Free The Secret Life of Ceecee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain Page A

granted.”
    “I don’t want to pretend I’m interested in someone else,” she said. “I just want Tim.”
    She was surprised when tears filled her eyes. It was easy to imagine how she would feel if she lost him, because that was currently her biggest worry. How were they going to continue their relationship with him in hiding? She’d raised the issue a few times since their meeting with Marty, and each time he would hold her close, reassuring her that they would work it out.
    “It’s too good between us to just throw it away,” he’d say. If she pressured him for details, he’d get annoyed. “I don’t know the specifics, CeeCee. I don’t even know where I’m going to end up yet. You’ll just have to trust me on this.” She did trust him, but she’d never been comfortable with uncertainty.
    He told her that the breakup had to be public. “Did you take drama in high school?” he asked one night as he drove her home after a movie.
    She shook her head. “Did you?”
    “Yes,” he said. “So I figure, I’ll pretend I’m really pissed at you for something.” He glanced at her with his full-lipped smile. “I can’t imagine what you could do to piss me off, though.”
    “I told Ronnie I thought you were interested in someone else.”
    “Brilliant!” He nodded appreciatively. “Except it makes me look like a shithead. I want the breakup to be your fault.”
    “Uh-uh,” she said with a smile. “It’s got to be yours.”
    “Okay,” he said. “I’ve already asked enough of you, so I’ll take the heat. We’ll make it my fault. An old girlfriend’s come back into my life and being a typical male asshole, I’m leaving you for her.”
    “What’s she like?”
    “She looks kind of like Telly Savalas, but she has some kind of hold on me,” he said.
    “What?” CeeCee laughed.
    “She can be moody, too,” Tim continued. “And she’s hard to get, so I’ve always been intrigued with her. So, now that she wants me, I just can’t help myself.”
    He seemed so absorbed with the fantasy that CeeCee felt uncomfortable. “This is all made up, right?”
    “Oh, babe, do you think I could ever leave you?” Was there a trace of annoyance in the question? She was afraid she was starting to sound as insecure as she felt. “No other woman compares to you,” he said. “You’ve got the world’s most amazing hair and you’re smart and you’ve organized my entire house and won my brother over. Plus, you’re dynamite in bed.”
    She blushed at that. She was not dynamite in bed; she’d still not had an orgasm with him inside her. Maybe she didn’t move enough or something. His fictional girlfriend was probably multiorgasmic. No wonder he wanted to go back to her. In her imagination, she named her Willa.
     

    As planned, Tim came to the coffee shop two weeks before Thanksgiving. Instead of sitting in his booth, he asked CeeCee to walk outside with him. He looked appropriately troubled.
    Ronnie was headed for the kitchen, and CeeCee caught her arm. “Tim wants to talk to me in private,” she whispered. “Could you cover my tables for a few minutes?”
    Ronnie glanced at Tim. “What’s going on?” she asked.
    “I don’t know.” CeeCee shrugged. “Nothing, I hope.”
    “Go ahead,” Ronnie said. “I’ll cover.”
    She and Tim walked outside and stood on the sidewalk by the coffee-shop windows. Students walked past them in either direction, crowding them, brushing up against them, but they held their ground. This was to be a show, primarily for Ronnie’s sake.
    “Just remember I love you,” he began.
    She nodded. The sunlight gave him a halo of golden curls. She wanted to touch him but kept her arms folded rigidly across her chest.
    “My old girlfriend’s come back,” he said. “And she made me realize that I was never really in love with you. I’m sorry. I need to break up with you.”
    “I knew it!” She stomped her foot on the sidewalk. “I knew there was someone else.”
    Tim