Finding out that Shep was my father and that I had been lied to for my entire life was a much easier pill to swallow than the realization that Ryan had kept it from me.
He knew.
And he said nothing.
I had believed Ryan. I have believed that he wasn’t just playing me. That this was real. That—for once—I could trust someone to catch me when I fell.
But I fell hard, and he just watched.
Tears leaked from my eyes as I looked at the time on my phone again. The date on the calendar added insult to injury.
We were just a few days shy of three months together. Just a few days shy of making a decision that would have altered the trajectory of our lives.
But I had been right all along. This was just a game to him. I was just a game. Something to win.
Was he even real? Or was he exactly who I thought he was? A con man. A salesman who preyed on insecurities. A scammer. A grifter. A master manipulator.
I truly believed that people’s actions define them.
Cheaters cheat.
Liars lie.
And Ryan Ford broke my heart.
He painted me a picture of a vivid life, then tore it up and left me with the pieces. He conjured the illusion of happiness and contentment, then made it disappear like a sideshow magician.
I had planned to spend the morning sipping coffee under the willow tree, but he had stolen the solace of that place from me.
I didn’t bother staying in bed until my alarm chimed. I didn’t say a word to Ryan as I got up early, dressed, and got ready to leave.
I had just taken my last bag to the car and slipped the rental keys under the doormat when Ryan appeared in the doorframe with his backpack on his shoulder.
He looked absolutely exhausted. “Wills . . .”
“Are you ready to go?” I asked cooly, as I gave the house one last walk through to make sure nothing had been left behind.
I wasn’t coming back.
Ryan caught me around the waist when I tried to walk out the door. “Can we talk?”
I had to give it to him. He was a damn good actor. Twenty-four hours ago, I would have believed the pain in his eyes. Now, I just didn’t care. It wasn’t anything compared to the knife he had slid into my heart while phony smiles and poisonous promises of a future dripped from his lips.
“I’m not ready to talk,” I said as I avoided his gaze, pulled away from him, and got behind the wheel.
I watched his reflection in the rearview mirror as he closed the front door, tossed his bag into the backseat, then dropped into the passenger’s seat beside me.
I kept my hands firmly at ten and two so he couldn’t reach for me. The exit signs for Topeka taunted me as we ventured east in complete and utter silence. I hadn’t even bothered turning on the radio. Nothing could drown out my thoughts about Shep, my mother, the man I had always thought was my father, and everyone else who had been caught in the web of lies.
Amber had to have known before all of this. It explained everything. She only got her father every other weekend. I had mine all the time. I just didn’t get to know until he was gone.
A tear slid down my cheek as the first signs for Kansas City came into view.
“Wills . . .” Ryan said softly as he reached to wipe it away.
“Don’t touch me,” I whispered to keep my voice from breaking. It did anyway.
Ryan froze, then slowly retreated.
