Page 97 of Vacation Friends

“She mentioned that. I hope he’s okay.”

“You and me both.”

Maddie and Brody walked several minutes in silence. But it was nice silence. Comfortable silence.

Then Brody blurted, “You’re not wearing your ring.”

Maddie’s eyes widened as she glanced at her hand. She hadn’t thought anyone would notice. But she shouldn’t be surprised.

She started to skirt around the truth about the situation but changed her mind. Covering up what had happened would only lead to more headaches, more lies. She was so tired of the pretention.

“We broke up,” she announced. “The two of us weren’t well suited for each other, and I tried to break things off with him about a month ago. But Josh asked me to reconsider and think about it a while longer—specifically until this retreat was over. He seems to think having a fiancée makes him look more stable, which gives people more confidence in him as the future CEO.”

Brody made a face, making it clear he didn’t approve of that line of reasoning.

“I’m sorry,” he finally muttered.

“Don’t be. I feel lighter than I have in a long time. Josh isn’t the person I fell in love with. In fact, the person I fell in love with may not have been real at all.”

They walked a few more steps in silence.

“You never said how the two of you met,” Brody finally said.

Memories of those days flooded back to her. “It was actually back when I was investigating elder abuse. Josh’s father had filed a claim against the assisted living home where his mother—Josh’s grandmother—was living. I was called to investigate.”

“That sounds unfortunate.”

“It was. One of the aides at the facility was being rough with the patients. Honestly, it broke my heart when I saw it. And, of course, as you well know, investigations are rarely fast. So as I was working on securing all the evidence I needed, Josh came to make a statement about what he’d witnessed. We started talking, and that was that.”

“I see,” Brody muttered. “Well, it’s like you said. I suppose it’s better that you discover this now rather than later.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Are you going to stick around now that the two of you have broken up?” he asked.

“That’s a good question, one I’m still trying to figure out.” She didn’t mention what the detective had told her, how he’d warned her to stay.

As they walked a few more steps in silence, Maddie’s thoughts drifted to Brody and Adrienne. She remembered what Adrienne had told her yesterday about how Brody wasn’t who he seemed to be.

Maddie couldn’t get that thought out of her head, mostly because it bothered her. That information, the two different sides of him, didn’t gel in her head—and she usually considered herself a good judge of character.

She wanted to know more—and she needed to find out information that would only drive home the fact that Brody was a taken man.

“So, how long have you and Adrienne been together?” she finally asked.

Brody’s eyes widened as if the question surprised him. “Me and Adrienne? Oh, we’re not together.”

Maddie halted and stared at him in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Had they just broken up also?

Brody twisted his neck as if confused as he observed her. “You mean, Adrienne didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“The two of us broke up . . . over a year ago.”

CHAPTER

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