Page 76 of Unraveling the Truth About Love
Chapter Thirty-Six
THE SECOND RILEY stepped out of the airport and breathed in the crisp Colorado air, she felt better. She dropped her bags on the pavement, opened her arms wide, and looked up at the sky. Then she closed her eyes and inhaled.
“Have you turned all New Agey on me?”
Riley screamed at the sound of Jade’s voice and ran into her arms. “I’m so glad to see you! Thank you for pickingme up.”
“Who else would do it?” Jade teased.
“Shut up.” She hugged her again and retrieved her bags. “It feels so good to be home. I didn’t realize how much I missed seeing the grass and the mountains. I didn’t realize how much I missed smelling something other than perfume, electric heat, subway steam, and garbage.” She laughed.
“Come on. Are you hungry? Want to grab a bite?” Jade wore jeans,cowgirl boots, and a dark T-shirt beneath a flannel shirt, and it made Riley long to wear the same comfortably familiar ensemble.
Riley tugged playfully on Jade’s waist-length black hair. “I thought you were going to cut your hair. I see you went with the take-me-hard length so Sexy Rexy could grab hold and tug,” she teased.
“Duh. What else would I do? You’ve seen my man.”
“Oh yes, I have,”she said, thinking not of Rex, but of Josh. She missed him already. She’d gone over and over their situation, and no matter how she looked at it, she couldn’t get around the selfishness of it. She loved him so much her heart ached when she wasn’t with him, but did that mean that it was fair of her to drag him through the mud with her? She threw her bags into Jade’s car and tried not to let the weightof her situation spoil her time with Jade.
Hunter Hayes was on the radio, and they both hummed along.
“Fingers okay?” Jade asked.
It took a moment of staring at her hands for Riley to realize that Jade was asking if she’d like to go to Fingers Bar and Grill, in Allure, a town just outside of Weston and on their way home.
“Sure, perfect,” Riley said.
They rode in silence. Riley laid her headback on the headrest and promptly fell asleep.
RILEY BLINKED AWAKE when Jade pulled into the parking lot of Fingers Bar and Grill. “I’m so sorry. I haven’t slept much lately.”
Jade wiggled her eyebrows up and down with a wide smile.
“That’s not why.” Riley swung her arm around Jade as they entered the restaurant. “Imissed you,” she said.
“I missed you, too,” Jade said.
They sat at a corner booth and ordered lunch, and then Jade folded her hands on the table. Her vibrant blue eyes burned a path to Riley.
“What?” Riley asked.
“Nothing,” Jade said.
“Liar.”
“Okay, I’m waiting for you to spill your guts. When I went online to get my email, I saw all the pictures of you and Josh and the whole awful story.You must be ready to die inside, Ri.” She reached across the table and took Riley’s hand in her own. “Don’t you want to talk about it?”
Riley blinked away the rush of emotions that was becoming all too familiar. “It’s all so…wrong. I mean, one minute Josh and I are happy as can be, and the next minute, I’m being accused of stealing Max’s wedding dress design and I can’t prove it’s mine. It’ssuch bull. That woman is evil, truly evil.” Riley pursed her lips. “She’s…You know I don’t hate people easily, but she’s really awful, and she made moves on Josh, too.”
Jade’s eyes opened wide. “No way.”
“Way. And now all of my other original designs are gone, too. There’s no record of my drawing, and of course, no one ever saw me drawing at work. That’s what I get for trying to keep my extracurriculardesigning a secret, I guess.”
The food came, and Riley pushed her salad away. She couldn’t eat if she had a gun to her head.
“What about the faxes you sent me?” Jade asked. “That has to prove something.”
“Josh said that won’t prove they were my original designs. I don’t know…I’ve been thinking about it the whole way home. I’m not sure I should go back. I mean, look at what Josh is being draggedthrough, and it’s all because of me. He was this well-respected, successful designer, at the top of his game, and suddenly I waltz in and he’s being seen as a man who’s sleeping with the enemy.” Hot tears streamed down her cheeks. Riley turned away, swiping at them.
