even better than my wife.”

It earned him a glare from Myrna, but he hugged her and kissed her temple, and all was forgiven.

“You better eat more than that, Myr. You’re eating for two now.” With his fork, Brian poked a piece of ham on his plate and shifted it to hers. He then rubbed a hand over her flat stomach. She smiled at him, the love between them tangible.

“Actually, I’m eating for one, plus a little bitty future rock god about the size of the tip of your finger.”

“He’s that small?”

Eric chuckled at the astonished expression on Brian’s face.

“Yep,” she said. “For now.”

Brian touched Myrna’s face tenderly, and Eric diverted his gaze so he didn’t have to watch their PDA. “Maybe you’d rather have turkey,” Brian said. “Sed, pass the turkey this way.”

Sed was eating more than enough for two, while Jessica picked at her food and chatted with Mr. B about something political or lawyerly.

Sed grunted an affirmation and passed the platter of turkey in Brian’s direction. Brian forked a large piece of turkey onto Myrna’s plate.


Myrna chuckled. “You’re bound and determined to make me fat, aren’t you?”

“I just want you happy and healthy.”

Her fingertips resting on Brian’s jaw, she kissed her husband tenderly. “Mission accomplished.”

Eric’s attention turned to Rebekah. She stared at her plate with a sad expression. He knew she was thinking about never being able to have kids. Shouldn’t Dr. Perfect be comforting her about now? The jackass. Eric extended his foot beneath the table and touched her instep. She glanced up and he smiled at her. She smiled back, gave Isaac a wistful glance, and lowered her gaze to her plate. Eric wanted to get her alone. Hold her. He didn’t care if she didn’t return his affections. He simply could not stand to see her gloomy. He missed her smile. He’d do anything to see it again. Even make silly faces at her.

She giggled after he’d made several stupid faces in an attempt to cheer her up. He didn’t give a shit if Mrs. B rolled her eyes a hundred times.

After dinner, they retired to the living room to play charades.

Eric’s favorite of all games. He settled next to Rebekah on the sofa.

Dr. Save-the-World sat on her opposite side. Her warmth. Her scent.

Her mere presence drove Eric to distraction. He really hoped she was happy with her doctor guy, because Eric was absolutely miserable.

“Do you want to go for a walk?” Rebekah asked.

For a second, he thought she was asking Isaac. He glanced at her, and she smiled hopefully.

She was asking him. Eric’s heart leapt into his throat. “Yeah.”

She jumped to her feet and headed for the front door. Eric followed at a half-run.

“Rebekah, where are you going?” Mrs. B called after Rebekah with a look of stern disapproval.

“I’ll be back soon.”


Eric took Rebekah’s hand as they walked down the deserted street. It was a little chilly, but he doubted Rebekah would like him to wrap his arm around her shoulders and draw her against his side for warmth.

“I’m not sure where to begin,” she said.

He was. “Are you really going to marry Isaac?” he blurted.

She stopped short. “Where did you ever get that idea? Did my mother tell you that?”

“No, you told me that.”

“I did not. He did ask me, but I told him no. I told him you were my boyfriend. That I loved you. And you… You never even bothered to call me after our fight. I thought I meant something to you, Eric.” She planted a fist on either hip and glared at him in the light of a nearby street lamp.

“You mean everything to me. And I did call you, Rebekah. A thousand times I called you, even after you texted me and told me to fuck off and that you were marrying Isaac.”

“What? You liar,” she yelled. “I never texted that.”

“Yes, you did. And then Isaac answered your phone and told me you didn’t want to talk to me and that I should never call you again.”

She hesitated. “Isaac answered my phone? When?”

“A couple hours after I saw you kiss him.”

“I didn’t kiss him! He kissed me.”

“Well, you didn’t stop him!”

“I didn’t get the chance. You punched him before I could retaliate.”

Now Eric hesitated. “You didn’t want him to kiss you?”

“No. I love you, you fucking idiot. Why would I want to kiss another man?”

Eric panted heavily, a mixture of anger and confusion and joy.

She loved him. Sure, she had called him a fucking idiot, but she loved him. He almost believed her, but the hurt of the past few days made him hesitate. “If you love me so much, why did you hang up on me?”


“I would never hang up on you. Never. I wanted you to call, so we could work things out.”

“Then why didn’t you call me?”

“Isaac made me think that you didn’t want to talk to me.”

Eric’s fists clenched. “That little weasel.”

“Did you really call me after our fight?”

“Yes. Like I said, I called you around a thousand times.”

“I think I would have noticed if you called a thousand times, Eric. You never called me. Not once. I even slept with my phone so I wouldn’t miss your call.”

“Maybe there’s something wrong with your phone. I called you, Rebekah. I did.”

“There’s nothing wrong with my phone. I’ve used it several times today.” She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and flipped through her missed calls. “There’s nothing from you,” she said. “A bunch of calls from an unknown number, but not a single call from you.”

“That’s weird. Let me try now.”

He took out his phone and dialed her number. The screen lit up, but there was no sound. Her display said caller unknown.

“Answer it,” he said.

She answered. “Hello.”

“That fuckin’ jerk,” Eric grumbled into his phone.

“What?”

“Don’t you get what he did?”

“Who?”

“Isaac—who else?”

“What?”

“He changed my ringtone to silent and my name to caller unknown. Programmed it right into your phone.”

Her eyes widened. “What? Why would he do that?”

“To get rid of me.”


“I can’t believe he’d do something like that!”

“Believe it.”

They stared at each other for a long moment.

“I love you, Rebekah.”

“I love you too, Eric.”

They were standing next to each other talking on their cell phones. “Bye.”

He disconnected and then flipped through the messages on his phone. “Did you send me this?”

She read the saved text on his screen: Fuck you, asshole. I never want to see you again. She shook her head, her eyes filled with tears.

“That’s horrible. Don’t you know I’d never say anything like that to you? I love you so much. The past five days have been pure hell.”

Eric wrapped her in his arms and drew her against the length of his body. “I can’t believe how sneaky that guy is. I want to wring his fucking neck.”

Rebekah shook her head. “I’ll talk to him. He’s my best friend.

He must have a good reason to do something like that.”

“Yeah, he’s a selfish prick who wants you for himself. That’s his reason.”

She shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about Isaac anymore.

Kiss me,” she whispered. “Please, Eric. Kiss me and never stop.”

Eric drew her against him and captured her lips in a searing kiss.

She clung to him. He could taste her tears as she rubbed her lips against his desperately. “Let’s never fight again,” she murmured into his mouth.

“Agreed.”

“And if we do, we talk about it face-to-face right away. No phone calls.”

“Agreed.”

“I love you,” she said.

“Agreed.”


She laughed, and he smiled. He stroked her hair away from her face and kissed the tears from her cheeks.

“Why aren’t you wearing the jewelry I gave you?” he asked. It had been another thing that had slashed at his soul every time he looked at her.

“I took it off before we went to the shelter. I thought it would be pretty tacky to wear something that expensive in front of people who have nothing. And then I got so busy helping make dinner when we came home that I forgot to put it back on.”

“That’s all it was?” he asked.

She nodded.

He kissed her deeply. “I thought it meant we were through.”

She shook her head, breaking their kiss, but only for a brief moment. “Let’s go back to your place,” she said.

“What about your guests?”

“You’re the only guest that mattered to me.”

“Shouldn’t we confront Isaac?”

“I’ll talk to him later. Right now I don’t want to even think about him, much less look at him. I’ll probably punch him in the nose.”