Part 15 (2/2)

I shook my head.

He scratched his eyebrow, and then gestured toward the enormous terrace. ”Want to talk outside?”

I nodded. ”I've heard the view is amazing, but before I go anywhere I need to empty the canteen.”

”Empty the canteen?”

”Work with me, Jake. I need to pee.”

He laughed. ”You're nuts, did you know that?”

”Believe me, I'm well aware.”

”How about I get our coats and meet you by the door leading to the terrace? It's cold out there.”

I saluted. ”Sounds good.”

I hurried to the restroom. As I washed my hands, I kept one eye on the door, afraid Wendy would walk in at any moment. Next to Gary, she was the last person on earth I wanted to see right then. I looked in the mirror and saw the confusion written all over my face.

Paige's boyfriend is Wendy's husband? What? How can that be?

When I emerged from the restroom, I spotted Wendy in a far corner, chatting with a few people I recognized from promotional posters lining the hallways of NBC. I didn't see Gary. I headed toward the terrace, scanning the crowd for Jake. I was about halfway there when I felt a pull on my arm.

I looked up and saw Gary standing there.

Frick.

”Can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked.

I tried to pull my arm away, but he kept a firm grip on it. ”I'm sort of busy right now.”

”Just let me explain, OK?”

I put my free hand on my hip. ”Explain?”

”I told you, it's complicated.” He glanced around the room.

”I've heard your wife talk about you, Gary. It certainly doesn't sound complicated to me.” I remembered how Wendy had bragged about marrying her high school sweetheart back when I'd first met her on the Today show. Her picture-perfect marriage was the ticket that had taken Love, Wendy from a hit relations.h.i.+p-advice column to a hit TV show, but now it turned out that her picture-perfect husband was sleeping with my friend.

”You don't understand,” he said, still holding my arm.

I yanked my arm away from him. ”I don't think I want to understand, Gary. Now please let go of me.”

As I turned to go, I saw Wendy approaching us.

Oh, G.o.d help me.

”Darling, is everything OK? You two seem to be in quite a tiff over here.” She put her hand on Gary's arm.

I opened my mouth but couldn't think of anything to say.

”It's fine,” Gary said.

”We're fine,” I said, nodding.

Wendy gave me an icy look. ”You sure about that? Several people across the room seem to think otherwise.”

I could feel my face turn the color of my dress.

”Really, it's nothing. Listen, Jake's waiting for me outside, so I really need to go, I'm sorry. Wendy, I'll see you next week, OK?” I turned to Gary and nodded. ”It was nice meeting you.”

Before they could respond, I bolted. I walked as fast as I could toward the terrace, looking desperately for Jake. When I finally spotted him, I nearly broke into a trot.

”Whoa, slow down, girl, what's the rush?” He held out my coat as I approached.

”We need to get out of here. Now.”

”Waverly, what is going on with you tonight?”

”Can we please talk about it later? I just want to go home.”

”OK, OK, we're going.” He helped me put my coat on, and we made our way through the crowd back to the elevator. I kept my head down until the doors closed behind us.

I didn't even say good-bye to Scotty.

a a a ”Wow, that's quite a story. No wonder you were acting so crazy in there,” Jake said.

I pointed my spoon at him. ”See? Sometimes I have a good reason.” We were sitting in a booth at Shake Shack, a popular diner on the corner of Eighth Avenue and Forty-Fourth, eating hot fudge sundaes.

”Only sometimes.”

I shrugged. ”I'll take that. I think Paige is in love with him, Jake. She talks about him all the time, and they're even spending next weekend in Vermont together. This is going to crush her.”

”So you're going to tell her?”

I sighed. ”I don't know. I guess I should, right? I mean, wouldn't you want to know? I would.”

He didn't say anything.

”Well?”

He set his spoon down. ”I don't know, Waverly. His wife is a celebrity. You never know what's going on inside a marriage like that. I see some crazy arrangements with NBA players.”

”Arrangements?”

He nodded. ”A lot of the guys are definitely cheating, but I think an equal number have tacit approval from their wives. For some women, it comes with the territory of being married to someone so high profile.”

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