Under My Umbrella

Chapter Six

Shane doesn’t come back straight away. It’s a good thing I pocketed a key to his room.

When he eventually strides in a few minutes after me, he’s got a huge smile on his face like this is all some big joke.

“Glad you think it’s funny.” I glare at him.

He maintains his smile. “Well, you have to admit that.”

“It was a disaster.” I stare down at my feet.  “I never should have listened to you. I was doing fine on my own.”

“Really?” He lifts his eyebrows. “You wouldn’t have even seen Rob if it wasn’t for me.”

My face flushes. How dare he say that? Of course I would. He was obviously going to call me back and we would have gone for that coffee and my idea would have worked.

Now we’re stuck. Claire hates me and there’s not much chance of Rob speaking to me again.

“Anyway,” Shane continues, “I think it was working.”

I blink a few times. “Sarah kicked me out of there and Claire looked like she wanted to burn me at the stake. How exactly is that working?”

“Wasn’t that the plan? To get Claire to hate you?”

“It was your plan,” I scoff.

“And what do you think she and Rob are going to talk about when they get home tonight? There’s clearly still something between you and him.”

“No, there isn’t.”

“Just because he’s with Claire and did a good job of pretending he wasn’t interested doesn’t mean there’s nothing there. What happened between you two, anyway? Why did you break up?”

“What about you and Sarah?” I retort.

“Me and Sarah?” he repeats without flinching.

“Oh, come on.” I roll my eyes. “You don’t think she chucked me out just because of Claire, do you?”

His jaw tightens. “It’s nothing.”

I shake my head. “I can’t believe I listened to you. Look at me!” My fingers fly to my ruined blouse.

“You look amazing.” Shane steps closer. “Rob must have noticed that, too.” He lowers his head towards mine, and I take a step back.

“I have a boyfriend,” I blurt out.

“A boyfriend?” Shane straightens up. “Where’d you meet him? Pilot school?”

As much as I cringe at the memory of the whole pilot incident, the joke softens the thick atmosphere, and I let out a breath.

“What’s his name?” he asks.

“Carter.”

“Carter?” Shane chuckles. “American, I presume?”

“Yeah, so what?”

He shrugs. “How come you’ve never mentioned him before?”

“I didn’t know I had to.”

“Well, you haven’t called him since you’ve been here. Can’t be that serious.”

“Actually, it is serious.” I reach for my phone. “He said he loves me.”

Shane studies my face for a moment. “But you don’t love him back? Is that what you’re running away from?”

“I never said I was running away from anything.”