“So how was Austin?” I ask Riley.
“Sucked.”
She looks up at the sun, her shades even thicker than Mama’s. She tugs at her black halter top and rubs her hands on her black jeans. I smile and tell her she shouldn’t hide behind all that black.
“Well, here’s the thing. Wink’s cheating on me.”
When the words come out of her mouth, I don’t hear them at first. I don’t want to. All I see is her mouth moving and no sound.
I stare at her hard, and she repeats it. The same sentence, the same four words, and my eyes sting with the shock of hot tears under my eyelids. I blink them back.
“At first, I didn’t want to believe it either,” Riley says as if reading my mind. “That’s why I asked you to come to Austin with me. I wanted to snoop.”
A pang of guilt hits me in the gut that I never even answered her yes or no. I hurt that I wasn’t there for my little sister. Because I thought she was perfect and I was flawed.
“I found her online last night,” she says. “Internet stalked her and called her myself. That little bitch he’s been going up to Austin nearly every weekend for.”
“Not for practice?” I ask her.
“There’s practice now. But there wasn’t in March.”
“He’s been seeing her since March?” I want to turn back time, to the exact moment before I realized Riley doesn’t lead the most perfect life in creation.
“Since January. She came down here till March. Then, he worried I’d find out somehow, so he started going up to Austin.”
“Did you ever try to go with him?”
“I had just gotten hired, and he didn’t even have any games.” She starts to cry. “No, I didn’t try to go with him! Why would I?”
I hug her until she needs a tissue, and then I hand her one from my purse.
“I’m so sorry, Riles. I thought Wink was perfect for you. Shows you what I know.”
“I don’t think I ever loved him.” She sways back and forth on the bench, knees hugged to her chest.
“Really?”
“Don’t you know if you love someone?” she asks me.
My thoughts automatically turn to Logan. Of his cheek on mine after we make love, of his smile whenever we say good-bye afterward, of his tongue in my mouth and his hands on my back right before he unhooks my bra and…
“I can’t believe you just let him go like that.” Riley’s watching me carefully.
I start, and my face flushes with heat.
She’s still looking at me. “Tell me again—why did you two want to divorce? Before the Manhattan Barbie entered the picture, why did you and Logan decide you couldn’t stay married?”
“Because I can’t have Logan, Riles. We’ve never dated, and there’s a reason for that, millions of reasons…”
“Oh, really?” she interrupts me. “Just what are those reasons, exactly? ‘Cause I don’t think I’ve ever heard them.”
“Logan’s my best friend. With great benefits. But we weren’t meant to settle together permanently. And not that it matters, since I’m not in the market for a husband, but I think a woman should marry a man who doesn’t get under her skin and drive her absolutely nuts.”
“From my experience, if a man drives you nuts, he’s got your attention,” Riley says.
“I’m not a squirrel,” I say jokingly.
“Wow. No wonder you’re single.”
