Torn (10 page)

“Ryleigh. I’m not going to pass any judgment at all. I’m not going to condone this, but when you run into
the love of your life after this many years; there are always going to be those feelings there. You just
have to remember, you are married.” Court grabbed my hand to reassure me that we were still friends. I
didn’t think she was going to see what I told her next.

“I know, I’m married. It’s just…” I gripped her hand so she couldn’t pull away. I felt her hand tense up.

 

“Oh shit, Ryleigh. What did you do?” Courtney was trying to keep her voice down and calm, especially
since we were in the middle of the restaurant.

“Court, I didn’t do anything. We ended up stopping before something did happen, but Court, it brought
all these old feelings back. I felt like I was eighteen again, just the way his lips felt on mine… I can’t
describe it.” I sighed.

I changed the subject to get off of me and proceeded to tell her about how Liam has been really stressed
and working a lot more. How he broke the news of going to New York. I paused for a bit so she could eat
a little more. I continued and she got to enjoy the story of drunken phone call. I told her how he said
that I was nagging him and how he thinks that he is working so hard to support me. That I was a ball and
chain to him.

“He fucking said that?! I can’t believe that he said that!” She was furious and looked at me in complete
awe.

 

“Yep. Now granted he was drunk…” Courtney interrupted me.

“I don’t give a shit if he was drunk, sober or high on drugs; you don’t call your wife and tell her all these
things! Ninety nine percent of the time that you tell someone this when you are drunk; it’s what you
won’t or can’t say when you are sober. It’s called liquid courage for a reason. Do you think he
remembers?” Courtney was getting riled up; I thought she was going to leave her appointment to go
kick some ass.

“I don’t know if he remembers or not, but that’s not the whole story.” I wanted to give her a second to
cool down but I knew that our massages were coming up and we would be in separate rooms so our
conversation would have to wait.

“So, I was going to go down to the bar to bring him home. I was about to storm out of the house but I
forgot my phone upstairs. I went back and found that he sent a text to me.” I showed her the text, I
should have deleted it but I was glad that I kept it. This way I could show him too.

“Fuck! What a fucking douche!” She looked around to see how many people she offended. Thankfully
there were no kids around.

 

I continued on and told him about Amber and her leggy friend. How I found him and that didn’t even
think twice about going to Caleb. How I spent last night with him.

 

“And tonight, I’m supposed to see him. We have dinner reservations.” I said glumly.

“You can’t see him! Are you going to tell him you know? You know, Ry, you said that you had all these
old feelings come back when you kissed Caleb… maybe this was a sign you were meant to be with him.”
She laughed. “You do know that if I see Liam, I’m gonna have to punch him in the junk, right?” She
laughed harder.

I couldn’t help but laugh really loud. Courtney had once punched a guy in the balls when he called her a
slut because she wouldn’t sleep with him. She had a powerful fist of fury; no guy should ever mess with.

“Court, you can’t do that!” I said laughing, but found myself getting a bit more serious. “ I’m not going to
say anything until he gets back from New York. I know it’s a few more days but I really need to figure
how I would even bring it up.” I could feel some tears starting to build up.

“You know you always have a house with me and Jason.” She grabbed my hand and squeezed. “There’s
no question how you would bring it up ‘I saw you! You are a lying cheating husband and we are done!’
See? That’s how you do it.” She said grabbing my hand. You need to get rid of Liam and get back to this
Caleb! I can’t believe I’m encouraging this.” She briefly paused. “But Caleb sounds like the guy who you
deserve! I always thought that Liam was that guy, but obviously I was totally wrong.”

Just then our names were called for our massages. I was ready to take a break from this conversation
and just unwind. I heard my phone going off in my purse; I dug it out and looked at the caller ID. It was
Liam. I pushed ignore and headed in for my massage with John.
An hour later, I felt incredibly relaxed. My mind was finally a blank slate, even it were for a short time. I
noticed that I was out before Courtney, so I took a seat. I pulled out my phone to find Liam left me a
voicemail.

Hey baby! I wanted to see how your ‘girlie’ day was going. I can’t wait until tonight to see you! I
made reservations at The Melting Pot for 7pm. I’m going to get some sleep; work was
exhausting so I am beat! I love you so much, I will see you later!

Are you serious!? My mouth dropped open; he was seriously trying to make me believe he was at work
all night! I was furious! I wish I could go back in and start my massage over again. Courtney came out of
her room, looking very radiant and relaxed. She got a puzzled look on her face as I sat there glaring at
my phone and shaking my head.

“What’s the matter? You know, you’re supposed to relax when you get a massage, right?” She asked
grabbing my arm walking us down to the nail salon.

 

“He called.” I said firmly.

 

“Oh no, are you serious? What’d he say?” She looked at me astonished.

 

“He can’t wait to see me tonight for dinner and that he’s tired from working all night! He really doesn’t
remember the conversation!” All I could do was shake my head.

 

“You need to flat out tell him! Show him that damn text and then kick him while he is down and tell him
that you want a divorce!” She shrieked.

 

We sat down and began to get our pedicures and manicures. I sat there silently weighing everything that
had happened in the last few days.

 

“Courtney, do you think that I’m a horrible person? I know you and I agreed to no judging, but I need
you to tell me this.” I asked quietly.

“Ryleigh, you and I have been friends for a long time. We’ve had some good and bad times together.
When you first told me that you kissed another guy,I was really shocked and I thought I could have
punched you.” She examined her nails and then looked up at me and let out a sigh. “But after what you
witnessed, what you told me, I don’t think that you need to ever think twice about what you did. Things
happen for a reason.”

“Wow. You could’ve just given me a yes or no.” I laughed at her. Then the nail lady interrupted asking
what color of nail polish we were going to go with,“Black. Black like my soul.” I said jokingly, however
she didn’t really think I was a comedian and went back to painting.

“Ryleigh, seriously, you deserve more than this inyour life and if you don’t leave him…you’re going to
end up hating yourself and bringing everyone down around with you. I can’t have ‘Auntie Ryleigh’ being
a downer or not around. I love you; just think about what is best for you!” Courtney said starting to cry.
“Thank you, Court. I truly mean it when I say; you are really my best friend. I love you!” I began to cry
too. “This has been really a great day, besides the drama that I had to bring with me. We need to get
together more often, especially before you have this little one!” I paused to make sure I got all of my
tears off of my cheek. “Speaking of, I am totally throwing you the best baby shower ever!” I needed
something to lighten the mood and what better than to talk about the baby. Just as I saw her face light
up like a kid on Christmas, it dropped into a frown.

“Ry.” She whispered. “Liam is here, do you need me to get someone?” She asked quietly.

 

“No, just act normal. Please. I have no idea why he’s here.” I stopped talking as I saw him walk up with a
smile on his face. He was trying to hide a gift bag behind him.

 

“Hey honey, what are you doing here?” I asked, being as sweet as possible.

“I couldn’t sleep much, so I decided to get up and get my day going. I thought that since I’ve been
working a lot lately that I would get my beautiful wife a gift to tell her I was sorry.” He leaned in for a
kiss and then looked up at Courtney. “Hey Court! How are you feeling?” He didn’t wait for her to
answer. “Open it.” He said handing me the bag.

“Hi Liam. Just great.” Courtney was very short with him as she read an article in a magazine. Courtney
had always spoken her mind. She was trying really hard, for my sake, not to say anything to him.

I reached into the gift bag and pulled out a long narrow gift box, it was a diamond and sapphire tennis
bracelet. I looked at Court who was wide eyed and she shook her head and went back to the magazine.
Liam kept his eyes on me.

“Oh my god, Liam you shouldn’t have! It’s really… beautiful!” I stunned at the sight of it.

 

“Just like you. I thought you could wear it to dinner tonight with that blue dress of yours.”

 

“Sounds like you already planned out my outfit.” I said with a fake smile.

 

“I did. I’m excited to spend some quality time with you! Sorry to just show up, but I just wanted to drop
this off. Are you ladies off to do anything else orcan I sweep you away?” He asked, grabbing my hand.

 

“We are off to do more girlie things, Liam. I wanted to take her to lunch.” Court interjected.

 

“Sorry, babe. I can’t argue with a pregnant lady.” I said trying to laugh.

 

“Well you girls have fun and I will just see you later then.” He leaned in to give me a kiss. I had never felt
such disgust for someone kissing me.

“Wow! I don’t really even have the words to describe how infuriatingly gross that was! You’re lucky that
you are my best friend and I promised I wouldn’t say anything, because he would’ve gotten an earful
and I wouldn’t care who heard me.” Court said tossing the magazine aside.
“Well, thank you for not saying anything. I am half tempted to go off on him while his in is New York, so I
don’t have to look at him.” I lowered my head into my hands.

We paid for our wonderful primping and we headed out of the spa.

 

“Go see him. “ She said with a wink.

 

“What are you talking about?” I screeched.

“I want you to go to Caleb and tell him how much you love him.” She winked. “You know that you two
are meant for each other, especially after all these years. Fate is called fate for a reason. Besides, I need
to get back to Jason. We wanted to go over weddingstuff AND baby planning. He really is excited about
that.” She smiled at the thought. “Hey, I know you said that I shouldn’t say anything, but do you mind if I
ask Jason if he knows anything?” Court asked pulling me into a hug.

“Yeah, see if he does know anything, I don’t think that he will though. I have to admit that it will be
interesting to see if he does.” I took another lookdown at the gift bag and shook my head. “I am,
however, excited that he likes planning all this wedding and baby stuff! Most guys leave all the stress on
the woman. Are you guys going to do the wedding before or after the baby?”

“That’s what we’re going to talk about. Don’t worry; I won’t leave YOU in the dark.” She winked. “I will
text you later and fill you in on what I find out.” She started to head to her car.

 

I dug out my phone to dial up Caleb, but decided I was going to surprise him.

I walked down the road to the hotel. I felt a giddiness about myself as I rode up the elevator, I had
always enjoyed hanging out with Caleb just as teens but now as an adult… this was a great feeling to be
able to see my once best friend.

“Hey! Whatcha up to?” He opened the door surprised.

 

“I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out, maybe I could pay up on one of those beers.” I smiled

 

“Wow! Yeah! I actually was about to head out, but do you want to go with me? Maybe get a beer on the
way back?” He asked.

 

“Sure! Where we going?” I asked curiously.

 

“It’s a surprise.” He said with a wink.

He ran back into the room as I held the door, he grabbed a baseball cap off of his dresser and ran back
to the door. He reached out and grabbed my hand, holding it all the way down to the parking garage to
his big black pickup truck, then let go to quickly get ahead of me to open my door.

I had a mass of butterflies flying around in my stomach this was one surprise I was ecstatic about. I must
have looked like a total idiot; I was beaming from cheek to cheek. He grabbed my hand to help me in
and softly kissed my knuckles.
“Why thank you sir!” I joked as I climbed in, still grinning like a fool.

He ran around the truck and hopped in.

 

“So are you gonna tell me at all where we are going?” I asked excitedly.

 

“Nope. Just enjoy the ride.” He said grabbing my hand to hold on to it. He shot me a wink. “You look
absolutely gorgeous right now.”

 

“No, I don’t! I have been at the spa all day, no makeup.” I laughed.

 

“Either way, makeup or not, I think you look beautiful.” He smiled. I let out a little giggle.

I watched him as we drove down the highway. I imagined this is how it could be every weekend. Being
surprised by some spontaneous adventure. I realized that we were heading in the direction of our old
neighborhood. I gave him a questioning look and he just squeezed my hand.

“Almost there, I want you to close your eyes and don’t peek until I tell you. Promise?” He looked over at
me as I nodded and closed my eyes.

 

I hoped that we were going to arrive soon; it felt really good keeping my eyes close. I thought I was
going to fall asleep. We started to come to a slow and realized he had shifted the truck into park.

“Okay, we’re here, but I am going to come around and get you but keep your eyes closed. No peeking!”
He shut the door and not a second later he opened my door. He picked me up so I didn’t have to
stumble out. He placed me down on the ground and guided me a few feet.

“Alright, can I look yet?” I said as my hands were covering my eyes, knowing the excitement would have
made me open them.