Angels Everywhere - Debbie Macomber [102]
The rest room was several doors down the hall. Jody walked past a number of offices and wondered how many other Christmas parties were going on in the building that night.
She’d just stepped into a cubicle in the ladies’ room when she heard two women.
“You’re sure he’s engaged?” the first voice asked.
“Yes. Lily took a good deal of delight in relaying the details to me.” The second woman sounded shaken and very close to tears.
Jody bit down on her lower lip. Lily was an attorney who worked with Glen. Was it possible the two were referring to Glen and her? She wondered what she should do, or if she should say something.
“Honestly, Maryann, what did you expect Glen to do? You told him in no uncertain terms that you weren’t interested in marriage.”
Maryann. This was the woman Glen had mentioned, the one he’d once loved. Jody squeezed her eyes closed and tried to remember the particulars of his and Maryann’s romance. All she could recall was that Glen was convinced Maryann didn’t love him. Breaking off the relationship had devastated him. It was this common ground of loss in which their own relationship had been rooted.
“I . . . I assumed we could live together,” Maryann told her friend. “Couples do that these days, you know, test the waters to see if they’re compatible. It seemed to be a reasonable thing to do in light of all the divorce cases I’ve handled over the years. Oh, damn,” she said, “I hate it when I cry. Look what it’s doing to my makeup.”
“What are you going to do?”
“About what?”
Maryann’s voice faded and Jody assumed that was because she was studying her reflection in the mirror.
“You aren’t going to let him go ahead with the wedding, are you?”
“How can I stop him?” Maryann asked.
“Tell him the truth.”
Maryann hesitated, and when she spoke Jody could hear her tears. “I don’t even know what the truth is anymore.”
“Tell him you’re in love with him.”
“It’s too late for that. Oh, Shelly, honestly, you’re too much of a romantic to realize love doesn’t automatically fix everything.”
“It does if you’re both willing to work at it,” Maryann’s friend insisted.
Afraid of eavesdropping any longer, Jody walked out of the cubicle. It was then that the two women realized they weren’t alone. Embarrassed, they both avoided looking in Jody’s direction. Taking advantage of their surprise, Jody quietly slipped out of the rest room.
She returned to her office, walking past the merrymakers, needing some time alone to absorb what she’d learned. Sitting at her desk, she closed her eyes and tried to reason out what she should do.
The answer should have been far less complex than she was making it. Her sense of fairness said she needed to break off the engagement and explain what she’d heard to Glen. It was an ironic twist that in all the time she’d worked in the building she would meet Maryann now and overhear the conversation she had.
Yet there was a part of her that yearned to give her son the father he longed for, the man who would gently guide him through life. Timmy enjoyed Glen’s company so very much. Her son had never been happier than the last few weeks when she’d been dating the attorney.
The real question was if Jody had it in her to grab hold of happiness, however limited, at the expense of another. Having placed the question in that frame, she knew instantly that she had no choice.
“I thought I saw you,” Glen said, stepping into the small office. “What are you doing back here?”
Jody looked up from her desk and blinked, surprised to see him.
“What’s wrong?” Glen asked. He was a gentle, sensitive man, Jody realized, and she was going to miss him dreadfully. But not nearly as much as Timmy would.
“Sit down,” Jody said.
“Jody?” His eyes held hers as he sat.
She stared down at her hand and the beautiful diamond. Before she could find an excuse, she slipped the ring from her finger. “I should never