Hello again and welcome to another chapter. I hope you enjoy. Thank you for the reviews some of you wrote for the last chapter. I really appreciate them.

Chapter 22: Heartbreaking Truths

As soon as the party wrapped up, the girls along with Caleb met at Toby's loft. They waited around while Caleb worked his magic on his laptop to reveal the contents on Wren's phone. The tea that Toby had put on just got done when Caleb called everyone's attention.

"I'm ready," he called out.

The girls and Toby huddled over Caleb's shoulder to look at the screen.

"Did you find something?" Toby asked.

"Just a bunch of boring texts between him and his friends," said Caleb.

"Is there anything you could find that points to Wren being a money hungry greedy freak?" Hanna asked.

"No," said Caleb. "His phone just looks like a basic boring doctor's. He has emails from patients and several from his boss agreeing to put in a good word for him in London."

"London?" Toby questioned. "Why-why would he need a reference in London?"

The girls exchanged knowing looks. Toby looked up from the computer screen and squinted one eye at them. He looked at Emily trying to read her expression but struggled. Toby knew they weren't telling him something.

"What?" He asked. He looked at Emily. "Is there something that I should know?"

"Toby, we did what you asked," Emily said. "We found nothing on Wren maybe what you thought Wren said wasn't what he meant."

Toby shook his head, "no, we're missing something. What about deleted texts or emails?"

"I checked those too," Caleb was sympathetic. "Sorry, man."

Toby sighed. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. Toby was so sure about this hunch maybe the others were right. His feelings could be clouding his judgment. It could be Toby was just hearing whatever he wanted to hear in hopes to prove Wren was the bad guy. Toby is back again as the villain. He's been sneaking moments with some other man's girl. Now, he's trying to paint him as a greedy man marrying Spencer for her money. Maybe he really is losing it.

"I was so sure," Toby whispered, but the others heard it.

Hanna stepped up and said, "even though your theory didn't pan out, it was really sweet of you to care this much to have us look into this. It showed us how much you really care for Spencer."

"I guess," Toby said. "Thanks for helping. I'm sorry I wasted everyone's time."

"You're sorry?" Alison scuffed and crossed her arms. "I had to hug that man."

Emily gripped Alison's hand, "it doesn't matter. Our intentions were good. We want to make sure that if this is the guy Spencer is really going to be with, it's our job as her friends to make sure Wren is not a bad guy."

"Agreed," Aria said.

Just then, Toby's phone lit up with a text. His heart stuttered when he read Spencer's name on his screen.

"Spencer just texted me," he said. "This is the first text I've gotten from her all week. She wants to tell me something."

While Toby wrote a text back agreeing to stop by her place tomorrow, the girls exchanged nervous looks. Again, Toby caught them doing so. They already know what Spencer had to tell him. The looks on their faces made him nervous.

The next day, Toby drove himself over to Spencer's at the agreed meeting time. He got his cast off yesterday, but his arm was stiff from being in a cast. He had his first physical therapy session today so now his arm is stiff and sore. When Toby pulled up outside the gate, he had to press a button to get through. He used to be able to get in and out because he worked here, but once he stopped working for the Hastings, his right to come and go was lifted.

"Yes?" Spencer's voice spoke through the tiny, but loudspeaker.

"It's me."

There was a breath followed by a brief pause before she said, "come on."

The speaker went quiet again as the giant gate slid open, giving Toby enough room to pull his truck forward. Inside the barn, Spencer was cursing to herself. She knows that she was the one to ask him to come over so they could talk, but she's having second thoughts. How is she going to face Toby and tell him she's moving away to London with Wren? Her stomach became queasy again. She could barely stomach the one piece of toast she had for breakfast. She skipped her usual morning coffee because of how anxious she already felt. Her stomach turned when she heard Toby's gentle knock on the door. Why didn't you just write the letter? She muttered to herself. Spencer put on her best Hastings face as she walked over to answer the door, but when she opened it and met Toby's crystal eyes, the numbness in her heart thawed. She felt the usual warmth Toby always gave her when he was near, but it was accompanied by a sharp stab of pain.

"Hi," she forced a smile. "Um, thanks for coming to see me."

"Thanks for reaching out," Toby said.

Spencer opened the door wider to let him through. Their shoulders brushed when he passed her. His usual pine and sawdust smell made her knees buckle. Spencer shut the door feeling a shiver go down her spine. Toby turned to face her and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"You got your cast off," Spencer said with a genuine smile. "When did that happen?"

Toby looked down at his hand and said, "yesterday. I had my first physical therapy session today."

"How did it go?"

"It went fine," he said. "They gave me a couple exercises to do to get some strength back in my arm."

"Does it still hurt?"

Toby shrugged, "not really. It feels a little stiff."

"I bet." Spencer gestured to the room around her. "I finally moved into the barn."

Toby smiled, "I can see that. How do you like it?"

"It's amazing," she smiled. "You did such a good job on everything. Thank you. To you and your crew. I sent everyone a thank you note and a little something extra to show my appreciation."

"That's nice," Toby smiled warmly at her. "I think they'll appreciate that. You know, I actually heard from a couple of the guys, and they said you were the nicest person they ever worked for."

Spencer grinned, "yeah? That's sweet. They're a good group of people. I really enjoyed getting to know everyone. Especially you

"Me too."

They shared a moment of silence as their eyes drifted over the other. Spencer's bright eyes dimmed as she remembered the reason, she invited him over. She cocked her head towards the couch in the living room.

"Do you want to have a seat?"

"Sure."

Spencer led the way over to the couch. With her back turned to him, she took a moment to collect herself. Toby had been anxious about what Spencer had to tell him. He could tell from the looks on her friend's face when he got the text that it was sad news. They took a seat on the couch. Spencer made sure to put a respectful amount of distance between them. She feared if she sat too close to Toby, she'd start caressing his face while talking to him or crossing a line she couldn't afford to cross right now. Whatever has been going on between them needed to stop. Spencer knows that. It should have stopped months ago, but it is what it is. Spencer tried not to think too much about how good Toby looked in his dark red t-shirt, jeans, and leather jacket. Spencer searched for something in the pocket of the cardigan she was wearing.

"I wanted to give this to you in person." She pulled out a small black leather box. "It's a little something to say thanks for all the work you've done and partly an apology for all the trouble Wren has caused you."

Toby took the box from her. He ran his fingers over the material of the box. He glanced up at her for a second before returning his focus to the gift.

"Open it," she whispered.

Toby lifted the opening to reveal a shiny gold pocket watch. He gasped. It looked just like the one his mother had. His dad sold his mom's watch to buy his new wife a ring. It angered Toby, but it was better than him selling his mom's old ring. Toby forgot that he shared that story with Spencer during their ride back from Lookout Point.

"Thank you." Toby looked up. His eyes glistened with tears.

"Do you like it?" Her voice was shy. "I wasn't sure if this would be a good gift or if it would just bring back bad memories."

Toby shook his head and smiled. "I love it. Thank you, so much."

He reached forward for a hug. It was a risk, but Spencer fell into his arms anyway. She felt the warmth circulate through her body once his arms were wrapped around her. She shut her eyes, squeezed her arms around him, and tried to savor the feeling of his arms around her. Spencer's eyes began to water. She blinked them away before he could notice. The next thing she had to say wasn't so happy.

"Um, this is going to sound weird, but can you make me a promise?" she asked, sniffling.

"Okay?"

"Could you wait to open that." She pointed to the watch.

Toby eyed the watch. The fact that she wants him to wait to open the actual watch makes him nervous. He wanted nothing more than to open the top right now, but he made a promise. For Spencer, he'll wait. No matter how anxious it makes him.

"Okay," he nodded.

"Thanks," Spencer patted his hand. "It will just make telling you what I have to say a little less hard."

Toby was getting nervous, "you're scaring me."

Spencer could no longer hide the tears. She squeezed her eyes to keep tears from coming out, but they still pooled in her eyes.

"Um, so W-Wren and I picked a date for our wedding," her voice quivered as she spoke. "It's the second Saturday in January."

The second Saturday? That was only two weeks away. Toby took a deep breath trying to conceal his emotions. He swallowed over the large lump in his throat.

"Wow," Toby cleared his throat. "That's uh…that's great."

"Yeah," Spencer nodded, swiping at a stray tear that snuck its way down her cheek. "Also, we're uh… we're moving to…to London next Spring."

Everything in Toby stopped. His heart stopped. His brain stopped. He was sure the Earth had stopped spinning. It felt like someone's hand had ripped through his chest and was now squeezing his heart until it bursts. The look on Toby's face was not making it any easier for Spencer to conceal her own emotions. She put her hand over her mouth to choke back the first hiccup of a sob that was trying to escape. This was not as hard as Spencer thought it would be. It was worse.

Hanna and Aria had been in a zombie like state for most of the day as they walked along the streets of Philly. They have been in a mellow mood since hearing the news about Spencer. Even though they're upset at what Spencer marrying Wren is doing to her and their friendship, they came to Philly trying to find a wedding gift for them. As they went from store to store, nothing looked good to them. It was like they were shopping for the wrong wedding.

"Poor Toby," Hanna whispered as she stared through an open window of dressed up mannequins.

"Poor Toby?" Aria questioned.

"I think he loves Spencer," said Hanna. "But he can't tell her if she's choosing to be with Wren. Which makes no sense."

"Poor Wren," Aria countered. "We just accused the guy of using our friend when the whole time he's been planning a future with her."

"I don't know. I'm still weary of Wren," said Hanna. "Do you remember the story Spencer told us the night she announced her engagement? She said, Wren gave her what looked like an expensive diamond ring?"

Aria shrugged and said, "he did. We all saw the ring."

"Do you also remember Spencer telling us about her fight with Wren and how they briefly called off their engagement?" Aria still wasn't sure where Hanna was going with this. Hanna kept talking. "Wren is known for gambling. What if he gambled away all his money and he's running out? He might still need Spencer to feed his gambling money."

"Are you sure you're not just saying this because you've secretly been team Toby since day one?" Aria asked.

"We were stupid to think Wren would have his secrets stashed on his phone," Hanna said. "He could have a work phone and another phone he that uses to stay connected with whatever shady circle he runs in. All the texts we saw on Wren's phone were Doctor and work-related stuff. He didn't even have one text on there from Spencer."

The wheels in Aria's head started to turn. She pinched Hanna's arm who yelped in response.

"Ow! What was that for?" Hanna rubbed her arm.

"For not bringing that up the other night!" Aria spoke through gritted teeth as she stomped her boot on the sidewalk. "Oh my god! Two phones! How could we have been so stupid not to consider that?"

Spencer finally tells Toby about London. How will he react? Is Wren hiding something? I'd appreciate it if you leave a review. Thanks for reading and I hope to be back with the next chapter soon.