The Escape Collection: (The Escape Collection) (19 page)

“Of course.” A chill ran through me, but it had nothing to do with the temperature. When he had everything set out, I plopped onto the blanket and looked up at him, trying to figure out what was going through his head.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on with you.” I leaned back on my arms and tilted my head to examine him. “What’s gotten into you? I’ve never seen you like this before.”

“Like what?”

“So risky,” I said. “Isn’t it completely against school policies to be having a romantic picnic on school grounds?”

William joined me on the blanket and started to spread out the contents of the lunch. “I told you. It’s completely innocent and aboveboard.” He winked at me and gave me a little smile. “Besides, can’t I surprise my best girl with lunch?”

 
If William wasn’t worried about breaking any rules, I probably shouldn’t be either, I decided. There’d be plenty of time to worry about the state of our relationship later. “Of course you can,” I said and tried to smile.
 

“Good.” He handed me half of a sandwich and I took a bite so he wouldn’t be able to read my face. If I really was as readable as Reid said I was, I didn’t want my uncertainty affecting William’s mood. “I know it’s not much,” William said. “Lunch, I mean. But I just couldn’t wait another day to do it.”

I swallowed hard, the sense of foreboding coming back in a flood. “Do what?” I asked the question slowly.

“Well.” He paused for dramatic effect and I tried not to roll my eyes. “Now that your career is coming together, I thought maybe we should start planning the next steps.”

“The next steps?”

“Of course,” William said as if I had any clue what he was talking about. “If you’re going to be at Glenmore Academy full-time, you can’t continue on as you are. And besides that, I really don’t think the board is going to like it anyway—”

“William, it’s not a—”

He held up his hand, cutting me off. “It is a big deal, Whitney. I don’t think you appreciate the gravity of living with a man out of wedlock.”

I dropped my sandwich to my lap. “It’s not like we’re a couple,” I said. “He’s my roommate. We’re not sleeping together.” A million thoughts and feelings flooded through me as I spoke, including wondering exactly what it might be like to sleep with Reid. A flush of heat ran through me and I immediately pushed the thought from my head as fast as it’d popped in.

“I should hope not,” William said. He shot me a look before continuing with what was obviously a rehearsed speech. “But that’s the whole point, Whitney. The board isn’t going to like it regardless, which is why I told Principal Brantford I was looking at rings and your situation would be completely changing soon, so it was important for the board not to put too much stock into your current—”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Well, obviously he couldn’t discuss anything with me.” William waved his hand. “Confidentiality and all that. But I told him—”

“Rings?” I looked down and suddenly the warm sun wasn’t enough. I couldn’t stop the chills that ran through my body. “As in—”

 
“As in, I have the perfect plan.”

“Plan?”

“I think we should talk about the future and taking the next logical step together,” he continued, completely oblivious of my confusion and growing panic.

“Together?”

“Whitney, would you stop repeating everything back to me?” William put his own sandwich down and reached for my hand. “I’ve been looking at rings, and—”

“Rings?” I repeated before I could stop myself.

William didn’t say anything, merely cocked an eyebrow in my direction.

“Yes, rings,” he said with a smile. “It’s the next logical step for us, don’t you think?”

Logical wasn’t the word that came to mind. I closed my eyes, trying to give myself a moment to think. If that had been a proposal, it was the worst proposal in history. If it wasn’t a proposal, then what the hell was it? A million thoughts flew through my head. Marriage? To William? To Italian every Friday night? Khakis and perfectly pressed shirts? Every day?

I opened my eyes and stared at him. Could I picture myself with William everyday for the rest of my life? Unwillingly, my thoughts flipped to Reid and the way he made me laugh, how I never knew what he would say, but it was always just the right thing, how he knew about my mother and didn’t care.
 

William reached out and rubbed my arms with his hands. He was warm and the heat from him penetrated my skin but it wasn’t enough to stop the shaking. “You’re cold, Whitney. Do you want my sweater?”

I shook my head no, but he took his sweater off and draped it over my shoulders anyway. I still couldn’t say anything. “Whitney?” I hadn’t noticed William moving around the blanket so he was sitting directly in front of me. He took my hand again and held it in his. I pulled it back, sitting on it to keep him from getting it again. If he couldn’t hold my hand, he couldn’t ask me to marry him. And then I wouldn’t have to tell him no because how could I marry him when I’d just been comparing him to another man. And more than that, I couldn’t be sure how they compared. William represented security, stability, and reliability. Everything that was important for a safe future. But Reid was fun and unpredictable and passionate about life. He made me laugh and more than that, Reid knew things about me that no one else did. I stared at William and didn’t bother trying to hide my facial expressions. Whatever was written all over my face, he needed to see it.
 

But if William saw something in my expression, he didn’t let on. “Don’t you think it’s perfect, Whitney? I mean, we’re perfect.”

“No,” I said and scooted back on the blanket. I needed distance. I needed to think. I needed space. Right away. “I mean, I don’t know.”

“What’s not to know? Together we’re perfect.”

There was that word again. William was perfect. On paper, he was everything I should want, everything I’d ever looked for in a man.
 

“There’s just a lot going on right now with Grams and everything and—”
 

“Grams? What’s going on with your grandmother? I thought she liked it in her new home.”
 

I stopped and shook my head. Had I really not told him about Grams? Was the fact that my boyfriend didn’t know anything about my grandmother dying a telling sign? Shouldn’t he know? Shouldn’t I want him to know? I dropped my head in my hands for a moment before looking up. “It doesn’t matter,” I said. And it didn’t. William knowing about Grams wasn’t going to change a thing at that moment.

“Whitney, have some dessert.” William handed me a plastic container. “I got your favorite brownies.”
 

He knew my favorite brownies. That had to count for something. I looked inside at the white chocolate macadamia nut brownies, chose one and jammed it in my mouth. I used the time chewing to calm down and pull my thoughts together. He was predictable if nothing else, I thought. And reliable. I looked at William, who was staring at me thoughtfully. I knew I could count on him. And that was important. There had only been one other person in my life who’d I’d ever been able to count on before.

“We don’t have to rush it,” William said. “But I know a place that has some deals on diamonds.”

The brownie became chalky and dry in my mouth and I forced myself to swallow it down. “Okay,” I heard myself say.
 

“Okay?”

The hope and excitement was written so clearly on his face that I instantly felt guilty. I knew I wasn’t saying yes for the best reasons, but they were good reasons, and that had to count for something.

“Yes,” I said. “We can start considering the next steps. But William,” I added quickly before I changed my mind, “I don’t want to rush it. I don’t think I’m ready to look at rings.”
 

I saw his face fall, but he regained his composure so quickly I couldn’t be sure it’d happened.
 

“Whitney, we have to think reasonably. We should tell everyone.”

“Not yet,” I said. “I agreed to consider the next steps.” I knew I was stalling, but I couldn’t stop myself. “And you can’t seriously think that was a proposal?” I forced a smile and a teasing tap on his arm. “You’ll have to do better than that,” I said.

His face transformed into a knowing smile. “Okay,” he said, nodding slowly. “I think I get it.”
 

I looked at my hands, which were twisting a corner of the blanket into a tight spiral. I tried to take a deep breath, but I couldn’t seem to fill my lungs with the air they needed. And when he reached over and pulled me tightly, mumbling how happy he was into my hair, I should have pushed away. I should’ve gotten up, run back to the classroom and took my chances with the future. But in that moment, despite the feeling that I’d just done the wrong thing, I closed my eyes and just for a moment, I let everything be easy.

***

Reid had only been home a few minutes, long enough to flop on the couch and turn on the TV in an effort to distract him from his day, when there was a knock on the door. He thought a moment about ignoring it. Surely whoever it was would go away if he pretended he wasn’t home.
 

“I know you’re in there,” a female voice called.
 

Reid sat up and listened.
 

“Open up or I’ll be forced to kick the door in,” the voice demanded.
 

Reid’s lips turned up into a half smile. And just like that, the appeal of mindless TV had taken a backseat to whatever drama was waiting for him on the front porch. By the sounds of things, it would be an interesting distraction.
 

He opened the door and immediately stepped to the side as a petite, spiky-haired blond pushed past him. “Where’s Whitney? Is she home yet? Because I have to talk to her. She should be home by now, unless she stopped somewhere. But she called me when she left the school and it only takes a—” She stopped and smiled at Reid as if noticing him for the first time. “You must be the roommate.”
 

“The one and only.” Reid offered her an awkward bow. “And you,” he said, giving her a smile, “must be Kat.”
 

She tilted her head and gave him a smile that she had to know was deadly. “Of course I am,” she said. “Who else would I be?”
 

“Who else indeed.” Reid shook his head at the energy that was Whitney’s best friend and moved to close the door. Whitney’d told him all about Kat, and based on first impressions alone, it was a pretty accurate description.
 

“I take it our girl’s not home yet?” Without waiting for an answer, Kat dropped to the couch and made herself comfortable.
 

“Not yet. Did you want a drink, or anything to eat? I was about to start cooking if you want to stay for dinner?”
 

Kat eyed him suspiciously over the magazine she’d picked up. “That’s right,” she said slowly. “Whit mentioned you cooked. Seems like a good deal. As long as you’re good at it.”
 

“I am.” He smirked at her and crossed his arms.

They stared at each other and Reid had the distinct feeling he was being evaluated on some unknown criteria. After a moment, Kat dropped the magazine to her lap and said, “I bet you are.” She smiled and nodded. Evidently, he’d passed the test.
 

“Well, if you want to stay, I’ve got lots. It would be fun,” he said, and meant it. Whitney’s friend seemed a little intense, but she also seemed like a lot of fun and Reid was pretty sure an evening with the two women would be fairly entertaining.
 

“I would,” Kat said. “But I have a dinner meeting with a client. I just popped in to see Whit. She sounded a little worked up on the phone earlier. Thought she might need a drink. Hey,” she said, changing tracks. “You look familiar. Have I seen you around? Where do I know you from?” She crossed her legs and put one perfectly manicured purple fingernail to her lips in thought. “I’m really good with faces…”

He shrugged and leaned up against the wall. “I don’t know. I work in advertising mostly. Writing jingles and that sort of thing. Maybe from there?”
 

She nodded absently, but didn’t look convinced. “Maybe that’s it. I have a few clients who work in commercials locally. That’s probably it. The entertainment industry is actually pretty small.”

Reid’s ears perked up. “Entertainment industry? Like music?”

“Sure. I rep some musicians. A little of this, a little of that.”
 

Before Reid could ask anything more about it, the door swung open and Kat hopped up to greet Whitney.

“Kat? What are you doing here?”

Reid watched while Kat pulled her into a hug. Over her shoulder, Whitney gave him a look he thought might have meant she wanted to be rescued. But he smiled and shook his head, enjoying the interaction.
 

“Let me go, Kat,” she said after a moment when Kat still didn’t release her. “I’m fine,” Whitney insisted. “Really, let me go.” She managed to wiggle out from her friend’s arms. Whitney straightened her shirt. “Seriously. What is up with you?”

Kat held up her hands. “Hey, I thought you might need a hug after the day you’ve had. I’m assuming you had a day. I mean, after that text you sent me. What did it say…oh yes, ‘day from hell.’” Kat tilted her head and put a hand on her hip. “Don’t know about you, but I take that as code for, ‘I need some Kat time. And wine.’” She looked in Reid’s direction. “Wine always helps.” He nodded obediently, and she turned back to Whitney. “So, do you want to tell me what else happened today? I mean, I know you weren’t in the best mood this morning…” Kat’s eyes shifted back and forth as if she was trying to relay something to Whitney with her eyes. Reid didn’t miss the cue.

“I’ll be in the kitchen,” he said. “Sounds like you girls need to talk.”

“You don’t have to—”

“Thanks, Reid—”

The women spoke at the same time. Whitney shrugged elaborately in defeat and slumped onto the couch. Kat turned to face Reid with a bright smile.