Page 53 of Persuaded

A pause. Sean frowned and shot a look at Quinton who was watching them both with avid interest. “I, um... Did you get my texts? I tried to call.”

“Oh.” Joshua flushed. “No, I lost my phone.” He hated how much that sounded like a lie—how itwasa lie. “It, uh, fell in the river.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Right.”

Sean’s awkwardness made him ache; he’d obviously been hurt by the way Joshua left town without a word. They’d been friends, after all. Searching for something to say, he came up with “Are you here on business?”

“Couple days of meetings.” Sean’s gaze flickered toward Quinton again. “And you? Dee said you might not be back for a while.”

“No, I’m—I’m here visiting my aunt for a couple weeks. And trying my hand as a studio musician. Quinton is helping me—he’s a music producer.”

Sean lifted an eyebrow and gave Quinton an unconvincing smile. “That sounds—” He glanced past Joshua to the window, where one of the women waiting for him tapped her watch. “Shit. I’m running late for a client meeting. I gotta go.”

“Of course. Well it was nice—”

“Listen”—Sean pulled out his wallet—“take my card and call me when you get a new phone, okay? I need to talk to you.”

“Okay.” Joshua accepted the card because it was easier than trying to explain, here, why it would be a good idea if they just let their friendship fade. “Sean—”

A fierce hug cut him off. “Don’t be a stranger. I mean it, man. Weallmiss you.” He let go, but just when Joshua thought he’d escaped any mention of the wedding, Sean said, “Sorry, but youdoknow about Finn and Liz, right?”

Was it an accusation? Was Sean wondering why he hadn’t offered any congratulations? His ears burned. “I, uh... Yes, Lexatold me.” He tried to smile. “I’m sorry, I should have said something. You must be excited.” It was the best he could manage.

“Excited?”

“For Finn, I mean.” He was making a hash of it. “Liz’s great, I’m sure they’ll be very—”

“No.” Sean grabbed his arm. “No, Josh, they broke up. Finn and Liz broke up.”

He stared, pressing his fingernails into the heel of his hand to keep from reacting. “Broke up?”

“Liz got engaged to Dr. Bentley, the hospital doctor she met after the accident.” He snorted a derisive laugh. “She really is all aboutcarpe diem, I guess.”

But Joshua couldn’t laugh; he was devastated. All he could see was Finn begging him not to end it between them, heartbreak in his eyes. He couldn’t bear that it had happened again. “But how is he? Is Finn okay?”

“He’s...” Sean looked at him intently, expression softening in a way that made Joshua’s stomach flutter. “Dude, he’srelieved.”

And what on earth didthatmean?

Behind him, the woman started tapping her impatience on the window. “Crap,” Sean muttered, “I really gotta go.” He squeezed Joshua’s arm. “Call me,” he said, with another look at Quinton. “Call me soon, okay?”

And then he disappeared into the crowd and Joshua sank back onto his chair with weak knees.

“Hmm,” Quinton said over the lip of his cup. “‘Curiouser and curiouser,’ cried Alice.”

* * *

Three days later, Joshua was at Create Studios recording his first session. The other musicians were wired and the pace swift.Intense was an understatement; there was no time for mistakes and no concentration to spare. For that, Joshua was grateful—he’d done little but brood about Finn since his conversation with Sean and it was a relief to focus so intensely on something else.

But his distraction never lasted long. Even here, during every break, the questions returned like gulls wheeling high and waiting to swoop. The thing was, he couldn’t figure out what it meant that Finn was “relieved” his relationship with Liz had ended. Because, if that was how he felt, then why hadn’t he ended it himself?

The previous night, feeling rebellious and unsettled, Joshua had Googled “Finn Callaghan girlfriends” and “Finn Callaghan boyfriends.” Googling Finn wasn’t something he’d ever let himself do before; last night he’d figured he had nothing left to lose and had spent an hour or two scanning images of Finn with various beautiful women. There were no boyfriends.

He hadn’t been sure what he was looking for at first. But then he’d remembered the picture on his bookshelf—how he and Finn were looking at each other in that picture—and he’d searched for the same connection in the photos of Finn and his girlfriends.

He hadn’t found it.

What that meant, Joshua didn’t know. That all Finn’s relationships had been facades? That Aunt Ruth had been right and he’d dived into the closet for the sake of his career? He didn’t know what to make of a man who’d use people like that and couldn’t quite believe it of Finn. Not that it mattered, of course. Finn had had every opportunity to return to Joshua and he never had. Clearly, he never would. And yet...

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