“Is that so? What’s the matter?”

“Are you done with work? Are you alone?” Amy asked.

“I stayed late to finish some charting, but I’m the only one here. I’m just about ready to leave.”

“I want you to hear this from me because you’re going to hear it eventually. Ted and Lindsey are officially engaged.”

Peyton felt as though the wind had been knocked out of her. In fact, the news threw her back in the chair. When she found her voice, all she could say was, “That took hold awfully quickly. Last I heard, they were barely dating.”

“That’s what I thought,” Amy said. “As far as I knew, it was a few weeks ago they started dating. Lindsey made sure everyone in the office knew of her status.”

Ted was forty-two—a seventeen-year age difference. Men did that sort of thing all the time. In their three years together, Peyton had not been engaged to Ted. Of course, he’d talked about making it official. She had been the one with major concerns about that, given his tumultuous home life. “I bet she’s in heaven,” Peyton said.

“She’s pregnant,” Amy informed her, taking a deep and shaky breath.

Peyton was really speechless now. The last thing Ted needed was another child to virtually ignore. But he probably needed a babysitter more. “Well, they certainly didn’t waste any time...”

“Three months pregnant,” Amy added.

“God.”

“I’m afraid so, Peyton. I’m sorry. I hate to tell you but I knew that eventually...”

“He’s a dog,” she whispered. “I’ve been out of his house for less than six weeks!”

“I know. He’s a dog. He’s also my boss,” Amy said.

Peyton sighed, lowering her head to her hand. “I learned as I was leaving that Ted had been seeing her while I was still in his life. It was a blow—the one thing I didn’t expect, yet probably should have. I fooled myself that it had been very recent but... You know I won’t say anything. In fact, I will say nothing to him, ever again. You must believe me, Amy, I had absolutely no idea they were involved until the day I left. I wouldn’t have stayed with him a day past knowing he was cheating.”

“I know, Peyton.”

And then something occurred to her, and it was very painful. “Did everyone else know? Were they the talk of the office while I was working my ass off in the practice and taking care of his family and sleeping with him at the home we shared? Were they?”

“There was some chatter about flirting going on, but I didn’t actually hear anything substantial. You know I would have told you, horrible though that would have been for both of us. I saw her flirting, and I warned her that was unprofessional and might not go the way she hoped.”

Peyton gave a hollow laugh. “Shows what you know.”

“I’m appalled,” Amy said. “Appalled and angry and embarrassed for him. And if I had a daughter who acted like that, it would be hard not to slap her.”

“I can hardly criticize,” Peyton said. “I flirted with him. I hope I kept it well away from our working environment, but I don’t know—I was very taken with him. Though, to my knowledge, he wasn’t committed elsewhere at the time. Ted has a lot of faults, but I never suspected him of cheating. And I’m having a hard time believing he’s fool enough to get someone pregnant.”

“I know. Me, too,” Amy said. “Sometimes he’s a little hard to take, but he has admirable qualities or I wouldn’t have worked with him for so long. Listen, I know it doesn’t feel so at the moment, but I think you’re lucky things didn’t work out for you with Ted. He has shown his true colors.”

“Makes one a bit curious, doesn’t it?” Peyton asked. “What if I had wanted to stay? To try again? Would he have come to me to explain about this new baby on the way? Or would he have told me it was time for me to go? Because I left him. And not because I suspected him of cheating.”

“I can’t even speculate. But he’s in his forties, saddled with some very large alimony and child support, three intolerable kids whom he seems to avoid, though they spend the majority of their time in his home, and I can’t imagine him with another one. I think she tricked him. I think she planned it. She’s a silly little thing. And lazy.”

“This explains so much,” Peyton said. “When I told Ted I couldn’t live in his house anymore, he dismissed me from the practice. He mentioned giving Lindsey my job, and that’s when I knew. Up to that moment I thought my biggest problem was how to handle his children. I never suspected another woman. Do you suppose there were more?”

“I never suspected anyone, Peyton,” Amy said. “But I find this horrifying. You’re better off.”

Dear Amy, Peyton thought. She was quiet for a moment. “My mother would call it a lesson hard learned. She always said those were the most enduring lessons. What a fool I am.”

“Oh, please,” Amy said. “He’s an unfaithful ass and you call yourself the fool?”

“Don’t women usually know?”

“Not always. Obviously!”

“You’re just biased.”

“I’m sorry this happened, Peyton,” she said. “And I believe he’s going to regret this. He can’t replace you, you know. And he surely can’t replace you with her!”

As much as Peyton wished to hear Amy rant about the injustice of it all, the nastiness of Ted and Lindsey’s behavior, she had to end the call so she could think. She was so grateful to be alone, but then Amy was smart enough to know it was likely after hours in the clinic. She had asked before unleashing this bit of news. And all Peyton could think was, I must have been blind, deaf and stupid!

Her eyes burned, and she felt the tears come, though she wished she wouldn’t cry over him. She was done with him, after all. Once he’d severed their relationship and told her he was moving on, that he had started something with this pert young nurse, she was done. But pregnant? Engaged? She’d been completely unprepared for that. What she had learned to expect was that Ted would replace her because he had needs—he needed a woman, he needed a housemate, he needed a babysitter, he needed an assistant.

And Peyton needed three years of her life back. Three years of her life during which she had accomplished nothing and at a very high cost.