Page 54 of Breakaway

“And that is supposed to make me feel better?” The posts were damning evidence of what was going on in Wilkes Barre tonight.

“Look, Morgan, I’m sure there is a good explanation,” Katie pleaded at this point, but Morgan wasn’t listening.

She sighed, her heart falling to the pit of her stomach. “I really liked him.”

“I know you did. That’s why I think you need to let him explain. Maybe it isn’t what it looks like. Call him.

Morgan looked at the posts again. For as much of a gentleman that he was, she didn’t recognize the player in these photos. Had he been pretending with her?

“Morgan, what are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that maybe I didn’t know Travis as well as I thought I did.”

“You loved him, didn’t you?”

“I never said that!” Morgan hissed. Her heart hurt. She had been played, and she had let it happen. Again.

“Okay, sorry.” Katie set the popcorn down and moved to sit next to her, before pulling her into a side hug.

“No, I’m sorry that I snapped at you. You didn’t deserve that. You know life has been cruel to me. Well, there was this guy—”

“Uh-oh,” Katie interrupted. “No good story ever started with ‘there was a guy.’ ”

“No kidding.” She pouted. “We were in college and pretty serious. We dated for almost eight months. I thought things were going great, and when my mom got sick, he was my rock.”

“So what happened?”

“Timing. It seems to be my nemesis.”

“Huh?” Katie looked at her blankly.

“The morning that my mom passed away, I found out that he had also been dating another girl while he was with me.”

Katie’s face dropped. “He cheated on you?” She was silent as the rest of the story sunk in. “Oh, timing, right.”

“My entire life seems to be terrible timing. My dad was killed in an accident when I was a baby, so I don’t remember him. My mom got sick right before my college graduation—the point where I was getting ready to enter the real world, and hours after she took her last breath, I find out the person that was supposed to be there for me had been cheating on me?for months. All sucky timing.”

Katie simply nodded.

“I didn’t think I’d ever get over such a traumatic day, at least not so soon. I had lost everything. But, then Travis—”

“He healed your heart.”

She nodded. “He picked up all those shattered pieces and made me whole again.”

“Then call him,” Katie pressed.

Morgan knew her friend was right. She needed to get to the bottom of this. Her heart raced, as she picked up the phone and hit his contact information.

“Hello?” A woman answered Travis’s phone. “Hello?”

Quickly ending the call, she sat staring blankly at the phone.

“Morgan? What’s wrong?”

She shrugged in defeat. Her fears were true. “The photos don’t lie.”

Katie hugged her.

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