Page 84 of Yours To Hold
“What are you doing here?” I blurt out.
“Me? I should ask you the same thing?”
Gemma is horrified.
“I…” I glance back at Mason, not knowing what to say or do.
The one rule we had about this thing between us is that Gemma wouldn’t find out.
And we just blew it wide open.
The nurse comes into the waiting room. “Mr. Winchester. If you’d like, you can see Willow now.”
Mason looks between the three of us, not knowing what to do.
“Go see Willow.” Squeezing his arm, I try to send him with the nurse.
His eyes dip down to meet mine. Worry is written across his face.
“I don’t want to leave you to deal with this,” he whispers, but not soft enough.
“Maybe if one of you told me what was going on…”
I turn back to Gemma. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so mad before. Steam is practically shooting out of her ears.
“Give Willow this. I guess I don’t need to see her since Ivy is here.” She shoves the stuffed animal at Mason and leaves.
As much as I want to be here for Mason, I can’t right now. I don’t know what is spinning through Gemma’s mind, and I don’t want her to leave.
“Go be with your daughter. She needs you more than I do.” I give him a sad smile.
“Will you be okay?” He nods at the door Gemma just left through.
“We’ll be fine.” I hope. “Just go.”
Mason nods once before following the nurse. I run out the door after my oldest friend. I can’t let her leave without talking to her.
“Gemma! Wait up!” She’s in the parking lot by the time I find her. When she turns to face me, tears sting her eyes.
“Were you ever going to tell me? Just having a laugh when I said to have a summer fling and you found the first guy you could?”
“Gemma. It’s not like that.”
She scoffs. “It certainly feels like that. You lied to me, Ivy.”
I wince at her words. I know I lied. But it’s not like I wanted to. Gemma is reacting exactly how I thought she would if she found out about us.
“We didn’t want to tell you because I knew you’d be upset.”
“No shit. You lied to me and then I had to find out when my niece is in the hospital! You should have told me, Ivy.”
“And have you hate me because I’ve been sleeping with your brother?”
Her hands fly to her ears. “I don’t want to hear that! You know how bad it got with Avery,” she hisses. “You were the only person that was there for me.”
“What, so you really think I’m going to cut you out of my life if your brother dumps me?”
This time, Gemma just looks sad. “Yes. This is a small town, Ivy. It’s not like you wouldn’t bump into each other all the time. I don’t want to be a painful reminder of what you don’t have.”
