That was Kaylani for you. The girl had barely been back in town for forty-eight hours and she was already making plans to throw tires and barbells that probably weighed as much as she did.
June excused herself to answer some questions, leaving Kaylani and me alone for the first time since I’d found out about her engagement.
“So . . . ,” she prompted.
“So . . .”
“You didn’t return any of my texts. Are you okay?”
“I’m good. Just busy.”
She pursed her lips. “Areweokay?”
That was the real question, one I wasn’t sure I had an answer for just yet. So far, the best I had come up with was that sometime in the last year, Kaylani had lost her mind or been hypnotized—dickmatizedwas more like it—into believing that Ryan was a good person.
In the end, I settled on a watered-down version of the truth. After all, I had just gotten my friend back; the last thing I wanted was to scare her off.
“We’re okay,” I told her. “But I’ll admit I was a little . . .”
“Surprised?” she hedged.
I nodded. That was certainly one of the emotions I’d felt the other day, along with hurt, anger, betrayal. The list went on and on.
“I know I should have told you sooner about Ryan, but you have to believe me, Ness, the whole thing happened so fast. We only started dating around Christmas.”
Christmas.
That had been nine months ago. Nine months of text messages, phone calls, and virtual tea parties, yet she hadn’t mentioned him once.
“He’s been living in New York for a few years, and we ran into each other at this holiday gala thing. After that, it was just . . .”
My eyes widened. She couldn’t leave me hanging like that. I might have had my doubts about her choice of partner, but like it or not, I was also a glutton for a good love story.
“It was what?”
She took my hands in hers and tugged us toward the bench in the corner. And just like that, we were thirteen again, cuddled up on my couch and mooning over our latest crushes. The only thing missing was my pink iPod Mini blasting Destiny’s Child.
“Easy. For the first time ever, it was easy.”
That didn’t sound like Kaylani at all, the self-proclaimed chaos queen. “What was easy?”
She sighed. “Everything. It was like we had been together for years. Our first date lasted nine hours. For our fifth, he took me bungee jumping off a bridge in Kentucky.”
“But you hate heights.”
A startled laugh bubbled out of her. “I know. But with him, I feel like I can do anything.” She thought a second before adding, “Or nothing at all. Ness, there are days when we’ll lie around and just rot on the couch, and it just feels right. I don’t feel guilty at all.”
I was suddenly feeling that I shouldn’t have had that second cup of coffee.
Consequences, Nessa.
Conflicting feelings churned through my stomach, making my favorite black denim cutoffs feel unusually tight. On the one hand, I was happy for my friend. Kay deserved someone who would love and appreciate every one of her unique quirks—thatwas the best any of us could hope for. On the other hand, why did it have to be Ryan?
“Look, I know he doesn’t have a great track record with you—”
“Or you.”
Her smile soured. I didn’t want to hurt her or push things too far, but she needed the reminder—I wasn’t the only one who had been on the receiving end of Ryan’s torture.
