Page 15 of Affinity

“Hey,” I answered hesitantly.

“Don’t hey me, Jenner. You’ve been avoiding my calls.”

“You know I love you, but I’ve been busy with . . . ”

“With getting married and not telling me about this girl. I need all the details.” I hated hearing the hurt in her voice, knowing I’d put it there, and that I was going to have to lie. “By the way, you’re on speakerphone.”

“Is Mason in the room?” I prayed her son was home.

“No, he’s at school. Now stop stalling and start talking.”

“Hey, Luke,” I called out, stalling some more.

“She’s going to kill you if you don’t start talking.” He laughed. “But it’s because she cares.”

“I know you care, Alex, and I’m sorry I didn’t answer your calls yesterday. It was a whirlwind, and Catherine was trying to put out the fire.” Fuck, how was I going to lie to her? “When are you going to be in LA?”

“Are you saying the only way I’ll find out is to fly out there?”

Why had I asked that? Now she was even angrier.

“That’s not what I’m saying, but I know you’ll be here soon, and I’d rather have this conversation face to face.” Or not at all.

“We’re so out of touch. We’ve already been there for a couple of weeks and are only in Fairlane for the weekend. Luke came home with us, so we didn’t have to fly by ourselves. We have a flight late tonight after we get Mason back, so I can come over tomorrow.”

Why couldn’t her husband have a longer break before he had to be back on set?

Fuck me. She was going to be here at the first light of day.

“I look forward to seeing you tomorrow then. I’m sorry we haven’t been talking as much as we normally do, but we’ve both been busy. I’ll try to be better, and now that you’ll be here, we can hang out more.”

“You can keep Alex and Mason company while I’m at work,” Luke shouted.

I knew he hated leaving them for such long hours while he was shooting, but he knew he was a lucky son of a bitch getting to stay at home with them the majority of the year in Fairlane, away from the limelight.

“I promise I will when I have time, but I’m still shooting my show.” I didn’t want to tell them I couldn’t fuck up one more time. “But really, Alex, you don’t need to come over tomorrow.”

Her laughter rang down the phone line. “I know I don’t need to, I want to. But if you’re working tomorrow . . . ” She left the conversation hanging as she waited for my answer.

“I’m not working.” Thank god because I wasn’t sure I could wrap my head around my drunken mistake before heading onto the set tomorrow.

“Perfect, I can’t wait to see you tomorrow.”

I knew she was worried about me. She had been since the night we met, and it had only gotten worse once my life started to swirl down the drain. It was a good thing she didn’t know everything. It was a good thing she’d been busy falling in love and getting married while everything was going on.

“I can’t wait to see you too.” I had been hiding from my friends for far too long.

“Bye,” both Luke and Alex called before they hung up.

“Bye,” I softly said as I walked back to the house and into my bedroom. They were a nice distraction, and now it was back to reality.

Opening up the box Catherine had given me, I looked down at the silver band inside. Could I pretend to be married to Abbi for a year? I guess I didn’t have a choice.

Not wanting to think about it anymore, I slipped under the covers and hit the remote by my bed to close the blackout shades that would plunge my room into darkness.

I must have needed the sleep because I didn’t open my eyes until early the next morning. God only knew what Abbi thought when I didn’t come out at all yesterday. She probably thought I was pouting back here all day.

Not having eaten for twenty-four hours, I was starved. Unsure if Abbi had any groceries delivered while I slept the day away, I sent Alex a text asking if she’d pick up some breakfast on her way over. I took a quick shower before she and Mason arrived, put on a pair of swim trunks since I knew they’d likely want to hang out by the pool, slipped the silver band onto my left ring finger, and then set the table for us to eat outside.

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