Dream Wedding(150)

“So what’s new with you?” she finally asked, then smiled. “Aside from the great new look.”

He scooted forward in his chair. “A lot. I have to tell you, Cass, when you first broke up with me, I thought you were crazy. All your talk about wanting more, about passion. I figured it was some female thing and you’d get over it in a couple of days.”

He shrugged. “The thing was, I couldn’t stop thinking about everything you’d told me. It started to make sense, sort of, and then I got this feeling you weren’t going to change your mind. I began to realize you’d meant what you said.”

“I did,” she said. “I’m glad you see that. I think we’re both happier this way.”

Ryan had to grind his teeth to keep from speaking out. This was not how he’d planned their conversation. They were supposed to be talking about how much they missed each other. Maybe he was the problem. If he left the room, at least they would have privacy. But he couldn’t think of a smooth way to make that happen, so he hunched down in the corner of the sofa and pretended not to be there.

“I am happier,” Joel said, sounding sheepish and proud at the same time. “I got real confused about everything, so I asked Alice to dinner. She’s the assistant manager of the Bradley Discount pet department. Redhead, about so tall.” He held up his hand, indicating a tiny woman.

A knot formed in Ryan’s stomach. The trains were only a few feet apart now. The impact was going to be felt for miles.

“I told her everything you’d said and then asked for her opinion. I figured with her being female and all, she’d have a better idea than I did as to what was going on.”

“What happened?” Cassie asked.

Ryan closed his eyes. He didn’t want to know.

“Well, it was the strangest thing. Partway through the meal, she told me that I should forget all about you. It seems that she’s had a thing for me for about two years. She told me she was in love with me. You can imagine how shocked I was.”

Not nearly as shocked as me, Ryan thought grimly. He wanted to groan out loud. He wanted to rant and rave and throw things and beat the hell out of Joel for giving up on Cassie in the first place.

He risked a glance at Cassie. She was nodding intently, as if the story was interesting but didn’t have anything to do with her personally. “What did you say?”

“Nothing. I listened. Then she invited me back to her place.”

Ryan thought about throwing Joel out, but it was too late. What had gone wrong? Why weren’t they getting back together? He knew what the other man was going to say next. The trains impacted and the room shook. He seemed to be the only one who noticed.

“I spent the night. Actually, I spent two days there.” Joel grinned like a kid who’d hit his first home run. “I even called in sick, which, as you know, I’ve never done before.”

“That’s true. You always prided yourself on your perfect attendance.” Cassie’s voice was calm. Ryan wanted to crawl under a rock.

“It’s just like you said,” Joel told her. “With Alice, I feel the passion. It’s amazing. We talk about everything. There’s so much to say and never enough time. We can’t seem to get out of bed.” He looked at her and grinned. “Cass, I owe you for this. I’ve never been happier. Alice is exactly who I belong with. You were right. I should have known. You always were the smart one in the relationship.”

“Joel, I’m happy for you.”

Ryan thought he was going to be sick.

“Is it serious?” she asked.

“Yeah. We’re, uh, sort of living together.”

“Already?” Ryan asked before he could stop himself. “Do you think that’s wise?”

“Sure. We’re getting married. I bought her a beautiful engagement ring. Nearly two carats in diamonds. It’s—” Joel paused and, for the first time, seemed uncomfortable. “Sorry, Cassie. That wasn’t nice, was it? I didn’t mean to imply—”

She cut him off with a wave of her hand. “It’s fine. You gave me the promise ring when we were both kids. Now you’re a man. Of course you would do things differently.”

Ryan had forgotten about the diamond-lint ring. The little piece of animal refuse had cheated Cassie out of a decent engagement ring, too.

“Anyway,” Joel plunged on as if determined to tell his story, regardless of whom he hurt, “we’re heading over to Las Vegas at the end of the month. This close to the holidays we had a hard time getting four days off together, but I pulled a few strings. We’ll be married then. We know we want to be together forever, and don’t see the point of waiting.”