Page 33 of For Fox Sake

They disappear onto the elevator, and I lean back, resting against the wall for a second and blowing out a breath. I’ll just recover here for a second. Not moving sounds great. My mind plays the tape forward, contemplating everything that’s still left in my day, picking up Ari, cleaning out a rental, dinner, bath time, cleaning and checking the mail and paying bills and?—

Jake stalks past the bathrooms, his back to me.

I’m too surprised to say anything at first. He’s walking with his gaze pointed straight ahead, his posture oddly stiff.

Normally, his movements are so loose, smooth, and unhurried. I don’t know, something seems off.

He stops at a door at the end of the hall and reaches into his pocket, keys jangling in his hand. He inserts a key into the lock.

Nothing happens.

He jiggles it, then curses something under his breath.

“You okay over there?”

He spins around. “Ryan?”

I wave. “Hey.”

“I-I didn’t see you.”

“I noticed.”

He glances down at the keys in his hand. “I grabbed the wrong key ring. What are you doing over here?” His eyes roam over my position, lurking in the bathroom alcove.

“I came to visit Mom and then I had to—” I lift my hand to point at the bathroom behind me, then drop it. What’s the point in lying? I’ve already unloaded on him enough times that he shouldn’t be surprised by anything at this point. “I saw my ex and his pregnant fiancée, and I was hiding. If you want to know the truth of it.”

His brows lift. “That sounds like a story.”

I glance down the hall to the elevator where they disappeared moments ago. It slides open and I do a double take as lo and behold, Shane and Samantha step off. And they’re heading this way.

Panic races through me.

“Why are they back? They’re coming this way.”

I spin around. I’ll hide in the bathroom. But what if she came back down here to use this one? Maybe the one on the Ob-Gyn floor is full. Shit.

“Hey, come on. We can wait them out in here.” Jake tugs me through a door between the two restrooms.

I catch a glimpse of open cabinets stacked with toilet paper and a mop before he shuts us inside and the room turns black, except for a thin bright line under the door.

It’s a tight space. We aren’t touching, but Jake’s presence, the heat of him, is a substantial force behind me. My back faces him. I lean toward the door, tilting my ear toward any possible sound.

Ears straining, I catch only the murmur of distant voices.

“Did she go in the bathroom?” I whisper. “I didn’t hear the door. You keep the hinges oiled too well.”

“Are you going to tell me why we’re hiding from your ex?” He shifts behind me, his shirt brushing my arm.

I let my forehead fall to the door with a soft thump. “I met Shane in college.”

“In Ithaca?”

I nod. “He moved to Dull with me after Mia died. I was so grateful at the time.” I rub my temple. I thought I was so lucky to have someone willing to give up everything and move across the country for me. Which was one of the reasons it took me so long to drop him. If it hadn’t been for Ari, I might have married the asshole. I was so stupid. “We were together for four years.”

“That’s a long time.”

“Yeah. We broke up because he didn’t want kids.”

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