Say Goodbye (Romantic Suspense #25) - Karen Rose Page 0,172

for Tom have never really been a secret.”

Liza should have realized as much. Her Chicago “big sister,” the woman who’d taken her in after Lindsay’s murder, was insightful. This was one of the reasons she’d finally broken down and called her upon returning to her new apartment from Mercy’s birthday party.

Dana Dupinsky Buchanan had known Liza for seven years and Tom for twenty—ever since he and his mother had escaped his abusive biological father. Dana’s best friend was Tom’s mother, and Dana’s husband was Tom’s hacking mentor.

Dana had both history and perspective, and Liza figured that she’d be able to give her good advice on keeping her relationship with Tom in the friend zone.

Right now Tom needed a friend and Liza was determined to be that for him, even if it hurt her that he didn’t want more. “I’m not sure why I thought I’d be able to keep it from any of you,” she said wearily.

“I’m completely confused by that myself. But it does explain Tom’s behavior lately. He called his mom on Wednesday night and she said he seemed off. Caroline figured it had something to do with you.”

Liza didn’t have the energy to be annoyed. “You’ve been talking about us?”

“Duh.” Dana paused, then asked warmly, “What do you need from me, Liza?”

“I wanted to come clean with you, I guess.” About Tom. About Fritz. But the Fritz news, she held back. Learning that she’d kept that secret would hurt Dana the most. I didn’t even invite her to my wedding. “And to ask for advice. Tom’s in the middle of a really difficult case.”

“We know. Ethan has alerts set up for news stories with his name. We saw him at the crime scene with the two dead police officers. There’s more to it, I know, but we won’t ask.”

“I, um, offered to be here if he needed to talk. Any recommendations for keeping it in the friend zone? We share a lot of friends here. It’s going to be hard for me to avoid him.”

“That sucks, kiddo. I’ve never been in your shoes, but I have been in Tom’s.”

Liza was surprised at that. “Who?”

“I don’t want to name names, because all that’s in the past. Suffice it to say, someone I interacted with daily was in love with me for years and I never clued in. Everyone else knew.”

“What happened?”

“I met Ethan and fell head over heels. Told this other guy all about Ethan, not even suspecting that I was basically stabbing him in the heart.”

“I know how that feels. Tom told me about Tory the day he met her.”

“Ouch.” Dana’s wince was audible. “That super sucks. What did you do?”

“Buried my hurt and asked him to tell me about her. What happened with this other guy?”

“After I met Ethan, he moved to another state. Met the sister of one of our friends at a wedding and they hit it off. Been married for years and they have a little boy.”

“So he completely separated himself.”

“For a while. Once he met his wife, he realized that he hadn’t really loved me at all. Who knows? Maybe you’ll meet someone in nursing school or while standing in a supermarket line. But you will meet someone.” She hesitated. “What else is wrong, honey? I can hear it in your voice. Don’t make me get on a plane to see you face-to-face,” she added teasingly.

Liza wasn’t so sure Dana was teasing and suddenly didn’t want her to be. Maybe when she was no longer needed at Sunnyside Oaks, she could get a cheap flight to Chicago. For a hug.

Drawing a deep breath, she told Dana about Fritz. Dana didn’t say a word until she was finished, and then the older woman sighed.

“I’m not going to say I’m not hurt, because I am. But only a little. I get why you avoided telling me. I’m mostly sad that you lost your Fritz. He sounds like he was amazing.”

“He was. He deserved better than me.”

“Do not say that,” Dana said sharply. “He loved you and you cared for him. Would you have cheated on him?”

“Never.” Liza was shocked at the question. “You know I wouldn’t have.”

“Yes, I do know. Another question: If he’d lived and if Tom miraculously had fallen in love with you once you and Fritz had come home, would you have left Fritz?”

Liza considered carefully. “No,” she said, relieved that she believed it with all of her heart. “We would have settled down and had a family. I loved him,