Page 25 of Easy Reunion
Chapter 11
Kelsey
After I push out of the water, I don’t look in Ry’s direction even though I see him out of the corner of my eye, sitting on the low bleachers. Once inside the women’s locker room, I shower off the chlorine and slip into a loose sundress. I’m still not used to the humidity living in the South again. Between my time in Southern California for college and then the time I spent living in Connecticut, I haven’t endured the persistent sweltering heat in longer than I can remember.
Even in an air-conditioned room, it feels tangible on my skin as I swing my purse and workout bag over my shoulder. Opening the door to the locker room, I’m pulling out my keys so I can make a quick break for my car. Not looking where I’m going, I bump into someone. “Excuse me,” I offer politely before a warm hand slides up to clench at my waist.
“No apologies necessary. I was deliberately trying to get in your way,” Ry tells me.
I go to open my mouth to lambast him when his phone rings unexpectedly. “Do you mind holding on just a moment? It’s my sister, Lisa.”
A sister? Vaguely, I remember Ry mentioning a baby sister years ago, but I can’t recall much about her. She was a few years behind us in school.
“Hey, Lisa, what’s up?” My head snaps when his voice changes to aggravated. “No, I haven’t heard from Mom and Dad today. Did they try my cell? Well, why the hell not?” Agitatedly, he runs his fingers across the scruff of his beard. “Don’t tell me Dad tried to change the tire on his own.” A short pause. Ry spins away, pacing. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, that’s what they have AAA for!” He comes up short. “Wait, let me guess, he didn’t want to wait.”
A giggle escapes me before I can stop it. Ry narrows his bright blue eyes on me. I slap a hand across my mouth and shake my head. “No, I’m still at the gym. I ran into Kelsey here. I was going to try to convince her to have a drink with me to explain what happened when we ran into her at Cafe Du Monde this morning, but apparently, my family is a bunch of crazy lunatics who I have to rein in from three states away.” Rubbing the back of his neck, he grumbles, “No, I’ll be home in a bit. Tell Mom to keep her cell nearby. Love you too.” Hanging up, he demands, “Do you need a more creative explanation of that, or did you get the highlights?”
I burst out laughing. I can’t help it. The loving frustration on Ry’s face is priceless. “So, that really was your sister earlier? Not your wife?” I confirm, despite Angel’s reassurance. I want Ry to look me in the eyes when he answers.
The emphatic shake of his head underscores his “No. I’m not that kind of man.” A slash of pain crosses his face. “Though I can understand why you might think I am.”
A dark silence settles between us as we stand in the fading sunlight of the hallway between the locker rooms leading to the pool. Stepping back into my space, he reaches up and tucks a piece of hair that’s escaped my clip behind my ear. “Will you give me a chance to explain?” His voice is quiet, somber.
I nod, albeit reluctantly. I’m not entirely sure I want to open my heart or my mind up to the past, but he has to be confused by what happened in Savannah, so I owe him my own explanation as well—specifically why I didn’t fess up to who I was a few nights ago. The small smile that curves his lips causes an ache inside my chest. I just refuse to acknowledge it. We stand there motionless until he finally breaks the spell.
“There’s nothing more I’d like to do than to go with you somewhere right now and continue this conversation, but I have to go. Where’s your phone? Let me give you my number.”
Pulling out my phone, I hand it to him. Ry quickly programs his number before dialing his own. I smile when his ringtone, a distinctive Dave Matthews song, hits the air. It makes my lips curve as it’s one of my favorites. Punching a few buttons, he saves the information. “Got it.” Shoving his phone in his back pocket, he grabs his gym bag from the floor. “I’ll call you soon.”
“I look forward to it,” I tell him honestly. And I do. I want to clear the air between us as well once and for all. Until that moment at graduation, I’d considered him a friend, even if my feelings went well beyond that. Especially after that one moment where I felt something more. Something that set my heart to dreaming girlish dreams. And the residual effects of those dreams manifested themselves into something much more the other night in the hotel room.
He nods and starts to walk away, leaving me there wondering how soon it will be until I hear from him. “Hey, Ry?” I call out.
He stops and turns back. I lift both of my hands when I shrug. “I hope it ends up being nothing serious. With your dad. But I’m glad you have him around still.” Before he can respond, I turn and head in the opposite direction to where my car is parked.
And back to Angel’s to tell her what just happened.
* * *
Four days have passedsince I saw Ry at the pool.
Like a lovesick girl, I keep checking my phone, hoping everything is okay with his family. I hope nothing serious has happened to him that required Ry to make a trip back to Savannah. Frustrated, unable to concentrate on writing, I storm out of the bedroom with my phone in my hand. “What the hell was the name of that shoe store Lisa mentioned?”
“Uh-oh.” Angel exchanges a worried look with Darin.
“Tell me now, or you know I’ll just wander the Quarter and find it anyway,” I warn.
“Do I need to call a U-Haul?” Darin jokes.
Angel elbows him in the stomach. “This is serious, Dare. Do I need to call Morgan and tell her I won’t be in to go with you?” Morgan is the center coordinator at Le Cadeau.
All friends everywhere should be as amazing as Angel, I think to myself. Then again, she’d lie and I swear to it just to get us out of trouble of any kind, so her offer isn’t as much a surprise as a warm balm that soothes my aching—no, infuriated, damnit—heart. “Nope. I need time with me, shoes, and my credit card.”
“Head Over Heels. On Royal.” When I raise my brow at her in mild surprise, she shrugs. “I knew you’d cave eventually. Now you don’t need to look the address up.”
Walking over, I wrap my arms around her and hug. “Thanks for never letting me down,” I whisper.
“Never will either. Now, go buy something sexy that I can only dream of wearing.”
With a wink over her shoulder at Darin, whose expression says that everything Angel does is sexy, I murmur, “Will do,” before I let her go to grab my purse.
If there’s ever a time a girl needs a new pair of shoes for absolutely no reason, it’s because she feels like she’s either been blown off or helpless. As much as I wish it were the second, I’m pretty damn sure it’s the first.
To hell with Rierson Perrault. To hell with men. To hell with wanting to be a responsible adult, mortgages, deadlines, and shit. All a girl needs is wine and shoes.
And maybe chocolate.
Thinking back, I realize I can run through the Quarter before hitting up Head Over Heels. Then I can have all three at once.
Perfect.
