Just then our names were called for our massages. I was ready to take a break from this conversation and just unwind. I heard my phone going off in my purse; I dug it out and looked at the caller ID. It was Liam. I pushed ignore and headed in for my massage with John.
An hour later, I felt incredibly relaxed. My mind was finally a blank slate, even it were for a short time. I noticed that I was out before Courtney, so I took a seat. I pulled out my phone to find Liam left me a voicemail.
Hey baby! I wanted to see how your ‘girlie’ day was going. I can’t wait until tonight to see you! I made reservations at The Melting Pot for 7pm. I’m going to get some sleep; work was exhausting so I am beat! I love you so much, I will see you later!
Are you serious!? My mouth dropped open; he was seriously trying to make me believe he was at work all night! I was furious! I wish I could go back in and start my massage over again. Courtney came out of her room, looking very radiant and relaxed. She got a puzzled look on her face as I sat there glaring at my phone and shaking my head.
“What’s the matter? You know, you’re supposed to relax when you get a massage, right?” She asked grabbing my arm walking us down to the nail salon.
“He called.” I said firmly.
“Oh no, are you serious? What’d he say?” She looked at me astonished.
“He can’t wait to see me tonight for dinner and that he’s tired from working all night! He really doesn’t remember the conversation!” All I could do was shake my head.
“You need to flat out tell him! Show him that damn text and then kick him while he is down and tell him that you want a divorce!” She shrieked.
We sat down and began to get our pedicures and manicures. I sat there silently weighing everything that had happened in the last few days.
“Courtney, do you think that I’m a horrible person? I know you and I agreed to no judging, but I need you to tell me this.” I asked quietly. “Ryleigh, you and I have been friends for a long time. We’ve had some good and bad times together. When you first told me that you kissed another guy,I was really shocked and I thought I could have punched you.” She examined her nails and then looked up at me and let out a sigh. “But after what you witnessed, what you told me, I don’t think that you need to ever think twice about what you did. Things happen for a reason.”
“Wow. You could’ve just given me a yes or no.” I laughed at her. Then the nail lady interrupted asking what color of nail polish we were going to go with,“Black. Black like my soul.” I said jokingly, however she didn’t really think I was a comedian and went back to painting.
“Ryleigh, seriously, you deserve more than this inyour life and if you don’t leave him…you’re going to end up hating yourself and bringing everyone down around with you. I can’t have ‘Auntie Ryleigh’ being a downer or not around. I love you; just think about what is best for you!” Courtney said starting to cry. “Thank you, Court. I truly mean it when I say; you are really my best friend. I love you!” I began to cry too. “This has been really a great day, besides the drama that I had to bring with me. We need to get together more often, especially before you have this little one!” I paused to make sure I got all of my tears off of my cheek. “Speaking of, I am totally throwing you the best baby shower ever!” I needed something to lighten the mood and what better than to talk about the baby. Just as I saw her face light up like a kid on Christmas, it dropped into a frown.
“Ry.” She whispered. “Liam is here, do you need me to get someone?” She asked quietly.
“No, just act normal. Please. I have no idea why he’s here.” I stopped talking as I saw him walk up with a smile on his face. He was trying to hide a gift bag behind him.
“Hey honey, what are you doing here?” I asked, being as sweet as possible. “I couldn’t sleep much, so I decided to get up and get my day going. I thought that since I’ve been working a lot lately that I would get my beautiful wife a gift to tell her I was sorry.” He leaned in for a kiss and then looked up at Courtney. “Hey Court! How are you feeling?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. “Open it.” He said handing me the bag.
“Hi Liam. Just great.” Courtney was very short with him as she read an article in a magazine. Courtney had always spoken her mind. She was trying really hard, for my sake, not to say anything to him. I reached into the gift bag and pulled out a long narrow gift box, it was a diamond and sapphire tennis bracelet. I looked at Court who was wide eyed and she shook her head and went back to the magazine. Liam kept his eyes on me.
“Oh my god, Liam you shouldn’t have! It’s really… beautiful!” I stunned at the sight of it.
“Just like you. I thought you could wear it to dinner tonight with that blue dress of yours.”
“Sounds like you already planned out my outfit.” I said with a fake smile.
“I did. I’m excited to spend some quality time with you! Sorry to just show up, but I just wanted to drop this off. Are you ladies off to do anything else orcan I sweep you away?” He asked, grabbing my hand.
“We are off to do more girlie things, Liam. I wanted to take her to lunch.” Court interjected.
“Sorry, babe. I can’t argue with a pregnant lady.” I said trying to laugh.
“Well you girls have fun and I will just see you later then.” He leaned in to give me a kiss. I had never felt such disgust for someone kissing me. “Wow! I don’t really even have the words to describe how infuriatingly gross that was! You’re lucky that you are my best friend and I promised I wouldn’t say anything, because he would’ve gotten an earful and I wouldn’t care who heard me.” Court said tossing the magazine aside.
“Well, thank you for not saying anything. I am half tempted to go off on him while his in is New York, so I don’t have to look at him.” I lowered my head into my hands.
We paid for our wonderful primping and we headed out of the spa.
“Go see him. “ She said with a wink.
“What are you talking about?” I screeched. “I want you to go to Caleb and tell him how much you love him.” She winked. “You know that you two are meant for each other, especially after all these years. Fate is called fate for a reason. Besides, I need to get back to Jason. We wanted to go over weddingstuff AND baby planning. He really is excited about that.” She smiled at the thought. “Hey, I know you said that I shouldn’t say anything, but do you mind if I ask Jason if he knows anything?” Court asked pulling me into a hug.
“Yeah, see if he does know anything, I don’t think that he will though. I have to admit that it will be interesting to see if he does.” I took another lookdown at the gift bag and shook my head. “I am, however, excited that he likes planning all this wedding and baby stuff! Most guys leave all the stress on the woman. Are you guys going to do the wedding before or after the baby?”
“That’s what we’re going to talk about. Don’t worry; I won’t leave YOU in the dark.” She winked. “I will text you later and fill you in on what I find out.” She started to head to her car.
I dug out my phone to dial up Caleb, but decided I was going to surprise him. I walked down the road to the hotel. I felt a giddiness about myself as I rode up the elevator, I had always enjoyed hanging out with Caleb just as teens but now as an adult… this was a great feeling to be able to see my once best friend.
“Hey! Whatcha up to?” He opened the door surprised.
“I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out, maybe I could pay up on one of those beers.” I smiled
“Wow! Yeah! I actually was about to head out, but do you want to go with me? Maybe get a beer on the way back?” He asked.
“Sure! Where we going?” I asked curiously.
“It’s a surprise.” He said with a wink. He ran back into the room as I held the door, he grabbed a baseball cap off of his dresser and ran back to the door. He reached out and grabbed my hand, holding it all the way down to the parking garage to his big black pickup truck, then let go to quickly get ahead of me to open my door.
I had
a mass of butterflies flying around in my stomach this was one surprise I was ecstatic about. I must have looked like a total idiot; I was beaming from cheek to cheek. He grabbed my hand to help me in and softly kissed my knuckles.
“Why thank you sir!” I joked as I climbed in, still grinning like a fool.
He ran around the truck and hopped in.
“So are you gonna tell me at all where we are going?” I asked excitedly.
“Nope. Just enjoy the ride.” He said grabbing my hand to hold on to it. He shot me a wink. “You look absolutely gorgeous right now.”
“No, I don’t! I have been at the spa all day, no makeup.” I laughed.
“Either way, makeup or not, I think you look beautiful.” He smiled. I let out a little giggle. I watched him as we drove down the highway. I imagined this is how it could be every weekend. Being surprised by some spontaneous adventure. I realized that we were heading in the direction of our old neighborhood. I gave him a questioning look and he just squeezed my hand.
“Almost there, I want you to close your eyes and don’t peek until I tell you. Promise?” He looked over at me as I nodded and closed my eyes.
I hoped that we were going to arrive soon; it felt really good keeping my eyes close. I thought I was going to fall asleep. We started to come to a slow and realized he had shifted the truck into park. “Okay, we’re here, but I am going to come around and get you but keep your eyes closed. No peeking!” He shut the door and not a second later he opened my door. He picked me up so I didn’t have to stumble out. He placed me down on the ground and guided me a few feet.
“Alright, can I look yet?” I said as my hands were covering my eyes, knowing the excitement would have made me open them.
“Okay, now!” He said pulling my hands down.
“Caleb, where are we?” I asked looking at a beautiful two story home. “This is my new place! I saw it the other day with my realtor. This was our first stop AND my last stop, I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. I put an offer on it and they gladly accepted it the same day.” He said excitedly. “I am certain it was fate.”
“Oh Wow! That is awesome!” I reached up and gave him a hug. He was grinning ear to ear.
“Wanna go see inside?” He enthusiastically asked. He jogged up towards the front door. The front yard was magnificent in size.
“Of course!” I said running after him.
After showing me each room of the house, we headed to the backyard. It had the most amazing view of the city off his wooden deck. This by far was my favorite part of the house.
“Caleb, this is breathtaking!” I said in admiration. “I think that’s why I bought the place, the view and the deck to go along with it. I instantly thought of barbeques and watching the sunset from out here.” He took a look around. “I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity on this house so I jumped on it. I get to move in a couple weeks, the owners already had another house that they had lined up.” He was enjoying the views; all the while I was enjoying him.
He leaned in and began to seductively rub his fingers down my back as we both enjoyed the view. We both turned into face each other. I wanted so bad to taste his lips on mine once again. I could feel my pulse racing as he pushed a strand of hair behind my ear. As we began to lean into each other we were rudely interrupted when my phone began to ring in my pocket.
It was Courtney. I quickly tried to catch my breath.
“Hey Court, what’s up?” I huffed.
“Oh Lord, I’m not interrupting something am?” She asked embarrassed.
“No! We’re just looking at a house.” I suddenly flushed. I looked over at him, to find that he was giving me the ‘who are you talking to’ look. I rose up my index finger and bit my lip. “Okay, good. I didn’t want to be talking to you while you are all naked.” She joked. “So…I have some gossip! I got home and totally ripped into Jason. He spilled some news, wanna hear?” She asked anxiously.
“Well, yeah!” I turned to Caleb, “Do you mind if I talk to her for just a second? I will be right back.” He shook his head and kissed my cheek and went inside. “Okay Court, spill!” I whispered.
“So, apparently Jason said he knew about one time. He…” I interrupted her.
“Wait! ONE time? As in there is more than this time!” I could feel tears building, but I was seeing red and I couldn’t let my tears get the best of me. “I’m so sorry Ryleigh. He told Jason that he’d gotten drunk one night and messed around with this girl in his office. He swore Jason to secrecy and that he would find some way to tell you and make it up to you, but apparently he never did any of that.” She said solemnly.
“Thanks Court. Did Jason happen say when that was?” I asked biting my nails, once again.
“Quit biting your nails, I can hear it in the phone! He said this was last year in September. Why? Do you have an idea of when it was?” She asked inquisitively. “Yeah.” I said quietly. “That entire month he kept sending me flowers, just about once a week. We had a fight Labor Day weekend. I don’t even remember what the fight was about, something about us trying to take a vacation but he was unsure if he was going to land this account. So he snapped at me.” I paused replaying the fight in my head. He was so mad that I brought up a vacation when he was so busy. “I thought that the flowers were making up for the fight. We ended up going to a bed and breakfast in Breckenridge in the beginning of October.” I sat in the patio chair just shaking my head.
“Oh! I remember that! You had told me that you guys had a fight but things were better. So what we know now, every little gesture is not of kindness, but rather of guilt? What a dick.” I could tell she was angry as hell.
“Thanks again Court, hey I better go. Caleb is waiting for me and I should probably head back and get my car so I can go meet Liam for dinner.” I was upset at this point, the fact that nothing that my husband seemed to do, was out of love.
“Love ya. Text me after dinner and let me know how that goes. Good luck!”
“Love ya, too. I will.” I hung up and went to find Caleb. He was in the living room looking at the bookshelves that were built into the wall.
“Everything okay?” He asked with a worried look on his face.
I shook my head and started for the front door. I needed to get out of here.
“Ry, what’s going on? Ryleigh, wait! Talk to me!” Caleb chased after me. “Caleb I am so sorry, I just, look… I just found out that what I saw Liam doing the other night, well it isn’t his first time and I need to head back. I don’t know the hell I am going to do!” I began crying into his chest.
“What do you mean this isn’t his first time? Like he continues to cheat on you?” He was tensing up under me.
I nodded as I wiped my eyes. “Ryleigh, you need to get out of there! God he is not good for you!” He lifted my head so he could look directly at me. “You deserve so much better. I can give that to you, I promise that I would never, EVER do anything to hurt you. I want you to know that you deserve to be treated with the upmost respect.” He kissed me. It was the softest kiss, so sweet and short but still made my heart skip a beat.
“I know you can give that to me. I want that, but I’m still married to him. What do I do? Just pack my things and leave? I have to give him the chance toexplain himself. Let me at least do that. I’m meeting him for dinner and that way I can talk to him and find out what is going on.” I began to pull away.
“I get it. I just want you to be happy.” He went toopen up the truck door for me. The ride back to the spa parking lot was quiet. There was so much that I wanted to tell him, but I just was so caught up in my thoughts that I just stared out the window. I could hear him sigh every so often, as if he had so much to say to me, but didn’t even know where to begin.
We pulled up next to my car and I sat there for a little bit, just looking down at my feet. “Caleb…”
“Look, I understand, I do.” He didn’t seem to look at me; his hands were on the steering wheel.
“I just don’t know
what I am going to do…” I could feel those damn tears begin to flow again. “You don’t know what you’re going to do? What’s so hard? Your husband is CHEATING on you and you don’t know what you are going to do? C’mon Ry, you can’t honestly believe that we don’t have something going on here.” He said solemnly. “Things aren’t going to just magically get better if you talk to him.”
“Caleb, I don’t expect everything to be better the moment we talk. I do need to know what is going on and even if I do leave him; I need to get things sorted out and find myself a place, figure out the split of the house, you know all that fun stuff. I just need you to understand that this isn’t going to just be fine and dandy over night!” The anger just poured out.
“You know damn well that I didn’t think that your life was going to change overnight, Ryleigh! I just, God, I don’t know. I just want you to be happy andso far everything that I have learned about him and the way he treats you, I just want to beat the shit out of him!” He smacked the steering wheel.
“Look, everything works out for a reason.” I paused for a moment and grabbed his arm. “I need to go, but I will call you or text you later. Okay?” I leaned over and kissed his cheek and he pulled me back to him and kissed me. Hard. He cupped my face, pushing his tongue into my mouth. I felt my breath hitch as his hands made their way into my hair.
As we pulled away, struggling for air, we didn’t say anything. We just kept our eyes locked on each other and sat in silence for a moment longer, we both had so much we wanted to say, but couldn’t find the words. I got out of the truck and walked over to my car. I watched him drive off, without even saying goodbye. I opened my car door and sat in silence before I started my car.
Chapter Eleven
I pulled into my driveway a short time later. Liam’s car was already in the garage, which made my stomach turn knowing that I had to face him right away. I stayed in my car for a few more minutes, stalling.
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