Page 23 of Critical Doubt

"It's fine. Ryker is Todd's friend. I'm sure Todd wouldn't care that he's there. How is Ryker doing? He got pretty beat up in the river, and those scars on his leg looked bad."

"He's hanging in there, like the rest of us."

Abby leaned against the counter as she waited for the coffee to perk. "Paul really missed Ryker these past several months. He tried to get in touch with him a few times, but he never heard back. I guess Ryker was dealing with problems of his own."

"He mentioned that he had been out of touch and felt bad about it. I do think there's more going on with him than problems with his leg. He seems…haunted."

Abby gazed back at her. "I thought that about Paul, too. He would drift off in the middle of a conversation. He would be miles away from me even when he was sitting two feet away. And he was paranoid, too. He even accused me of having a thing for Colin. How crazy is that?"

"Well, you are close friends," she said carefully.

"That's all we are. I would never cheat on Paul. Never! How could you think that, Savannah?"

"I don't think that," she said quickly, seeing the anger in Abby's eyes. "But I could see that Paul might have been a little jealous of Colin's presence in your life."

"He had no right to be. Colin was there when Paul wasn't. He was in the hospital with me when Tyler got sick. He made me food. He made sure I slept. And he watched Tyler for me when he got better, so I could have a break. Of course, we're close. And, yes, Tyler loves Colin. But why shouldn't he? Colin has been great with him."

"I believe you, Abby. You don't have to defend yourself to me."

"I shouldn't have had to defend myself to my husband. He should have trusted me, but he didn't. Now you're making me think he had a right to be mad at me. Maybe I was blurring the lines."

"Abby, breathe. I'm on your side—one hundred percent. And I don't think Colin was really Paul's problem."

"You're right. Colin was just an excuse for Paul to be angry—as if he needed another one. He loved the army and then he hated it. In some ways, I think he felt the same way about himself." She paused, grabbing mugs out of the cabinet. "Are you still drinking your coffee black?"

"Yes."

Abby filled two mugs and then sat down at the island with her. "I wanted to ask you something, Savannah."

"What's that?"

"You and Ryker."

She almost choked on her coffee. "There's no me and Ryker."

"You've been with him all day. You brought him here. You went to Todd's with him. You seem like you know him, but you only met him this afternoon, right?"

She was surprised that Abby, in all her distraction, had picked up on the connection between them. "Actually, no. I met him five years ago."

"Are you serious? How did I not know that?"

"We had a one-night stand. It was right before I left the army."

Abby's eyes widened in amazement. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't know his name at the time, and he didn't know mine. It sounds kind of slutty to say that, but it's the truth. It was one of those wild, reckless, impulsive nights. I didn't even realize he was in Paul's unit until two years ago when you showed me a photo of the team."

"I remember that. You asked me his name and you got a funny look on your face. Why didn't you say something then?"

"It was too far in the past by that point. I didn't think I'd see him again. I'd pretty much forgotten about him." Even as she said the words, she knew they weren't completely true. She had thought about Ryker a lot over the years, sometimes comparing other men to him, and they'd always come up short. She wished she'd been able to forget about him, but he'd stuck in her head.

"So you hadn't seen him in five years until today?" Abby asked.

"No. I thought he might come to the funeral, but I wasn't sure he'd remember me."

"How could he forget you? You're a lot of things, Savannah, but forgettable is not one of them. What did he say when he saw you?"

"He was shocked. He had no idea I knew Paul or that I wasn't the dancer he thought I was."

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