Free Lucy Wagner Gets In Shape (A Romantic Comedy) by Claire Matthews Page A

to deliver.
    “ Aaaand ?” She prompts. I’m expecting a shocked gasp, an unhinged jaw. But I’m getting nothing.
    “And I kissed him, Jenny! That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
    “Bitch, please--o f course it was supposed to happen.” The shocked look on my face seems to annoy her. “You are not that blind, Lucy Wagner. You might be in all kinds of denial, but you know that man is in love with you.”
    “Will?”
    “ Will?” She mocks me in a fluttery, high voice. “Of course, Will! Do you not have eyes, or ears, or a freaking brain? That poor doofus has been in love with you for years, and you tease him, and bait him, and string him along…Good lord, how can you possibly sit there and act surprised?”
    “Why are you yelling at me?”
    “Because you are infuriating! Both of you! Do you have any idea how difficult it is to watch the two of you fumble around and fuck up so badly?”
    “What are you talking about?” My voice is high and thin—I sound freaked out. I am freaked out.
    “Lucy. Think about it. You started grad school, what, four years ago, in September…” I nod silently. “By November, Will had broken up with his fiancé, whatshername.”
    “Diana.”
    “Whatever. Why do you think he did that?”
    I swallow hard, and I can feel a trickle of sweat running down my back. When did it get so hot in here? “He didn’t love her. He told me.”
    “Right. He fell out of love with her, because he fell in love with you.”
    I’m already shaking my head. She has this so wrong. “No, Jen, he never loved her. It had nothing to do with me.”
    “Maybe you’re right, maybe he never loved her. But you’re full of shit if you think it had nothing to do with you.” Her eyes are wide and serious. How does she know all of this?
    “Jen…you’ve made all this up in your head. Will’s never shown any interest in me—I mean, not romantically. If he had feelings for me, he would have asked me out after he broke things off with Diana.”
    Jen is silent for a long moment. I can tell she’s choosing her words carefully. “What if he was going to? What if you went out of town, to a wedding, and he spent the whole weekend planning a surprise first date for the two of you--drinks, a romantic dinner, then a few rounds of bowling…” Bowling. Only Will and Jen know of my intense passion for bowling—it’s my secret shame. I feel a sick rumbling in the pit of my stomach.
    “And what if you returned from this wedding, lit up like a top, talking about this wonderful doctor you met, and how beautiful and sexy he was, and how he’d asked you out. How you thought he was the one .” She emphasizes her words with air quotes.
    We’re silent for a long moment. My whole body is numb and tingly. “Did he tell you that?” I finally whisper.
    Jen sighs heavily. “Most of it I pieced together on my own. But yeah, one night, we were at Uncle Charlie’s, and you left early with Corrine—I think you had a paper due the next morning or something. Will and I were at the table, and the way he stared at you as you left…I mean, he was so obviously lovesick . So I asked him. And he was drunk enough to tell me the truth.” She shrugs one shoulder, and I’m suddenly angry.
    “And you tell me this now? Now?” I feel weak with shock. “Jenny, how could you keep this from me?”
    “Luce, he made me promise not to tell. You were with Paul. He was worried it would ruin your friendship. And what good would it have done? Would you have left Paul if you’d known about Will’s feelings?”
    “I…I don’t know.” God, the pain in my stomach is traveling to my head. My emotions are all over the map. Why didn’t he say anything? But what was he supposed to say? Like Jen said, I was with Paul--we were committed, we bought a condo together…
    God. God . I really can’t process this right now. In a bout of uncharacteristic tenderness, Jen places her hand on my arm. “Are you okay? I didn’t mean to upset you, but I