Searching for Hailey Bradshaw

Chapter 18

Hailey wasn't sure what happened to the weekend. Hugh stayed with her most of Saturday and made her tell him the entire Daniel story.

But as soon as she spilled all, he merely gaped and said, "Why didn't you just tell him the truth, Hailey? Geez."

She glared in return. "Does the name Jeremy mean anything to you?"

Hugh shook his head. "What does that loser have to do with any of this?"

Closing her eyes Hailey pressed a hand to her achy head. "Daniel's brother made some comment once about Daniel and a pair of twins."

"Oh," Hugh said, his voice turning frosty and his eyes hard. "He's one of those, is he?"

"Actually, I don't think so. But at first I wasn't sure and that's one of the reasons I didn't rush to tell him everything. After I finally realized he liked me for me, then it was pretty much too late. I really liked him and I didn't want him to know I'd lied because I knew he'd dump me like yesterday's garbage if he found out."

Hugh merely shook his head in disbelief. "But you had to know he'd find out eventually."

Hailey sighed. "Yeah, I knew I couldn't keep it a secret forever," she confessed. "But I thought—I don't know—I guess I thought if I had a little more time to secure his feelings for me, he'd be able to forgive me when he found out."

Hugh was quiet for a moment. Finally, he sent her a sympathetic look and said, "Guess that didn't work out so well, huh?"

"No," Hailey murmured quietly. "I guess not."

***

A couple of minutes after Hugh left her, Sasha came in the door, looking apologetic. She bit her lip as she peeked her head around the entrance and asked, "Are you still mad at Tony for what he did last night?"

For a moment, Hailey couldn't even remember Tony's taunting questions the evening before. Then she recalled the way he'd said, "What was your youngster sister's name again," her eyes welled.

"No," she told her roommate as she hugged her 'Hailey' pillow to her chest. "It doesn't matter anyway."

"Why?" Sasha asked, coming fully into the room now. Seeing the moisture on Hailey's cheeks, she asked, "What happened?"

"Daniel knows who I really am."

Eyes widening, Sasha sat on the edge of Hailey's bed. "Oh, wow. You told him?"

More tears clogged Hailey's lashes. "No," she sobbed. "He found out on his own."

After Hailey filled her roommate in on what had happened since the last time they'd seen each other, Sasha tried to cheer her up. But Hailey felt too lousy to accept any kind of sympathy, especially since she didn't deserve it.

So, Hailey sent Sasha off to be with Tony and she spent the rest of the weekend moping alone. She would've liked to continue with her mourning through the rest of the month, but a broken heart wouldn't pass her through school.

Dragging herself out of bed Monday morning, Hailey attended classes, not paying attention to anything her professors said all day. That evening, Tony and Sasha invaded her room, thinking she needed company. But the way they looked at each other every other second had Hailey wanting to escape.

"I'm going to head down to the cafeteria and get some supper," she announced, though she was sure all she'd do was push her food around and not eat anything just like she'd done at lunch.

She'd barely reached the second floor landing and was about to descend when a call from above came. "Hey, Bradshaw!"

Immediately knowing whose voice it was, she stopped, fisted her hands and turn to stare mutely up at Fisher as he descended the stairs.