Dates from Hell(40)

“Jill?” Kyle called out as they entered the house.

“Kyle?” Jill’s voice came from the living room. Her tone suggested she was just as surprised at his arrival home in the middle of the day as they had been to know she was here.

“Yeah. Are you okay?” Kyle led Claire up the hall. “You aren’t sick or something, are you?”

“Or something.”

Claire frowned at the weariness evident in Jill’s voice. As they entered the living room, she stepped around Kyle and peered at her friend. Jill sat balled up in a corner of the couch, her shoulders slumped and posture dejected. She was pale, her eyes red-rimmed, and she held a freshly opened container of ice cream…always a bad sign.

“What’s wrong?” Claire asked with concern as she moved to sit beside her on the couch.

“What are you doing here?” Jill asked with surprise.

“Never mind that,” Claire said. “Tell us what’s wrong.”

“Nothing,” Jill said, then sighed and admitted, “Actually, I just got dumped.”

“What?” Claire asked with amazement. Jill had been seeing a store owner named Ted Leacock for the last six months. Claire knew her friend had thought it was “the real deal.” That she’d found the man she would marry and raise babies with.

“Yeah.” Jill held up the container of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. “So I came home for lunch.”

“Oh, honey.” Claire hugged her with sympathy.

Jill shrugged. “Plenty of good men out there, and right now Ben and Jerry are being very sympathetic.”

Kyle shifted and Claire glanced his way to see a myriad of emotions cross his face, anger for his sister, a frown of concern, then discomfort.

“Well,” he said finally. “You can’t just eat ice cream, Jill. I’ll see about lunch.”

Claire watched him leave the room, then glanced back to Jill as the blond slid a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth.

“I’m sorry, Jill,” she said quietly.

Jill shrugged. “Better now than later.”

“You’re too good for him anyway.”

“I thought you liked him?” Jill asked with a frown.

“I did. He seemed nice,” Claire said quickly. “Though he obviously had bad taste if he broke up with you…and you deserve a guy with good taste. A super guy.”

“Super guy, huh?” Jill smiled briefly, then sighed. “He wasn’t as nice as we thought, anyway. It seems I wasn’t the only woman he was dating.”

“What?” Claire asked with surprise, then understanding crossed her face. “All those late nights working?”

“Yeah. It seems he was working on a couple of other girls. Trying to decide who would be the winner in the ‘Ted’s wife lotto.’ I apparently made it to the final two, but the other finalist won out.”

“What?” Claire repeated with amazement.

Jill grimaced. “It was apparently close. So close, in fact, that he couldn’t bring himself to break the news to me until now. A week before the wedding to the winner.”

Claire opened her mouth, but Jill forestalled her with “Please don’t say what again.”

Claire closed her mouth, frowned, then shook her head. “But you two went away last weekend.”

“Yes. And have been sleeping together for the last four of the six months we’ve been dating.” Jill grimaced. “I guess I should be glad I wasn’t the winner. Who needs a jerk like that for a husband?”

Claire nodded. “He’ll never be faithful. Oh, honey. I am sorry.” She gave her another hug.

“I guess I’ll have to go to the grocery store,” Kyle announced coming back into the living room. “We’ll need lunch and supper.”

“I thought you two were going to the school reunion   tonight?” Claire reminded him, peering over Jill’s shoulder. She had decided not to go herself, but the twins had planned to attend, and Claire was sure that getting out would be the best thing for her friend.

Jill snorted at the idea. “Like I’m going to the reunion   without a man on my arm? You have got to be kidding. Magda would spend the entire night insulting me…the bitch,” she added on a sniff.

“And I’d rather not leave you alone,” Kyle said. He was speaking to Claire, but his concerned gaze was bouncing between her and his sister. “I need to keep an eye on you for at least twenty-four hours, though the whole weekend would be better.”

Jill stiffened in Claire’s arms, then pulled back to peer at her.

“Why? What’s happened?”

Claire merely grimaced, while Kyle said, “John zapped her with the destabilizer.”