Page 44 of Dear Ripley

“Oh my god. Seriously? I have anIonaproblem.”

“Iona?”

For possibly the first time ever, she growled at me. Actually growled. “The woman behind The Pretty Gift. I already told you her name.”

“Oh, right, sorry. I totally forgot. My bad.” I did remember her telling me, now that she reminded me, but, to be fair, she hadn’t brought Iona or her channel up since, and she had only mentioned the name once.

“Well, do better to remember, please. I’m having a crisis over here. The least you could do as my best friend is remember her name.”

I tapped the side of my head. “Iona. Got it. Locked in there.”

“Thank you,” she replied tartly. “She’s just so cute and fun, and she enjoys wrapping so much. You should see her videos.”

Maybe I should. It wasn’t like I wasn’t curious about the woman who was inadvertently putting Morgan through the wringer like this. It was highly unusual for Morgan to be this into anyone she didn’t know in real life, so there must be something pretty special about her.

I had my evening plans ready to go for the next few nights, I supposed. It would take me longer than Morgan to get through Iona’s uploads because, while I was curious, I wasn’tstaying up until four in the morning so I could watch them all in one nightcurious.

“Okay, so, what’s the problem?” I asked her.

Her whole face fell, darkening at my words. “The problem is that she’s some random woman on the internet, and I have a job and a life. I don’t have time for this nonsense.”

“You could try just not watching any of her videos until you’ve gotten some sleep,” I suggested as gently as possible.

“Don’t be silly,” she replied immediately, shaking it off as if such a thing would be physically impossible.

“My mistake. Of course that’s not the answer,” I replied, holding my laughter in.

“Exactly.” She downed the rest of her coffee. I was sure it must have been hot, and it was certainly a lot of liquid in one go, but she seemed fine. “I just need a friend to watch with me and help me step away when I need to go to bed.”

The penny dropped and I wanted to laugh again. “Any thoughts on which friend you might need for this?”

“I hate you.” She watched me with narrowed eyes. “Do you really think I’m tellinganyoneelse about this? You’re my best friend. You need to do this for me.”

I finally let out a small laugh. I definitely couldn’t imagine her telling anyone else, and, of course, I’d happily help her, but I was certain there were better ways to get over a crush than to have your best friend police your access to their videos.

“Why are you laughing at me?” she demanded.

I raised my hands in surrender. “I promise I’m not. I’m just laughing at myself for not realizing what you were getting at sooner.”

She pouted and harrumphed but accepted the statement. “So, you’re going to do it?”

“Of course, but I can’t be sleeping at your place every night to make sure you don’t secretly sneak back to YouTube the minute I’m not looking.”

“Yes, you can,” she insisted in a tone that implied she’d been prepared for this obstacle. “I’ve already got the guest room ready for you, it makes sense, and it’s not like you’ve got a lot of other things going on, what with you avoiding leaving the house for fear of running into Alicia.”

“Thank you for that.” I rolled my eyes. I left the house for stuff. We were even going out for dinner tonight. That definitely wasn’t at my house. “Have you considered—oh, I don’t know—reaching out to let her know you love her content?”

“No.” She watched me like I was speaking an alien language. “I haven’t because I’m not feral.”

“It might help,” I insisted. “Maybe talking to her would reduce the whole ‘putting her on a pedestal’ thing you’ve got going on right now. Then, maybe, you’d get over her.”

“Yes, because I’m sure that would go over really well.”

“It might. You won’t know unless you try.”

She stood up, apparently finally ready to leave. “Oh, because reaching out to Alicia has gone so well for you.”

I paused where I was dusting my pants down from sitting on the floor. I knew confirming I was writing Alicia back was going to be a mistake. “Low blow, Morgan.”

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