Page 47 of Heart Thief

Had protein shake.

Sent emails.

Drove to work.

Productive day.

Ate a clean lunch.

Saw Dad.

Visited with Mom.

Grabbed a burger.

Went home.

Watched the news.

Went to bed.

Well, that wasn’t a very exciting day. I flip through the pages looking for an actual entry.

I can’t find one.

Each day is the same—a general laundry list of what he did with little variance. He asked me to read this, feeling it would help me get to know him better.

It does.

It tells me more about him than he can ever imagine. This can’t be right. I search every page and it’s more of the same. I search out some of the pages marked with the dates when I know we went out together. It never says anything more thanWent out with Mila.

There are no feelings, no emotions bleeding onto the page. This is who Ryker is. He lives his life and does what is expected of him. Like a robot.

I can’t do this.

I slam the book closed and toss it onto the nightstand. I pull off Ryker’s promise ring and place it in his top drawer where he keeps his watches.

I am no longer promised to him. I need to rethink my life. It feels oddly like starting over again and I feel lost.

When Ryker returns, I will end things with him again, face to face. Not through the phone.

In my heart, I know I want more.

Much, much more.

chapter seventeen

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ZANE WALKS INlooking bone weary. “Hey.”

“Hey.” I glance at my watch. It’s two in the morning. “Late night, huh?”

I told myself I wasn’t waiting up for him, but who am I kidding? I push my blanket and pillow aside, but I don’t flick the lights on. The TV illuminates the room, giving off a soft glow. Artie moans at the disturbance, walks over to my pillow, and curls up on it, promptly falling back to sleep.

Zane and I have settled into a routine. We often have Lucky Charms together in the morning for breakfast. Each evening, we collapse onto the couch when I get home from practice and he gets home from visiting his father. We veg in front of the TV, eating dinner and watching Jeopardy, each of us trying to answer the most questions correctly. With our schedules, it’s really the only time we see each other. I stopped fighting the inevitable interaction and now I look forward to it.

Zane flops onto the couch and sighs heavily. “Saved the world today.”

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