"Let's get this over with," he said.
"I'm fine, thanks, how are you?"
"I've been better."
He locked the apartment door behind him and headed for the stairwell. She followed him, seconds from telling him to forget this favor if he was going to act like an ass all night.
"What's wrong?" Rebekah asked him.
"Trey left me." He stopped dead in his tracks and Rebekah bumped into his back.
She took his arm and turned him to face her. His brow crumpled, and he took a deep shaky breath. If he starting crying, she was totally going to join him. "What? Like permanently?"
He raked a hand through his perfectly arranged loose curls, mussing them in a most charming way. "I don't know. He said until I get my head on straight. Whatever that means."
"I'm sorry. I hope you can work things out."
"It's just an excuse. I know he sees other people. When I hinted that I wanted things to be serious between us, he … lost interest."
Rebekah sighed. "Isaac, I probably should have warned you. Trey is wonderful, but he's kind of hung up on someone else."
"Brian?"
Stunned, Rebekah stared at him with her mouth hanging open. "How did you know?"
"He talks about the guy nonstop. At first I thought they were just best friends, but he even murmurs his name in his sleep." Isaac flushed. "I probably shouldn't talk about this with you."
"It's okay. I don't mind."
"You really are terrific." His soft gray eyes swept up her figure from carefully styled hair to the pink toenails peeking out of her strappy heels. "You look sensational, by the way. If I was into girls, I'd definitely be thinking inappropriate thoughts
right now."
She laughed, glad the tension between them had eased. "You're quite the charmer, Dr. Crandall."
He helped her into his car, and they headed to his parents' house. He told her about some fancy diagnostic machine they'd installed at his father's clinic and how it would make the office cutting-edge. "I can't wait to be a part of it. They already have more patients than they can handle. This is an amazing opportunity for me."
"You'll be awesome," she said.
"Assuming I don't mess this up. Thanks for helping me out, angel."
"That's what friends are for."
When they arrived, a valet took Isaac's car and parked it somewhere in the next county. Isaac settled a hand on her lower back to guide her into the sprawling Mediterranean-style house. There were a lot more people at the dinner party than Rebekah expected. Isaac introduced her to so many people that her head was spinning. Everything was going well until someone noticed her engagement ring.
"My Lord, Isaac, how did you ever afford that rock on your salary?" a gentleman, who looked like he'd fallen off a bucket of fried chicken, asked.
Isaac grabbed Rebekah's left wrist and stared at the hefty ring. "An enormous loan," he said with a nervous laugh. "I hope Father's hiring."
The Colonel Sanders look-a-like pounded him on the back enthusiastically. "I think he might be."
Isaac steered Rebekah toward a corner. "You're engaged?"
Rebekah's heart fluttered, and she smiled. "Well, yeah. How did you not notice?" She lifted her left hand. "It's pretty obvious."
Isaac sighed. "I was a little distracted." He reached for her hand and tried to slip the ring from her finger. She jerked her hand away and hid it behind her back.
"What are you doing?"
"You have to take it off. It's obvious that I didn't give you that ring. I could never afford it."
"I'm not taking it off, Isaac."
"She's not taking it off, Isaac," a low voice said behind her. Before she could turn around, she was wrapped in a strong embrace, and a hard kiss hit her in the temple. "Congratulations!" She struggled against the hard body behind her. He released her, and she spun around to glare at … Trey?
Her mouth dropped open in shock.
"What are you doing here?" Isaac asked in a harsh whisper.
"My father conned me into coming along. Usually, I try to get out of these kinds of things, but … " He shrugged. "I thought it would be fun to see how good of an actor you are, young Dr. Crandall."
"Your father?" Rebekah questioned.
"The highly celebrated plastic surgeon of the rich and famous, Ethan Mills, MD," Trey said. He waved at a man who could have been Trey's twin had he been twenty-five years younger and traded his conventional haircut for Trey's long in the front, short in the back style.