Page 382 of The First Time
Chapter Thirty-Two
Room 302. A windowless room in the middle of the hallway.
Hospitals are always depressing, but this takes the cake. There's no life in this room. It's ugly. Still. Plain.
Meryl lies in her hospital bed. Her face is still a strange, pale yellow. She looks weak and tired, but she looks happy too.
"Sweetheart, what are you doing up so early?" she asks.
I pull up a chair next to her bed and get comfortable. I'm going to be here a while. "Visiting hours started three minutes ago."
"I'll forgive the delay." She looks me over carefully. Her eyes fix on my unadorned left hand. "You're no longer obligated to visit me."
"I was never obligated." I squeeze my purse handle. "You've been so kind to me. You really accepted me as your daughter-in-law. I'm sorry that I can't be… that Blake and I won't…"
Her brow furrows. "What happened?"
"I can't bother you with my relationship problems."
She scoffs. "Sweetie, it's not a bother. Anything is better than sitting here with everyone looking at me like I'm going to die." She grabs the bed's remote control and adjusts it so she's mostly upright. "I can help. I know my son."
"Then you know the problem."
Meryl frowns. "He said you got into a fight about the wedding. He wanted to move it up. You thought that was a transparent attempt to appease his poor dying mother."
I can't help but smile. She has a damn good sense of humor. "Did he really say all that?"
"I read between the lines." She sips her glass of orange juice. "He says it's a fight and that you'll make up soon. But from the look on your face…"
There's a look on my face? God damn Sterling ability to read people. I try to smile, but this time it's not coming naturally. "It's unlikely."
"Was anything he said true?"
Tension stirs inside me. I'm not lying anymore. Not to her. "It's his version of it." I stare at the white tile floor. "He and I never… he never…"
"Sweetheart, I know you were pretending."
My heart is beating so fucking loud. "What?"
Meryl offers a sly smile. "I don't know the details, but I can tell. It's almost sweet. I never realized he cared this much about making me happy."
"He does." My gaze goes right back to the floor. It's scuffed with ugly white lines. "And he's stubborn."
"Very."
I force myself to make eye contact. She has the same blue eyes as Blake. They're just as piercing. Just as good at picking me apart. "How did you know?"
"The boy doesn't have an impulsive bone in his body. If he really was seeing someone, I'd have known about it months ago."
Something in me relaxes. It's not that he's incapable of love. At least, she doesn't believe he's incapable of it.
I nod. "Part of it was true. We met when I was leaving an interview, and he offered me the job. If you can call it that." I pluck the stray threads from my purse's handle. "I feel awful about lying to you."
"Don't. You get something good in exchange for this?"
"Really good."
"Sweetie, as far as I'm concerned, we never had this conversation. Take Blake back, marry him, divorce him, and take him to the cleaners."
