notes and then smiled brightly. “Everything looks good. I believe the doctors are planning to release you in the morning.”
“That’s good news,” Terri replied.
As the nurse left the room, Lucas moved to stand next to Terri. “How are you?” he asked.
“Fine,” she replied. “But I can’t stay for too long. Thomas needs picking up from a friend’s house soon.”
“I can send a car,” Lucas offered.
She shook her head. “I want to pick him up. We have some of our best conversations when we’re driving around town. He gets carsick if he tries to play on his phone when I’m driving, so he has no choice but to talk to me.”
“Of course your son is more important to you than I am,” Mrs. Hogan said. “You go and see to him. It was nice meeting you. I hope to see you again soon.”
Terri felt as if she’d been dismissed. Flushing, she got to her feet. “I’m glad you’re recovering,” she said. “It was nice meeting you, too.”
“We need to talk,” Lucas said as he walked toward the door with her. “Can I come over later?”
“As long as it isn’t too late. I have to work tomorrow.”
“I’ll be there before seven,” he promised.
Terri gave Mrs. Hogan a small wave on her way out. She focused all of her energy on driving home safely. Once in the garage, she pounded her fists on the steering wheel.
“Why does he keep lying to me?” she demanded loudly. “I can’t trust a single thing he says.”
“It sounds as if his mother taught him to lie from an early age,” Camille suggested when Terri called her.
“That doesn’t make it right.”
“No, of course not.”
“Why doesn’t he want me to know that his mother is fine?”
“Because he wants to continue with the fake engagement?”
“But why would he want to do that?”
“You really should ask him that.”
“Except that would mean admitting that I overheard the conversation. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I was planning to end things before I found out. I can’t lose my heart to a man who can lie as easily as that.”
She went back out to pick up Thomas a short time later. When they got back to the house, there was a limousine parked at the curb.
“It looks like you have a visitor,” Thomas said.
Terri sighed. “This is going to be awkward.”
“Why?”
“I’m going to end the engagement.”
“You are? Why?”
“It’s just not working out,” Terri told him. “I don’t like living a lie.”
“What about my college fund?”
“Don’t worry about that.”
In the house, Thomas assembled a snack and headed for his room. Terri paced back and forth while she waited for Lucas to ring the doorbell. Her heart skipped a beat when the bell rang a moment later.
“Hello,” she said softly.
“Hello,” he replied.
“Come in.” She stepped backward to let him into the house.
“I can’t stay long. I promised my mother that I’d come and stay with her again tonight.”
“She didn’t look very sick,” Terri said, staring hard at Lucas.
He flushed and looked down at the ground. “She’s leaving tomorrow. I can’t leave her alone tonight.”
“What did you want to talk about, then?” she asked as she sat down in the chair.
Lucas sat on the couch and sighed. “We need to start planning a wedding,” he said. “My mother wants to see me married before she dies.”
Terri stared at him for a minute and then slowly shook her head. “I’m not marrying you,” she said flatly. “In fact, I’m tired of this whole charade.” She pulled the ring off her finger and held it out to him.
“You’re breaking our engagement.” The words sounded like a statement, not a question.
“I think that’s for the best,” Terri replied.
“Why?” he asked as he took the ring from her.
“I’m tired of living a lie,” she told him.
He stared into her eyes for what felt like a very long time. “I see,” he said finally. “Mother will be devastated.”
“Don’t tell her,” Terri suggested. “She’s leaving tomorrow anyway. You can even tell her that you’re planning a wedding. Tell her that we’re getting married on Valentine’s Day. That’s far enough into the future, isn’t it? You said she wasn’t going to make it to the new year.”
He shrugged. “People will notice you aren’t wearing the ring and assume we’ve split. Eventually, it will hit the papers and Mother will find out.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Could you keep wearing the ring for a while longer?” he asked. “I’m going to take my mother home and get her settled. You can’t come along because you have to work, of course.