AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh fuck off, I only knew she was there for a minute more than you. Come on and tell me what happened.” Ryan brushes me off, but I don’t budge. He can suffer for a moment like I did. The exasperated sigh that leaves him is what gets me to show a little humor.
“Tell me what happened,” he presses.
“Lunch with my mother was awful, thanks for asking.”
“That was a given.” Ryan disregards my comment and leans forward to ask, “You and baby girl back to normal?”
No. I know the answer, and simply shake my head, feeling the deadweight sit against my chest as I turn off my computer. I still have hours before dinner, but I’d rather distract myself with Ryan and anything other than work before meeting Sophie tonight.
“We hit it off just like normal, but she’s not …” The back of my throat goes dry, so I pick up my coffee, drinking it black as always.
“She still loves you,” he tells me gently as if that’s what the problem ever was.
“She’s resistant to being with me.” I finally settle on that truth, spacing out the words and letting them sit in the air while Ryan considers them.
He slumps back, letting his back hit the chair and turns his hands up as he says, “She always has been resistant, hasn’t she?” When I don’t answer he adds, “You didn’t think she’d just fall into bed with you and go right back to being what it used to be, did you?”
“You’re the one who said ‘normal,’” I remind him, barely hiding my irritation. He’s never had a stable relationship. He doesn’t mind living vicariously through the only one I’ve ever wanted. She doesn’t want it to be what it used to be. I can’t tell him that part. I’m ashamed of it. I thought it was good. How could I have been so wrong? I thought I was good for her. I thought I was goodtoher.
“See, I thought you had a stick up your ass the last few years because you hadn’t gotten your dick wet, but here we are, and that stick hasn’t budged.”
“How’d you know?”
“That you guys fucked?” he asks me with a brow cocked and his forehead scrunched. As if it’s an odd question to ask. I just gaze at him coolly and he shrugs.
“She told Trish, who told Brett, who told me about ten minutes ago.”
“Word travels fast.”
Ryan shrugs unapologetically. “It’s been a long time coming… So you got her in bed… and then what?”
“That’s none of anyone’s business.”
“Aw, come on, Brett and Trish only know so much. You’ve got to give me something.” Brett and Trish know too damn much. Trish I can understand, although I’m still pissed she didn’t tell me Sophie was coming back. And Brett needs to mind his own fucking business.
“Can we talk about something else?” I ask, not hiding the irritation in my voice.
“So your lunch date with your mom went poorly?”
I grin at him as I reply, “I hate you.”
“You love me so much. I could feel the waves of adoration from all the way down the hall to my office.”
“You should have stayed there and finished the numbers for the meeting tomorrow.”
“Already done,” he tells me and I’m quick to retort, “For the meeting Friday then.”
He only snorts a laugh and there’s a moment of awkward silence. The kind that comes when someone’s begging to ask you a question, but they don’t know how you’ll react.
I tell him, “Just say it. Whatever it is.”
“What did your mom want?” he asks me with nervous hesitation. My mother is never a topic of pleasant conversation.
“To tell me she’s getting another divorce.”
“I thought she just married …Steve?”
“She divorced Stewart last year, this one’s name is Jerry.” Although the conversation is almost casual in tone, it’s anything but.
