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“I stopped in to see the baby girls and pick up my painting gear.”
“Why are you doing this?” Max said, not afraid of offending Ryan. “We need you here, buddy. Your family needs you.”
“It’s something Lisa and I have to do, that’s all. I’m sorry if I’m disrupting everyone’s life.”
“You are, but I get it,” Dan said. “I’m not sure Pam is going to survive it, however. It’s kind of selfish. You need to put your family before yourself.”
“Like you did, bro?”
Dan snickered. “You have more to lose than I did.”
“And why’s that?” Ryan asked.
“Because you’ll have the entire block pissed off at you if you do this thing.”
“Well, be pissed, then, because it’s done. I guess that means no one is going to help me move a piece of furniture to my new place.”
“Ask your brother to do it,” Dan said.
The others looked on, stony. When Ryan walked away, Will said it best.
“This group is one reason Laura and I are bound to stay together. Not the main reason, but a very compelling reason.”
“Because we’re family. Lisa will stop speaking to us if we keep Ryan in our circle,” Max said. “We had to pick a side, and Alison picked her sister.”
“I’m sure we’ll have to pick sides, too,” Andy said. “I’m worried about how Sandra is going to deal with this. She’s said time and time again that she won’t survive if they break up.”
“Okay, that means we all have to stick together,” Will said. “We have to be there for Lisa.”
“I’ve been through this with Lisa before, guys, and she’ll calm down,” Dan said. “You’ll see. No picking of sides will be necessary.”
In the cottage, Lisa moved the curtain aside. “Ryan is out here, probably trying to justify his actions.”
“We’re going to pick sides,” Laura said, bending down to give Randi a toy. “And we’re picking you. You know how I feel about Ryan. He’s someone who was in my life for a short time, and we discovered then we don’t have a thing in common. The only reason I even talked to him was because you’re my sister. It will be more difficult for Will.”
“I can’t ask the guys to stop talking to Ryan. Let me catch my breath. It’ll be okay.”
After coffee, Laura left to put Randi down for a nap. Lisa and Nancy got the girls settled for a nap, and Nancy disappeared into the back of the house, giving Lisa time alone.
Sadness thick as tar slugged through her body, taking her breath away. It didn’t matter if everyone in Babylon sided with her. Losing Ryan must be dealt with, and she didn’t know how she was going to do it.
“Stop thinking forward,” she muttered. “Get through the next hour.”
In what would become part of her new life, she grabbed a jacket again and left for the beach, hoping Ryan wouldn’t seek her out again. Walking in the cold, the sea spray on her face, was the only way. She stopped from time to time to pick up a shell fragment or tiny piece of glass. When the tide went out later, the offerings would be better, and she’d go out again. The sea would be her salvation, after all. The crash of the waves on the sand erased thoughts of Ryan.
Betsy Franklin sat in the back pew of church, listening to the choir.
A little guilt washed over her. She’d remained celibate for years because getting involved cost her too much self-respect. Why had she succumbed to Ryan? And the thing was, she was falling in love with him.
Betsy had called her friend that morning and told her she might have yodeled when they were doing it.
“Oh gross, Betsy! You said he’s got HIV, too.”
“He’s HIV positive, but he takes antiretroviral drugs so the virus is untransmissible. He still used a condom. I liked that he was careful. He said that if we are exclusive, he won’t feel the need to use one, so that kind of made me feel like he’s protecting himself. But he doesn’t have to worry about me because I can’t remember the last time I had sex.”
“I don’t know, Betsy. He sounds like trouble.”
“Yeah, I’m sure he’s trouble. But I’ll take it while I can.”
