Page 39 of Renegade

I nodded, “Sure, let’s do that. Now, I really need you to get back to work. We’ve got an issue with the schedule for next Wednesday. Doc’s going to be out so we’ll need to move those appointments.”

It wasn’t the most pressing of tasks, but I thought it might help get her mind off of whatever it was that was bothering her—at least until we got to lunch. Apparently, Dr. Mulloy’s boy toy had booked a trip to Santa Fe and was insisting they leave a day early.

The rest of the morning passed in a blur of patients and nonsensical requests from Dr. Mulloy. Today, she was obsessed with ripping up the perfectly good two-year-old carpet in the lobby and replacing it with tile in the shape of teeth.

I made it to a nearby deli just a little after noon, ready to hear Elizabeth’s story. I’d no sooner slid across the booth from her and stuck a fork in my salad when she blurted out, “I’m cheating on David.”

It was said so matter-of-fact, as if it was the kind of thing all women did to their husbands.

“No,” I exclaimed. “But I thought you were happy. The flowers—”

She shook her head. “Landon, my—God, what do you call him? My other man? He sent me flowers…not David.”

She told me how David had changed since his father, John, had passed away the year before. He’d taken more jobs out-of-town and had been emotionally distant with her.

“I tried, Lauren. I tried to be supportive, but he’s never there. And when he does show up, it’s like dealing with a temperamental toddler—he’s completely unpredictable. I just feel like I can’t do anything to make him happy.” She wiped away tears and managed a couple of bites of food, while I sat shell-shocked across from her.

I’d placed my faith in them as a couple. Granted, we weren’t close. Elizabeth had her life and I had mine, but I’d considered her a friend. To find out that she’d been unfaithful to her husband for the majority of the past year left me feeling unsteady.

If they couldn’t make it, then who could?

I stumbled over my words, “How—why? I don’t understand,” before repeating, “I thought you and David were happy.”

“We were—he’s just been out-of-town five days a week and I’ve been lonely. I don’t even know how to begin cleaning up this mess. I don’t want to call up Landon, but my husband won’t return my calls.”

David had always seemed broody, for lack of a better term, but I’d naïvely thought that he was someone better when he was with her.

“You have your friends here to help you. I want you to take the rest of the week off and sort this out. I’ll cover for you.” I knew if I were in her position, there’d be no way that I could function properly.

My situation with Monica stealing my car had been different. It was my own fault that I’d gotten into that mess; Elizabeth’s problems ran much deeper.

She stared at me, openmouthed. “Why are you being so nice to me? I didn’t think you liked me all that much.”

Here it was.

The moment of truth. “Of course I like you! You’re my friend. I know I can be hard on you, but it’s because I know how much you’re capable of. Let me help you—anytime that you’re thinking of texting or calling Landon, reach out to me instead and I’ll drop everything.”

She smiled and reached across the table to take my hand. “Thank you, Lauren. That really means a lot to me.”

I’d nodded and smiled, but deep down I just felt depressed. I guess it didn’t matter if life gave you a fairy tale because, sooner or later, one or the both of you would just screw it all up. Perhaps it wouldn’t have mattered if Jack and I had hit it off all those years ago.

Maybe I’d just been holding myself back for something that didn’t even exist.

I’d texted Elizabeth the next day and asked her to dinner. We’d had limited time at lunch the day before and I still had a lot of questions.

I made it toCrafthouse, the restaurant Elizabeth chose, a few minutes after seven. Isaac’s GPS hadn’t known the location of the restaurant like it loudly proclaimed it did. It had led me out of town and down some random dirt road before I started to suspect that it was full of shit.

‘Up ahead, there’s a drifter on the left. Your destination is one half-mile from that.’

Okay. Sure.

I’d been without my actual car for five years now and I was starting to come to the rapid conclusion that it was lost forever.

Elizabeth and I sat quietly for a few minutes. After glancing over the menu, I called her out. “So, you never told me how you ended it with Landon or how he reacted.”

She searched the room, as if she was afraid someone might’ve heard me. “I just ended it. I quit calling him when David and I got back from Mexico. He showed up one night after we got back.”

David had booked a trip to Mexico late last year, in some grand gesture to get them back on track. When I thought about it, it made what she’d been doing even worse. The man might’ve become distant since his father had died, but he obviously still wanted to make it work with her.

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