Page 13 of While You're There
“Way to pile on, guys,” Tori muttered as she crossed her arms and leaned back against the drink station.
Jake widened his stance and matched her posture, crossing his large arms across his chest as he assessed her up and down. “Baby, you don’t get it. That, or you’re doing a hell of a job pretending not to get it. Fielding has been asking me about you every day for the last two weeks. I keep assuring him that you’re fine, just busy. I haven’t said a damn thing about Rhett or the wedding. But at this point, I’m just straight up lying to him for you, and I’m sick of it. I’m done. If you don’t want to be friends with him anymore, that’s fine. But I do. So you…”
“Of course I want to be friends with him!” she shot back.
“Then act like a friend. He deserves to know what’s going on.”
“He’s right, Tor. He deserves to know what’s going on,” Lia echoed. “At this point, not telling him is the same as lying about it. Do it here so he can’t freak out on you.”
Tori raised her eyebrows in defiance. “Why would he freak out on me?”
Jake and Lia said nothing, but they both gave her knowing looks. There was no way Fielding wasn’t going to react to the news, and she sincerely doubted his first response would be one of congratulations. Tori had been clear from the beginning that she only wanted to be friends with Fielding, and he had taken that in stride. But that didn’t stop him from flirting and jokingly declaring his love for her on a regular basis.
“You guys were hanging out multiple days a week for the last two months, baby. And you and Rhett weren’t together during any of that time. He doesn’t know anything about your relationship over the last ten years. I agree with Lia: do it here. That way, I can make sure he keeps his cool and gets home safe tonight.”
Tori felt a wave of nausea rise from her stomach to her throat. Did Jake really think Fielding was going to reactthatpoorly? Not for the first time in the last two weeks, she wondered what the hell she was supposed to even say to Fielding about her fiancé.
“Order up!”
She spun on her heel and grabbed her food before making her way to the bar. She didn’t glance up when Lia and Jake both brushed past her, Lia heading to check the tables in the dining room and Jake taking his position back behind the bar.
Fielding’s eyes lit up as she approached. “You ordered me fries?” He didn’t wait for Tori to reply before grabbing a handful and shoving them in his mouth.
“I actually ordered fries for Jake, but I’m sure he doesn’t mind sharing,” she teased. She didn’t dare glance over at her fiancé’s best friend, but she could feel his eyes boring into her. “So…” she started, scraping her fork against a piece of spinach, hoping the right words would just come to her if she stared at her salad long enough.
Fielding glanced between Tori and Jake as he reached over to snag more fries. “When will you guys know your schedules for Memorial Day weekend? We’re going to open up the pool at my mom’s house that weekend. Dem and I want to have everybody over.”
Tori eyebrows shot up. He had just given her the perfect opening. Technically, they already knew their work schedules that weekend: Rhett had called Mike as soon as they picked a wedding date to make sure Jake, Lia, and Cory could all be off at the same time. Once Mike knew why half his staff needed time off, he made the decision to close Clinton’s for the entire weekend. Rhett said it was Mike’s idea, and she hadn’t asked if Rhett offered to buy out the restaurant for those three days. She just let him handle it, grateful that all their friends plus their boss would get to celebrate with them.
“We have plans that whole weekend,” Jake answered from behind the bar.
Shit. She was up.
“Fielding, I have to tell you something.” He turned to her and reached across her plate for a few more fries. “Rhett and I are engaged, and we’re getting married Memorial Day weekend.”
Fielding froze in place, two fries dangling a few inches from his mouth. A small blob of ketchup dripped onto the bar as he held the food suspended in the air.
“I know it probably seems unexpected,” Tori gushed, not wanting to sit in the awkwardness of his reaction, “but after Rhett came home a few weeks ago, everything clicked. We’ve dated for years, we just weren’t open about our relationship some of the time, so even though it didn’t seem like anything was going on…”
Fielding interrupted her rambling. “You got engaged after you got that call at my house?”
“No, not right after. We got engaged that weekend…”
“When?”
“What? What do you mean when?”
“What day did you get engaged, Tori?”
She had to think for a minute. Everything had been happening so fast, it felt like the days blended into each other. “Friday,” she finally concluded.
“So two days after you had a panic attack at my house”—Fielding nodded in a show of understanding—“one day after I spent all morning and afternoon with you so you wouldn’t have to be alone,” he confirmed. His face was expressionless, but she didn’t need to see the emotions on his face to hear the hurt in his words.
Fielding lifted a hand to the back of his neck, scowled at her, then nodded toward Jake. “And you knew all this?”
Jake had remained unmoving during their exchange, his big arms crossed in front of his chest as he leaned against the ice machine. He didn’t respond to Fielding’s question, but his lack of denial was confirmation enough.
“Fan-fucking-tastic,” Fielding muttered under his breath. He swiveled his barstool to face her again. “You told me you didn’t date, and I believed you. I respected what you said, Tori. Now you’reengaged? How do you go from not dating to being freakin’ engaged?That’swhy I haven’t heard from you these last two weeks, isn’t it? So what was I then? A placeholder? A distraction? A plaything while Wheeler was away? I’m the last to know, aren’t I?”
