Page 34 of Save Me

“Do you have time to join us for a minute?” Ryleigh asked, and even he could tell she was forcing the friendliness to her tone.

“If you don’t mind…” Ivy pondered, looking directly at him.

He motioned to the empty chair and put his attention back on his breakfast.

“So, um…what are you two up to?” Ivy asked, possibly sensing the tension.

“Just a little breakfast date,” Ryleigh murmured. “Ryker worked all night and I was just telling him he should have just texted and canceled, but…”

“But I’m a man of my word,” he responded gruffly, meeting Ryleigh’s gaze. “We had a date, and I wanted to see you. End of story.”

Ivy looked awkwardly between the two of them. She took a sip of her coffee before gently clearing her throat. “I’m just coming off an overnight shift myself. I’m a paramedic. What do you do, Ryker?”

Without looking away from Ryleigh, he said, “I’m an artist.”

“Oh! How fascinating!”

“That explains why your hands are filthy,” Ryleigh said sweetly.

Shit. Most people who knew him didn’t even question the ink and graphite on his skin. They all knew it came with the territory.

Well, those who knew what he did for a living.

“Do you sculpt or draw or…what do you prefer to work with?”

“I draw out everything first in pencil and then do the final version in ink,” he explained, barely glancing in Ivy’s direction. “Obviously it can get messy.”

“I never could draw,” Ivy went on, doing her best to keep the conversation going. “I’m more of a math and science girl. I draw a pretty good stick figure, but that’s about it. Ryleigh’s definitely artistic. No wonder the two of you were attracted to each other.” Then she giggled. “I almost said drawn to each other, but I thought it sounded ridiculous!” Then she laughed again.

He caught Ryleigh rolling her eyes and winked at her.

They were definitely on the same page.

“I’d love to see some of your work,” Ivy went on. “Do you have stuff in any galleries or do you do illustrations for books or magazines? I think artistic people are so fascinating and…”

Her cellphone rang and all Ryker could think was that they were literally saved by the bell. She seemed like a nice enough person, but he could also tell she was a someone who hated any kind of lull in a conversation.

As Ivy excused herself to take the call, he looked over at Ryleigh and saw her picking at her muffin. “Not hungry?”

Looking up at him, she shrugged. “I was, but this just all started to feel weird. I told Ivy that we were meeting here and so I knew she was going to show up,” she admitted. “I just didn’t expect her to talk so much or ask so many questions, so…sorry.”

At least she was honest.

Nodding, he took a sip of his coffee. “I get it. As you’ve probably noticed, I’m not someone who’s overly chatty. Add that to the whole lack of sleep thing and I’m obviously not looking like a great guy.”

Reaching across the table, Ryleigh placed her hand on his forearm, mildly surprising him. “You really should have just texted me. It wouldn’t have been a big deal. There would have been other dates.”

“Yeah, well…”

“Which, um…brings me to another subject. Sort of,” she murmured, slowly pulling her hand away. “Are you busy Friday night?”

He was supposed to catch up with Dax about the tattoo design over a Zoom call, but…

“No. What’s up?”

She told him about her sister wanting to go out on a double date with them and he had to fight the urge to roll his eyes. As adults, it sounded like a ridiculous way to describe going out, but he kept his opinion to himself.

“Will’s a really cool guy—former Marine—and easy to get along with. Ari’s chatty like Ivy, but I can tell her to reel it in so she won’t be quite so…you know…”

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