Page 77 of Unraveling the Truth About Love
Jade grabbed her hand across the table. “Riley, honey, you’re not the enemy.”
“I know,” Riley cried. “Stupid tears.” She wipedher eyes with a napkin. “I just feel like I want to hide in a cave. I don’t ever want to go back.”
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” Jade said.
Riley remained silent. She needed Jade’s support. She needed to know she could come home and stay home if she wanted to.
“Cruella can have your drawings. She can even have your man, for that matter. Really, Ri, why do you need JoshBraden anyway?” Jade took a bite of her baguette, her eyes never leaving Riley’s.
“I know what you’re doing. You pushed me like that in New York. I’m not stupid, Jade.”
“Are you sure? Because I know many women who would give their left arm to be loved the way Josh loves you,” Jade said.
“How would you know?”
“Rex told me that Treat said he’d never seen Josh fall for a woman at all, much lesspractically live with one. And Max said that Josh looked at you like Rex looks at me—and you know how Rexy looks at me.” She shrugged. “Small town and all that.”
“They said that?” Riley knew how much Josh loved her. It showed in everything he did: the way he told her to look at him while they made love, his confession about not having women in his apartment, running all over creation to secretlybe with her. Who else would throw their career on the firing line to stand beside her? Then the memory of that awful night when she found him on the couch came searing back, and the hurt of the accusation came right along with it. She reached up and rubbed at the pain in the back of her neck.
“Yes, of course,” Jade said.
Riley wished the cave was really an option. It would be so much easierthan weeding through her tangle of conflicting emotions.
“Let me ask you something,” Riley said. “If you knew that you didn’t deserve something, but that if Rex stood up for you it could hurt him, would you let him do it? Or would you extricate yourself from the situation so he wouldn’t have to deal with it?”
“Hasn’t he already?” Jade answered. “We’ve both gone up against our parents at therisk of losing them. That was very painful for all of us. It might not have been Yahoo! News painful, but it was every bit as emotionally disabling.”
“I guess.” Riley sighed.
Riley’s phone vibrated, and she ignored it. She’d seen a message from Josh while she was waiting for the plane to take off, and she’d been too conflicted to respond.
“I’m so afraid of hurting him,” she admitted to Jade,ignoring her phone’s incessant vibrations.
“Riley?”
“What?”
Jade nodded toward Riley’s purse. “I know what you’re doing. You can’t just ignore him. Relationships don’t work that way, and you’re not that kind of woman. You’re a communicator.”
Riley sighed. “I’m just not ready to talk to him. I can’t help but feel like I’ve hurt him, and when he first told me what was going on, I swear I hatedthe look of pity in his eyes. It was like he loved me, but he wasn’t sure if he quite believed me at the time, and he felt sorry for me.”
“So tell him that. That’s what you would tell me to do. Pick up the phone and tell the man. He’s going to the ends of the earth to make sure you’re taken care of. It’s the least you can do.”
Riley dug through her purse. “Sometimes I hate you when you’re right.”
“I know. Luckily, we have a love-hate relationship that can survive any man problem,” Jade teased.
She read the messages from Josh. She couldn’t deny the love she had for him. She texted back.I’m here safe and sound. Thank u4 standing by me. Love you. Ri.
Then she scrolled to a message from Mia and read it.
Hang in there. Here if uneed me. Xox.M.
“Mia texted me.” She smiled and textedback.Thx. Ur not mad at me for not tellingu? I’m so sorry.
“And?” Jade asked.
Riley’s phone vibrated.Maybe a little hurt, but I get it. Don’t worry. We’re cool. Xox.
