Page 87 of The Friendship Variable
CHAPTER 36
Claire
I givemyself a fifteen-minute pity party before deciding I need to go home. Crying in the most gorgeous gown I’ve ever worn is not an experience I’d like to prolong. Unfortunately, my purse is still inside the gala, which includes my wallet and keys.
I stand, wiping the last tears off my face, and try to find an inconspicuous way to enter the ballroom to retrieve my purse. It’s hanging off the corner of my chair, just a few feet away from the entrance, but there’s a crowd of STEM professors standing there.
And Christopher.
He takes one look at me standing in the doorway and excuses himself from his group, then heads toward me. Great. Just who I want to talk to—the wacky toga-wearing department chair of Coastal Vista Community College.
But his eyes are soft, and so is his voice. “Hey, Claire. You okay?”
My eyes fill with tears again, and I just shake my head.
“What do you need?” he asks, and his gentle hand on my shoulder almost breaks me.
I point at my chair. “I left my purse hanging there, and I need to leave.”
“I got you.” He rushes back inside, toga flapping around him, grabs my purse off the chair, and brings it back to me. “Anything else? Some water?” He gives a silly grin. “A song?”
I shake my head. “Thanks for the offer. But I’m going home.”
He nods. “I’m sorry, Claire.” He pauses for a moment. “I hope whatever happens, you and Ryan are okay.”
“What do you know?” I ask him.
He presses his lips together. “Just what I can see.”
I bite my lip. Who else knew how Ryan felt? Was I that oblivious? Should I have seen the signs and…what? What would I have done if I had known?
“I have to go,” I say. I give a quick wave and turn in the other direction, hightailing it to my car. I just need to go home and be distracted from my soap-opera of a life.
When I walkin the door, Annie is sitting on my couch with my laptop on her lap. “Hey! How was the—oh, no.” Her grin falls, and her eyes widen as she takes in my appearance. “What happened?”
I throw my purse over the couch and take a seat, throwing my feet up on the ottoman. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
She’s silent for a moment. “You sure?”
I nod. I need to process what happened before I can get anyone else’s opinion. But being with Annie should be a good distraction from my heart.
“Well, in that case. I have a question for you.” She turns the laptop around with a flourish. “What exactly is ‘Double Lives FINAL FOR REAL THIS TIME’?”
Crap.
Not my book.
I know I just said I wanted a distraction, but why does it have to be THIS? My one secret I’ve kept from my family, the one thing that’s felt like mine and mine alone?
I bolt up and grab the laptop from her. “How did you find this?”
“Uh, it was on the screen when I turned it on.”
I slam the computer shut, my heart racing. “It’s none of your business!”
She tilts her head. “It’s really good, Claire. Like,reallygood. I can’t stop reading.”
“Too bad. You have to stop.”
