“As much fun as it would be to see you kick his ass…I don’t know how that would really help. Right now, I need to lie down because that Jack is kicking my ass. I want to wait until he gets back from New York to even say anything.” I stumbled towards the bed and plopped down.
“You said that you guys were supposed to go to dinner? Are you going to cancel that? You can stay here as long as you want, you know that right?” He came and sat down next to me on the bed. He began to play with my hair.
“I’m going to still go. I will act like nothing ever happened. I know that sounds really naïve, but I want to see if he tells me. I want to give him the chance to come clean. And if he doesn’t, this New York trip will also give us some space.” I yawned. “You know what hurts the most, Caleb? The waitress at the bar said he had two girls after him this evening. If it’s two tonight, how many more are there?” I asked warily.
I scooted up to lay down on one of the fluffy pillows. They were so incredibly comfortable!
Caleb scooted closer to me. He pushed the strands of hair away from my face and kissed my head.
I was typically a wine and fruity cocktail drink kind of girl on occasion I enjoyed a beer, but the hard liquor always hit me hard and fast. “Ryleigh, baby, do you need me to wake you up at a certain time?” He said softly as he still stroked my hair; it felt marvelous. Even in the middle of the night his cologne smelled so good. Maybe it had been absorbed into the sheets.
“Huh?” I startled. “Oh. Uh. I have to meet my friend, Courtney at 10:30. So I probably should be up at 9:30?” I rolled over and felt his fingers gently stroking down my back. He cuddled up to me. I loved the way this felt; I never wanted to leave this bed.
“Okay, baby. You get some rest; you’ve had a really long night.” He rolled over and set the alarm on the night stand behind him, but quickly returned to me. He kissed my hair and whispered something into my ear, but I couldn’t comprehend what he had said.
Chapter Nine
I was startled by the sound of an alarm going off. What scared me the most was that was not the sound of my alarm. Shit! I forgot that I spent the night in Caleb’s room! I rolled over to find him staring at me, with a small smile on his face. My head felt like tiny hammers were hitting me everywhere.
“Good morning, beautiful.” He whispered.
“Hi.” I whispered back. “I’m so sorry that I came over so late last night. But thank you for listening to me vent and letting me crash.” “Ryleigh, seriously, don’t apologize. I was glad that I was able to get my ass out of bed to get to the door before you left.” He sat up in the bed. “Last night you needed someone, I’m really glad that you came to me.” He leaned over and kissed my forehead. “Let’s not let it ruin our morning. Go grab a shower, enjoy the shower head settings, they really are amazing.Do you want me to order you anything from room service?” He asked as he grabbed the menu from the nightstand.
I felt very spoiled around Caleb. “Thanks so much. I could really use some coffee, but I’m not really hungry. I am supposed to be eating with Courtney at the spa anyway.” I said slowly sitting up. “Do you have any Advil? I asked grabbing my head.
“Well I am going to get me something to eat, so I will get you some coffee. The coffee here is amazing, so you have to at least try it.” He picked up the phone and began to order. “I have some Advil in the bathroom.”
I went into the bathroom and shut the door behind me. I slowly began to undress and turned on the shower. I grabbed the bottle of Advil on the counter and poured a couple and took a swig of the water under the sink.
When I got into the shower, I couldn’t believe how right he was; the shower head settings were each like a thousand water fingers massaging each part of my body. I almost I could skip meeting Courtney and just staying in this shower all day. I laughed as I stood there enjoying the warmth of the water.
I got out and dried myself off; the towels were almost as fluffy as the pillows. I saw his mouthwash on the counter and took a couple swigs to kill the morning breath I knew that I was sporting. I picked up my clothes off the floor and slipped them back on. I hated having to put on the clothes that I spent the evening in, but I usually stripped down anyway for a massage. I wrapped my hair in the towel and walked out into the room to find a cup of coffee waiting for me on the table.
Caleb had moved out onto the balcony to enjoy his breakfast outside. He looked delicious enough to be eaten up in the robe, reading the newspaper and eating his breakfast. I stood there and imagined us on our back porch, enjoying sunsets, breakfasts and dinners. Just the two of us. The heat from the coffee burned my tongue and I snapped back to reality.
“Hey, I am out here if you wanna come join me. How was the shower?” He was peeked his head inside to grab my attention. “Oh my god, the shower was awesome! I was even thinking I could cancel my massage and just stay in the shower the rest of the day.” I was laughing trying to take another sip of the coffee. “Is there any cream out here? The coffee is really good, but hot and I am a little bit of wimp and can’t take it straight black.”
“Oh, yeah, sorry. Here, tell me when.” He began to pour some creamer into my cup.
“When. Thanks.” I leaned in and gave him a kiss. Not sure if that is what either of us was expecting, but he reciprocated the sentiment.
“I’m gonna have to get you in that shower more often, especially when I get kisses for just adding cream to your coffee.” He joked as he sat back down to his breakfast.
“Hmmm. That might actually be a lot of fun! We’ll have to try that soon.” I didn’t feel so bad for flirting with him, especially after what happened last night. “I never in a million years thought that we would be agreeing to shower sex! Now that we have, I am going to have to pull you back into that shower with me as soon as I finished here!” He said with his killer grin.
“As much as that sounds like it would be the best time ever, I have to get going.” I frowned at that thought. “I need to go and meet Courtney.” I said quietly.
“Do you want to come here afterwards?” He asked with a hopeful tone.
“Caleb… I think I should go home. Believe me; I don’t want to be there. I need to get this straightened out. I need to know what the hell happened.” I hung my head down, looking at my cup of coffee.
Caleb got up from his chair and squatted in front of me. “I just want to make sure YOU are okay; you are myconcern, not this piece of shit. I know that he is your husband; I shouldn’t be talking about him that way. Fuck, Ryleigh, he should love you each day. Not just loving you, but showing you he loves JUST you every day. It shouldn’t be a chore to come home to you in the evening to be a loving husband, but it should be a privilege.” He paused for a moment grabbing my hand and stroking my fingers. “If I had my way, I’dcome home and adore everything about you! Make sure that you knew that you were the only one for me.” He pulled my hand up to his soft lips and kissed it. “Fuck! You’re the only one for me Ryleigh!” He cupped my face and pulled me into a deep kiss. I began to tear up.
Nobody in my entire life had ever said something so sweet to me. Even when Liam and I were getting our vows ready for our wedding, I snuck a quick peek at them, he had just promised to love me forever. He meant well, but what Caleb said after a moment of talking, was the same thing that Liam had months and months of prep time for.
“Caleb, you make me feel like I’m the last woman on the planet when you say things like that!” I said smiling and wiping my eyes. “You are the last woman to me. I have loved you since the sixth grade! Every girl or even woman that I ever dated would only hear me compare them to you or listen to me talk about how you were the best, which is why nothing would ever last. I wasn’t trying to be a dick, but I obviously didn’t know what I was looking for. It wasn’t until someone said that I was in love with you and they stood no chance.” He stood up and pulled me up with him, pulling him into his arms for a soft embrace.
I stood there in his arms as we held each other. I always h
ad to somewhere to be when I was with him and I really wanted to have him hold me forever.
“I really want to spend the rest of the day just holding you just like this.” He said quietly while kissing the top of my head. “I was thinking the same thing.” I laughed. “And I also was thinking, how every time that I get a great moment with you, I have to leave.” I looked inside to the clock on the nightstand. “I really should head out.” I squeezed him a little harder. “Caleb, can we plan sometime soon where we can just do that?” I asked pushing my head into his chest.
“You don’t have to ask. Ever. You just tell me when and we will make it happen. But for now, go relax and have an amazing day with your girlfriend. I would say go make yourself beautiful, but you already are.” He led me back into the room and towards the door.
I smiled like an idiot. I looked like a bum and yet he made me feel like a contestant in the Miss America pageant.
“Tonight I’m supposed to see Liam.” I said unsure. “I will text you later, okay? Then we will see each other on Monday night, I’ll just come straight here from work, if that is okay with you.”
“Sounds great. We will have a great night together.” He leaned in and gave me a kiss and I headed towards the elevators. I was ready for it to be Monday already, but I hadto prepare myself for what lied ahead with Liam. What the hell was I going to say to him? The whole situation made me feel numb. He never once gave me any reason to believe that he was cheating. Was now the time to confess to him what I have been doing? Would it make it right? Would it make it easier? I really needed think about this. I needed to talk to Court about it but I wasn’t sure how I would even bring it up.
I headed to the garage to get my car and drive the few blocks to the spa. I didn’t want to begin the conversation by explaining why my car was at the Four Seasons.
When I arrived at the spa, I parked in the back lot and walked towards the entrance. I saw Courtney and her pregnancy glow sitting in the lobby, pregnancy definitely agreed with her.
“Hey! You okay?” Court asked looking me up and down before pulling me into a hug.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” I asked confused. “Well because you look like hell rolled over on you. Twice. Did you get any sleep?” Courtney always had herself done up before she left the house. Even incollege, we would hit a Frat party and have about an hour of sleep and she still wouldn’t attend morning class without putting any makeup on.
“Wow! It is so nice to see you too” I said pinching her arm with a smile. “You definitely know how to tell someone that they look like shit.”
“Well, do you want me to lie to you? ‘Hi, Ry, you look absolutely gorgeous!’ Is that Better?” She pinched me back.
“Well.” I paused. “No, actually I’m glad you’re so blunt.” I laughed as were told to follow the attendant.
“Man, I am starving! I had some toast, fruit, juice and half of Jason’s bagel before I left and am still starving!” Court said grabbing her stomach.
“Seriously? Geez, woman you sure there is only one in there?” I asked in shock.
“Shut up! Yes there is only one! I am just happy that I was able to keep it all down. Now let’s have some real food!” She said excitedly. We followed the attendant to our table in the back and sat down while we waited for our server to come over. I hungrily glanced over the menu; I wanted to eat everything on the menu. I decided just on some blueberry waffles and some bacon. My stomach was in knots. I was hiding this mess from Courtney, my best friend; I had never hid anything from her. I felt like she could see right through me.
“Okay, what’s up?” She asked handing our menus to the server. “You look like shit, you are sitting their extremely quiet and you are biting your nails. I really didn’t realize that I was biting my nails until she pointed it out. Courtney always knew something was on my mind when I reverted to gnawing at my fingers, I would begin to do so around finals week every semester.
“Nothing.” I sighed. “You’re really going to lie to me after how many years we have known each other?” She took a large gulp of her orange juice. “Ryleigh, I’ve known you forever and I always know when something is bothering you or when you are hiding something. Spill!” Courtney demanded.
“Ugh. I don’t even know where to begin, though!” I started. “This whole thing is so fucked up and I don’t want any judgment from you. Or even to upset you in any sort of way. Can I have your word that no matter what, your pregnancy emotions can be contained and you keep your mouth shut?” I said harshly, but I knew that if I were going to even talk to her about it, I was going to have her guarantee her word on this.
“Pinkie swear.” She held out her pinkie in a hook shape to latch onto mine. “Alright, I hope you are ready for this one.” I took a drink of my Diet Coke and took a deep breath in.
Chapter Ten
I started out telling her about Caleb from the beginning. I went into how he left me with a broken heart. She remembered how I was down the first couple weeks of our freshman year of school. I told her that I was truly in love with him. Then how I put him in the back of my mind once I truly started having fun and after meeting Liam that I was perfectly content with my life without him. Or so I believed.
“So when I saw him at the restaurant, during Jason’s birthday dinner, I really felt all of those old feelings rush back. I couldn’t concentrate the rest of the night.” I sighed.
“I remember, you were really quiet, but I thought that it was just from work or maybe something happened between you and Liam.” She inhaled anotherbite of her pancakes. “No, we were fine that night. I just was caught completely off guard by seeing him. Anyway, we ended meeting for lunch the next day. We got to talking about everything and then…” I paused so I could take a bite and then brace myself for the next sentence. “Courtney, he ended up kissing me right there in restaurant! Before you say anything, yes I kissed back.” I stopped to observe her, her jaw almost hit the table. “Yes, you can sit there with your mouth wideopen but remember no judging! You promised!” I wiggled my pinkie at her.
“Ryleigh. I’m not going to pass any judgment at all. I’m not going to condone this, but when you run into the love of your life after this many years; there are always going to be those feelings there. You just have to remember, you are married.” Court grabbed my hand to reassure me that we were still friends. I didn’t think she was going to see what I told her next.
“I know, I’m married. It’s just…” I gripped her hand so she couldn’t pull away. I felt her hand tense up.
“Oh shit, Ryleigh. What did you do?” Courtney was trying to keep her voice down and calm, especially since we were in the middle of the restaurant. “Court, I didn’t do anything. We ended up stopping before something did happen, but Court, it brought all these old feelings back. I felt like I was eighteen again, just the way his lips felt on mine… I can’t describe it.” I sighed.
I changed the subject to get off of me and proceeded to tell her about how Liam has been really stressed and working a lot more. How he broke the news of going to New York. I paused for a bit so she could eat a little more. I continued and she got to enjoy the story of drunken phone call. I told her how he said that I was nagging him and how he thinks that he is working so hard to support me. That I was a ball and chain to him.
“He fucking said that?! I can’t believe that he said that!” She was furious and looked at me in complete awe.
“Yep. Now granted he was drunk…” Courtney interrupted me. “I don’t give a shit if he was drunk, sober or high on drugs; you don’t call your wife and tell her all these things! Ninety nine percent of the time that you tell someone this when you are drunk; it’s what you won’t or can’t say when you are sober. It’s called liquid courage for a reason. Do you think he remembers?” Courtney was getting riled up; I thought she was going to leave her appointment to go kick some ass.
“I don’t know if he remembers or not, but that’s not the whole story.” I wanted to give her a second to cool do
wn but I knew that our massages were coming up and we would be in separate rooms so our conversation would have to wait.
“So, I was going to go down to the bar to bring him home. I was about to storm out of the house but I forgot my phone upstairs. I went back and found that he sent a text to me.” I showed her the text, I should have deleted it but I was glad that I kept it. This way I could show him too.
“Fuck! What a fucking douche!” She looked around to see how many people she offended. Thankfully there were no kids around.
I continued on and told him about Amber and her leggy friend. How I found him and that didn’t even think twice about going to Caleb. How I spent last night with him.
“And tonight, I’m supposed to see him. We have dinner reservations.” I said glumly. “You can’t see him! Are you going to tell him you know? You know, Ry, you said that you had all these old feelings come back when you kissed Caleb… maybe this was a sign you were meant to be with him.” She laughed. “You do know that if I see Liam, I’m gonna have to punch him in the junk, right?” She laughed harder.
I couldn’t help but laugh really loud. Courtney had once punched a guy in the balls when he called her a slut because she wouldn’t sleep with him. She had a powerful fist of fury; no guy should ever mess with. “Court, you can’t do that!” I said laughing, but found myself getting a bit more serious. “ I’m not going to say anything until he gets back from New York. I know it’s a few more days but I really need to figure how I would even bring it up.” I could feel some tears starting to build up.
“You know you always have a house with me and Jason.” She grabbed my hand and squeezed. “There’s no question how you would bring it up ‘I saw you! You are a lying cheating husband and we are done!’ See? That’s how you do it.” She said grabbing my hand. You need to get rid of Liam and get back to this Caleb! I can’t believe I’m encouraging this.” She briefly paused. “But Caleb sounds like the guy who you deserve! I always thought that Liam was that guy, but obviously I was totally wrong.”
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