Read Online Next Time by Robin Alexander - Free Book Online Page B

about what you’re gonna do?”
    “All the time,” Ryann admitted with a sigh. “I just can’t bring myself to do it.”
    “Send her a text.”
    “I owe her more than that,” Ryann said as she rubbed her brow.
    “I was joking.”
    “I keep having this dream where I tell her that I want to break up. It takes her completely by surprise, and she’s devastated. Consciously, I think she and I are on the same page. She can’t be happy, either. Frankly, I think that’s why she stays at the office so much. I guess in my subconscious I worry that’s not the case, and I’ll break her heart.”
    “So…if she’s still happy with you, you’ll stay?”
    “No. I’m having a hard time with this.” Ryann raked a hand roughly through her hair. “I rehearse what I need to say all the time, and I tell myself, ‘Tonight is the night.’ Then she walks through the door looking tired, and I come up with a million excuses why it’s not the right time. Truth is, I just lose my nerve.”
    “Send her a text—”
    “Seriously, Shelly!”
    “Listen, send her a text, and tell her that y’all need to talk. Surely, she can come home from work early one damn night. You’ll be locked in then, and you’ll say what you need to.” Shelly shook her head. “I don’t know of anyone in a relationship that would tolerate their partner staying away from home as much as she does. Deny if you will, but I know you have suspicions.”
    “I do,” Ryann admitted softly.
    “And you still have feelings for her. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be so indecisive.”
    Ryann nodded and looked away. “I do. I probably always will. They’re just not strong enough to pull me out of the rut, though.”
    *******
    Payton had lost her appetite when Jana left, so she drank her margarita and Jana’s. Hours passed with no word, so she decided to take a walk and burn off some of the tension she felt and the booze. Even though it was October, the night was warm. With her phone in the pocket of her favorite cutoffs, she headed for the sidewalk at a brisk pace. The conversation she’d had with Jana about Ryann was starting to really settle in on her. She wondered if maybe her search for a soul mate was a fantasy that she’d been clinging to. Maybe the soul’s other half was a fantasy perpetuated by romance novels and movies. Maybe, she’d let Lydia slip through her fingers, and they could’ve been happy when she wasn’t a squirrel.
    She’d gone a couple of blocks when her phone rang. “I have to talk fast, so listen, don’t interrupt,” Jana whispered. “Leigh claimed that she and Ryann had a really bad fight a while back. They’d basically broken up, but neither of them had moved out when she put up the profile. They reconciled, and she forgot to take it down.”
    “But there was a recent post,” Payton said as she walked faster.
    “Melanie called her on that, too. Leigh said she was at work one day waiting to go into a meeting that she knew was gonna be stressful. She just happened to conveniently remember the profile and went in to take it down. She made the post and was about to delete the page when she was interrupted and forgot about it. Lame, I know, and Melanie saw through it, too, and said so. Leigh started crying and begging Melanie not to say anything. She claims she thought that Ryann was having an affair, and that was actually what they fought about. Melanie didn’t believe any of it, but before she left, Leigh promised that she would tell Ryann about the profile, and she would take it down.” Jana sighed heavily. “Melanie wants to leave it in Leigh’s hands. She doesn’t want to lose either of them as friends, and she wants them to be able to work it out.”
    “Okay,” Payton said with resignation, but her feet were moving at top speed.
    “You took that well, now I’m really afraid.”
    “No, you’re right. This isn’t really any of our business.”
    “Okay, I’m going back to bed,” Jana said with a yawn.