Page 87
Chapter Sixteen
Then
At work, I am quieter than usual and everyone has noticed. More than once, Moe and Trey have pulled me aside to ask what is wrong with me. When they do, I fake a smile and brush off their concerns, but as soon as they turn their backs, I’m on the verge of tears.
When Addilyn shows up around eleven, I pull her into the back to ask if I can stay the night at her house.
“Of course you can, sweetie. What’s wrong?” I desperately want to tell her but after what happened earlier, I don’t want to do anything else to piss Ryan off.
“Nothing’s wrong,” I say, my smile as fake as a stripper’s boobs. “Ryan is just working tonight and I haven’t seen you in forever.” Her face brightens immediately.
“Oh, ok. Well, I’ll call Daisy and we’ll make it a girls’ night.”
“Yeah, that sounds really great.”
“’Kay, I’ll go rent some movies. Any preferences?”
“Comedy,” I practically shout and wince at my reaction.
“All right. I’ll go do that now. See you later, girl.” And with that, she twirls around and leaves me standing in the stockroom. When the door closes, I practically collapse on a stack of boxes. Who knew that acting was so exhausting? I feel like I ran a marathon.
“Come on, Emma. Get it together,” I say to myself.
I stand and brush my hands down my apron to compose myself and then I head back out to the bar before someone comes looking for me. Luckily, the place is busy and I am able to avoid any more questions for the rest of the night.
* * * *
I wake up just as the sun is shining through the windows, practically blinding me. Groaning, I roll over to cuddle closer to Ryan and almost fall off the bed.
Wait…what?
No, I’m not in bed. I’m on a couch. Opening my eyes, I look around the room and it takes me a minute to realize I’m in Addy’s living room. Then it all comes back to me. Tears sting my eyes as I remember Ryan’s words. Checking my phone, I see that I have twenty-nine missed calls and it’s only seven a.m.
Great.
Just as I’m contemplating what I should do, my phone rings in my hand. Ryan’s face pops up on the screen and I just stare at his picture as it continues ringing.
“You gonna answer that?” Addy asks, startling me, and I drop the phone on the floor.
“Huh?”
“Are you going to answer your phone? And are you going to keep lying to me about why you stayed the night last night?”
I bite my lip and shoot her a guilty look. “I’m sorry.”
She sighs. “Hun, I don’t care that you lied. I just want to make sure you’re okay.”
I sit up on the couch and fold my legs under me as she sits on the other side. “Yeah. We just had a fight.”
She nods like she already knew that. My phone starts ringing again and I roll my eyes before rejecting the call.
“You gonna answer that at all today?” she asks again and I shrug. “Do you know what you’re going to do?”
“No,” I admit. “We left things kind of badly last night.”
“Well, talk to him.” My phone starts ringing yet again. I shake my head and she huffs before grabbing the phone out of my hand.
“Ryan,” she answers. “It’s Addilyn…She’s fine…I don’t know if she wants to see you…No, I’m not giving you my address…Oh, shove it, asshole.” She hangs up the phone and hands it back to me.
