Page 73 of Dear Ripley

“I agree.” Morgan sashayed closer to where I was working. “But that’s not all it was. There was some kind of energy between the two of you at Didi’s. So, what’s going on? You getting back together? Are you already back together? Are you—sexting? What’s the term for when you’re sexting in letters?”

My face burned. “I have no idea, but it’s irrelevant anyway because nothing like that is happening. Nor will it be. The letters have been entirely innocent, and the only energy between us is the sheer awkwardness at being pushed together by a shared drive to keep Harlow safe.”

“Do you even like Harlow?”

I looked at her, dropping the flower I was holding back onto the workbench. “Of course I do. Where did you get that from?”

“I’m just asking. It’s not like you werethatclose with her before she left Jackson Point, and you’ve hardly stayed in touch.”

“Were you that close with Alicia before she left?”

“No. You know that. We chatted, of course, I was your best friend and she was your wife, but I was always your friend first.”

“Right. And now the women’s cooped up in your house. Just because Harlow was Alicia’s friend, and on her side of things, doesn’t mean I don’t like or care about her.”

“Just not the same way you care about Alicia.”

I let out a frustrated sigh. “Morgan, seriously, why are you here? What do youwant?”

She laughed. “You only get frustrated with me when I’m hitting on the truth.”

“That I don’t like Harlow? I just told you I do.”

“Not that, silly. The whole thing with Alicia. You’re coming around, right? You want her back?”

“No.” It wasn’t entirely true, but it wasn’t a total lie, either. I did still have feelings for her, and being around her was difficult, but we’d done that before, and I had no interest in torturing either of us with it again. We both knew we were better off as friends. Nothing else mattered.

“Yeah, right. I see the way you two look at each other. But that’s okay if you need a bit more time. You’ll both be sleeping at mine tonight, anyway, so you’ll have plenty of time to… chat.”

“I’m not staying at yours. I’m going home.”

She stared at me, betrayed. “Of course you’re staying at mine. You promised.”

“Yeah, to help you go to bed at a reasonable time—which, by the way, has been going terribly because you sneak your internet girlfriend on your phone.”

“Oh my god,” she squealed, turning red. “She’s not mygirlfriend. I don’t have a girlfriend. It’s not my fault it’s so easy to get at the internet. That thing’s addictive, you know?”

“I’m sure it is when you want to spend every second watching your internet girlfriend.”

She fumed for a moment before smiling. “Maybe we should play seven minutes in heaven tonight, while you’re staying at my house. Because youwillbe staying.”

I picked up the flowers again. “If you do that, I’m leaving and never talking to you again, Morgan. We’re not in middle school anymore. You can’t force two people who have chosen not to be together to make out in a closet and assume that will make everything better.”

“You don’t want to make coming-out-of-the-closet jokes?”

“I really don’t.”

“Huh. It’s like I don’t even know you.”

“No,” I said slowly, carefully. “It’s like you’re hooked on this weird little fantasy of getting me back with Alicia, and you’re not willing to give it up for reality. While I am living in reality.”

She leaned across the bench, holding my gaze and barely blinking. It was a little unnerving. “But you still love each other. It’s so obvious.”

I sighed. I could talk for hours about how it wasn’t obvious, we didn’t still love each other, we barely even knew each other, but, at the end of the day, the only thing that mattered… I took a deep breath. “Sometimes, love just isn’t enough.”

I held Morgan’s gaze, knowing I couldn’t give in to the guilt, the wave of emotions, or the overwhelming sadness suddenly crashing around inside me like the sea against the shore.

A rush of emotions crossed her face—the need to believe that wasn’t true, the way she genuinely seemed to want me back with Alicia, something about her own feelings and the unreachable YouTuber, I was certain.

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