Page 65 of Not So Very Sensible

She drew in a steadying breath. “Huh. Well, there you go.”

Katie blinked at her. “There you go? Are you serious? That’s all you’ve got to say?”

Nope. She had a lot more she could say, would like to say, but it probably wasn’t wise. With a Herculean effort, she shrugged and kept her face blank. “I was obviously wrong about him.”

“I’ll say,” Katie muttered, quickly adding, “I mean, we were all wrong about him. Even Jason thought Ethan was really into you.”

“I didn’t know my relationship status—or lack thereof—was of interest to Jason.”

“Of course it is. You’re my sister, so of course he’s interested.”

Huh. That was a surprise.

“You’ve misjudged him.”

Maybe she had. “I’m—I’m glad you are having fun with him.”

“Oh, I am. He’s so sweet and thoughtful.”

“Do you have plans to go out again?”

“He said something about a party this weekend in Sydney. I thought I’d try to stay with Emma-Jane again, so you don’t need to worry.”

“I trust you.”

“Really?”

She nodded.

“Oh!” Katie encased her in a huge hug, toppling her back onto the bed, before laughing as she got up. “Sorry. I forgot you don’t like hugs. But I was just so glad to hear you finally say that.”

“I’m sorry if I–I’ve been judgemental. It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s just I don’t trust a lot of people out there.”

“And with people like Ethan out there, saying one thing then doing another with this Lucinda chick, well, it’s no wonder, is it?”

She forced a weak smile, a pitiful attempt to rein in her emotion. Oh, there was so much to wonder about here. How could she have been such a fool? How could she have been so gullible to have trusted this man? Why hadn’t God given any internal red flag warnings?

Her gaze fell to Katie’s phone, where the image of betrayal stared up at her. Lucinda. She of the perfect pout and overly heavy eyelashes some called eye brooms. Well, now she knew who he’d meant to go to the mountains with. Lucinda was his “friend.” One whom Wayne had known about. One whom everyone must have known about. Then they had seen her with him and must have thought her such a fool!

She wanted to cringe with embarrassment, crawl under the blankets, and not appear for a year. But even that luxury was denied her as Katie kept going on about people who were prejudiced and how easy it was to be manipulated by some men who might have the appearance of goodness but had none within them.

“I’m so sorry, Ellie. I know this must be hard,” Katie sympathised.

She could hear feet coming up the stairs. Her parents must be back from lunch with Jordan Knight’s parents. Oh, she really didn’t need her mother weighing in on this.

“Hello, girls! What’s going on?” She frowned at Ellie. “Why are you looking woebegone?”

She instantly hitched a smile on her dial. “I’m not. I’m tired.”

“Tired of loser guys pretending to be the real deal when they’re not,” Katie said, before launching into what had happened with Ellie’s Ethan. “Obviously he’s not her Ethan, because he’s with this Lucinda chick. They’re engaged!”

“What? And he was leading you on? Oh, Ellie. It’s okay to cry.”

“I’m not crying. I’m fine.”

“Yes, but you’re allowed to admit you’re sad.”

She’d never been one for too much makeup or artifice. She’d done a couple of terms of drama classes back in year eight, and somehow those long-ago skills she’d learned seemed to have prepared her for this moment. She gritted her teeth and smiled. “I’m actually very fine. And look! Isn’t it great that Katie and Jason are getting on so well? I think you should be concentrating all your efforts on this one, Mum. That, and Liv’s wedding,” she added, knowing that was enough to throw her mother off the scent.