Didi
Married?”
Walker’s head flies up. He sees me standing in the doorway and I watch his eyes widen like a cartoon character’s and his mouth drop open.
It takes everything I’ve got to stay there in the doorway and not run away.
The girl—I know her, somehow; there’s something familiar about her—turns too. She’s blond, slim, so beautiful she looks airbrushed. A little frown of puzzlement mars her perfect face. “Hi,” she says.
“Who are you?” I hear myself ask, my voice sounding husky and unfamiliar to my own ears.
“I’m Noel’s fiancée,” she says with a smile that makes my insides churn.
“Fiancée?” I repeat. My eyes flash to Walker.
He’s wearing just a towel wrapped around his waist and the girl’s hand is still resting on his chest. What were they just doing? I blink again, trying to clear my vision, but she’s still there when I open my eyes, still with her hand resting on his chest as if she owns him. Oh my God, he’s engaged. It takes a few seconds to sink in but then it all becomes clear. Startlingly clear. That’s why he was pushing me away the whole time.
I’m such an idiot. He was using me. He had a girlfriend. I’m such a fool. My chest feels as if it’s being carved open, a sob starts to build, and all I know is that I can’t let it out. I clamp my lips together and bite my tongue.
“Didi.”
Walker steps around the girl and moves toward me. I stumble backward into the hallway, away from him. I don’t want him near me, touching me. I haven’t seen him or spoken to him for three days, and for those three days all I wanted was to touch him, see him, hold him, and now, suddenly, I can’t stand the thought of being anywhere near him.
Walker stops in his tracks, his face twisting up as if he’s in pain. “Please, just listen,” he pleads.
“To what?” I ask. “To you trying to explain to me why you lied? Was it just a joke to you? Another sweepstake bet? How much did you win?”
Is that why he didn’t return my calls? I left messages with the person who’d taken over for José, asking for Walker to call me on the landline, but he didn’t. Probably because he’s been busy with his fiancée.
“What?” he asks, shaking his head. “You know—”
“I know nothing,” I say, tears choking my throat closed, “except that I’m an idiot and I should have listened to my parents. They were right all along. I should never have gotten involved with you. What a mistake.”
“Didi,” Walker says and takes another step toward me, his arms outstretched.
“Who is she?” Walker’s fiancée demands, glaring at Walker before turning to me with a sneer.
“I’m nobody,” I tell her, still walking backward. I spin on my heel and head back to the elevators, tears blinding me. There are footsteps behind me and I swipe angrily at my face. Walker catches me by the arm and pulls me around to face him.
“Didi,” he says, his tone desperate. “It’s not what you think.”
I snatch my arm from his grip. “Oh really?” I ask. I can’t stop the tears from falling. “I lost my internship because of you, Walker. I’m probably going to be pulled up in front of the ethics committee. Everything I ever worked for I threw away for you. For nothing.”
His hand falls to his side.
“You were so busy trying to get into my underwear that you didn’t even spare a second thought for Dodds when he was trying to talk to you. I hope that’s on your conscience too.”
All the blood drains from Walker’s face and I know immediately that I’ve overstepped the line. I didn’t mean to say that. Walker staggers back a step and a dagger slices through my ribs. I want to take it back. Turn back the clock. I want to take it all back. It’s not his fault about Dodds. It’s mine. It’s all of our faults. But it’s too late to take anything back. Too late to make any difference.
That girl—his fiancée—has walked up behind him and has put her hands on his shoulders, is steering him backward toward his room. And he’s letting her. But he stares at me the whole time like a drowning man slipping slowly beneath the waves.