A Glimpse of the Dream by L. A. Fiore Page A

lungs. New girlfriend, what the hell was she talking about? Kane had a new girlfriend? “Doreen?” The name passed my lips before I even really knew I’d meant to say it.
    “Yes. You should see them together. Every weekend they’re inseparable. A lot like how you and he used to be before you got all consumed with school. It’s not surprising that their feelings grew into something more, especially since you seem to have moved on.”
    Pain sliced through me; as much as I wanted to dismiss every word from her mouth as a lie, I couldn’t. Deep down I’d feared this very thing. Yet despite the ache in my chest, I was certain that Kane would have told me if he’d moved on. He’d never leave me adrift.
    “Mrs. Marks and the others went to help get him settled. I’m sorry. I thought you knew, being his best friend and all.”
    Somehow I knew she’d said that on purpose to dig the knife in. It should have hurt, it should have eviscerated me, and there was a part of me shattered at the possibility, but I refused to believe that my Kane would act so selfishly.
    “What are you doing here?” I asked.
    “Collecting their mail.” She tilted her head, surveying me like she would a lost puppy. But it wasn’t pity in her gaze—she was enjoying every second. Turning from her, I started back to the house. “I’ve already brought in the mail, so you can leave.”
    Kane had found someone else. I couldn’t bear to think it, but then, where was everyone? I thought to continue on into town as planned, if for no other reason than to disprove Camille’s hateful lies, but Mrs. Marks and the others rarely socialized in town so the likelihood that someone there knew the details about their impromptu trip was unlikely. I did try calling the boatyard a few times because Mr. Miller, as Kane’s employer, would know Kane’s whereabouts, but as was my luck lately, I wasn’t able to get through to him.
    I returned to Boston and stewed over the conversation with Camille for days. Kane and Doreen had been spending weekends together since September, almost three months. He was an easy guy to like, an even easier guy to love. Entertaining the possibility that Kane had moved on caused a pain so severe it was staggering, but he would have never handled the situation so callously; he was too thoughtful. The realization that something could have befallen Mrs. Marks, Mr. Clancy, or Mrs. T, because they were elderly, made me call the hospital, but none of them had been admitted.
    I honestly didn’t know what to make of the situation. The state of his room bugged me. It had looked like he’d been in the middle of packing, so where the hell was he? I couldn’t deny that Kane was intrigued by Doreen. I knew him well enough to be able to tell by his tone. Remembering Camille’s comment about me having moved on, I wondered if it were possible that Kane felt that way too? Was that why he hadn’t called to tell me that he’d found someone else? Was he pissed and bitter at my believed defection? Was it a coincidence that, after spending many weekends with an adoring Doreen, they had a long weekend together, and then he suddenly stopped calling his fiancée, who rarely took his calls and couldn’t be bothered to come home for Thanksgiving? Or was he feeling guilty?
    He’d told me he was jealous of Simon, that he was going crazy not seeing me. Was that true? Or was he so quick to anger during that phone call because he knew he had been too quick to propose. Had he finally realized that I’d been a convenience because he had now found the real thing with Doreen? A sob burned up my throat. As much as I wanted to deny it, when I looked at the situation logically, the facts supported Camille’s story.
    I tried for that whole week following my trip home to get in touch with anyone, to no avail. And that hurt too, the freeze-out from people I thought of as my family. If Kane had moved on, shouldn’t the family be rallying behind me , knowing how