I got out and walked up to the door and headed inside with a deep breath.
“Hey, there you are! I thought you ladies were buying out all the stores in Denver. I was going to have to send in a search and rescue party.” He was lounging in his recliner flipping through TV channels. “Court was looking at all sorts of baby clothes. Ihad to hold her back because she doesn’t know the sex of the baby yet. I didn’t seem to find anything worthy of my buying powers today.” I was a horrible liar, but apparently passed the test.
“That kid is going to be spoiled even before it is born. But don’t worry; I think our kids are going to be just as spoiled.” He said with a smile reaching formy hand. My stomach cringed. He pulled me down on top of him to sit on his lap. “You smell amazing.” He whispered into my ear as he breathed in my hair.
“Funny, I was just thinking that I have yet to shower all day and I thought that the homeless people were walking away from ME!” I joked.
“Nah, they would wanna follow you around all the time.” He kissed my ear and down my neck. I could tell that he was hinting at having sex, but the thought of being in bed with him just made me nauseous. “I should go get in the shower if we’re going to make our reservations.” I said pushing myself out of the recliner. “I’ll be ready to go in about an hour.” I jumped up and headed upstairs. I was very thankful when he didn’t follow me to our room.
I went into the closet and grabbed the blue dress that he had mentioned at the spa. I hated this dress; I don’t know why he even thought of this dress. I hadworn it to an event at his work. It is really low cut, which normally a little cleavage is fine but this was a little excessive, and short. I felt slutty in it. Maybe that is what he wanted me to look like, one of hisskanks.
I laid it out on the bed and headed into the shower. I made sure I locked the bathroom door behind me so I wouldn’t have any surprise visitors. I stood under the water noticing it wasn’t nearly as luxurious as the hotel shower. I quickly washed up, shaved my legs and got out.
I decided to straighten my hair and leave it down. I kept thinking of ways to not have all the attention on my boobs, even if they weren’t all that glamorous or big, however, this dress made them stick out like a sore thumb.
I put on my makeup and got dressed. I headed down the stairs and noticed at some point he got changed, he was waiting in the kitchen for me. He had a beer in his hand and had poured me a glass of wine.
“You read my mind, thank you.” I took the glass and took a long sip.
“You look amazing! Where is your bracelet?” I went into my purse and dug out the jewelry box.
“Do you mind helping me?” I asked holding it towards him.
“Of course not.” He clasped it around my wrist and kissed my hand. It really was a beautiful bracelet but knowing there was a motive behind it made me sour. “Shall we head out? I am starving!” “Yeah, let me finish this wine and then we can go.” I took another sip. “I’m starving too. We just had the brunch this morning and it filled me up all day. Court had a few snacks while we were out but I couldn’t think about food.” I was an amazing liar. I quicklyguzzled the rest of my wine down and we headed towards his car.
My phone beeped in my purse, the beep that let me know that I had a missed call, shit I had left it on while I was upstairs and there were messages from Caleb. I hope to god that Liam didn’t decide to snoop after my phone had rung.
It was just Courtney. Thank God. She had left me a voicemail, so I put my volume down so it wasn’t within listening distance for Liam.
“I heard your phone ring but I couldn’t find where it was coming from to get it up to you. Who called?” Liam asked.
“It was just Courtney.” I dialed up my voicemail and switched ears to listen and walked away. “Hey Ryleigh, it’s me. Umm, at some point did you by chance give Caleb my number? I just got a call from him, he wanted to know what restaurant you were going to and well umm I accidently told him… please don’t hate me! He just sounded so smooth and sexy on the phone and I lost my nerve! You are probably mad at me, but text me and let me know you got this. Sorry again.”
SHIT!!
“She okay?” Liam asked grabbing my hand. “Oh yeah, she just wanted to say, ‘have fun tonight, behave, text her later’ you know she lives off gossip.” So much for being an amazing liar, I was really frazzled. How did Caleb get her number? Why did Caleb want her number?
“You girls. If we guys did half the gossip, we would never get any from you ladies again!” He laughed.
I tried to laugh back, instead it sounded forced. “You okay baby?” He asked concerned. “Yeah, I’m good. I am just really hungry and am beginning to think that I should have had something in my stomach before having that wine.” I said grabbing my stomach. I thought I really should have grabbed a snack to eat before chugging that wine. But at the same time, I was worried about why Caleb wanted to know where we were going.
We pulled up to the restaurant just in time for ourreservations and we were seated right away. I didn’t feel as beautiful with Liam as I did with Caleb. Caleb managed to always make me feel like I was so beautiful, with Liam I felt as if I was trying to compete with the beauty of every other woman; even if he didn’t even look twice at them. He didn’t need to, he saw them right away.
Liam ordered for the both of us and we began to snack on the bread and sip some more wine. I almost felt as if I was on a blind date, with my own husband. We didn’t have much to say to each other and we didn’t seem to make much eye contact. So I decided to break out the small talk.
“So…are you ready for your trip?” I asked and then quickly jumped into defense mode. “I know you don’t want to go, but who knows, this might be a good opportunity!” I could see that he was annoyed with this topic, but I tried to act like I was looking the best of the situation.
“I guess. I know that this good could be a good opportunity, Ryleigh that’s why I am going. That is why I was chosen to go, because they enjoy the work that I do and the amount of work that I get done. I am number one around there and this is a huge project that they want closed.” Liam said cockily.
“Ummm…I spoke with my mom the other night.” I quickly changed the subject. “She told me to tell you hello and that we needed to get together with her and Avery for dinner soon. Would you mind if I set something up for next weekend?” I asked softly.
“Yeah, that would be nice. I like Avery; he definitely has some good stories to rattle off. Let’s plan for Sunday night. I should be back from New York on Thursday but I have a meeting set up on Friday. Saturday I just would like to actually enjoy not having a day where I have to work or travel. Does that work for you?” I wanted to ask him what kind of meeting, but I choked back the words.
“Yep.” I didn’t know what else to say to him. ‘ Did you want to bring Amber or her friend along? I am sure that would be a lot more entertaining than Avery’s stories of when he was our age and in the coast guard working in South Carolina.’ I thought.
Our food arrived and I couldn’t wait to dig in. I hadn’t lied about needing some sort of food in my stomach. The bread did a great temporary job, but I was ready for some meat. As we began to dig in, I glanced up towards the bar and felt my heart stop.
Caleb was at the bar talking to the bartender, it appeared as if he knew the guy. I dropped my skewer of meat on the table. “Ryleigh, are you okay?” Liam asked with a bit of worry. “Oh, yeah. It just slipped, but I see a friend of mine here. Do you mind if I go say hi for a moment?” I asked in a huff.
“No. Go ahead.” He seemed a bit confused and annoyed that I was interrupting dinner to go say hi to a friend.
I quickly jumped out of my seat and walked hurriedly over to the bar. He was obviously not paying attention to see me coming up to him, so I sluggedhim in the arm.
“What in the world are you doing here?” I said through my gritted teeth.
“Well, hello to you too! I’m here having some dinner and Daniel here is a friend from Texas, s
o we’re playing catch up. Are you having a nice time?” He was being a smartass. “You look…Wow, in that dress.” “Don’t be a smartass; I know that you SOMEHOW got a hold of Courtney, which don’t even get me started on that one, but she told you where I was having dinner. Seriously, why are you here?” I could tell that I was just seething. He continued to eye my dress.
“Ry, I am not going to start any trouble. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay.” He said defensively.
“Caleb, whether you like it or not; he is my husband and yes I am more than fine! Will you please just go?” I demanded.
“Yep, right after this.” He nodded his head for me to look behind me. “Oh shit, he’s really coming over here, isn’t he?” I began to go into panic mode. I quickly calmed myself and wrapped my arm into Liam’s. “Hey, honey, I would love to formally introduce you to my friend, Caleb. Caleb Martin, this is my husband, Liam Andrews. Liam, Caleb and I go way back; we have known each other since the sixth grade.” I tried to be as calm as I could during the introduction even if my heart felt like it was going to race out of my chest.
“Nice to meet you Liam, Ryleigh has said nothing but great things about the wonderful guy who was lucky to snag her up.” Caleb reached out his hand to shake. Liam shook his hand firmly but had a scowl on his face.
“It is nice to meet you too Caleb. If you don’t mind, though, I would like to bring my wife back to dinner. Ryleigh?” He placed his hand on my lower back to lead me back to the table.
“Caleb, it was nice to see you again. We should catch up soon.” I said as I gave him a glare and walked back to the table. Liam pulled out my chair and helped me scoot back in. He took his seat and went back to eating, without saying another word to me the rest of the meal. I couldn’t tell if he was angry or just hungry. I didn’t want to press the issue. I had seen Caleb leave shortly after we had returned to his table. I was not quite sure what his motive was when he showed up here, but he definitely was going to hear about this later. “Wow, I’m so incredibly full. I think that I could slip into a mini coma for the next few days.” I tried to muster up a laugh, but it was uncomfortable to laugh. “I don’t think that I have eaten this much food all week.”
After Liam picked up the tab, we headed out towards the parking lot walking hand in hand.
“It was absolutely delicious! No room for dessert?” Liam gave me that wink. “I don’t know if I am going to be able to get in the car, let alone make love.” I grabbed the back of his neck and began to run my nails up and down the back of his head and neck. I leaned in and kissed his ear.
“Well let’s get home and then we can just get you out of those clothes at least.” He seemed rather disappointed.
“Sounds good.” I responded softly. The car ride home was very relaxing and quiet; however I found that I was more lost in my thoughts than ever. I don’t think that was the best for me, but I had to confront him at some point and I kept saying that this was better time than ever. How would I bring it up? Part of me thought the best way was to have to start with a fight. What could really get him pissed? The other part of me kept saying; don’t ruin a good night and I just needed to wait until he got back from New York. I hated being in the silence lately.
We pulled into the garage at home and we both moved sluggishly, both of us obviously had way too much to eat tonight. I dragged ass up the stairs with Liam right behind me, I thought that I hated this dress before and now I wanted to rip it into a million pieces just so I could get out of it and get into my sweats.
Liam had undressed down to his boxers and climbed into bed, switching on the television. He found an old episode of Seinfeld on and started chuckling. As I got dressed, I began to remember how on the weekends we would stay in bed almost all day and watching marathons of different shows and we had both cracked up watching Seinfeld together.
In the middle of my stroll down memory lane, his phone started to ring. I peeked out of the bathroom with the look of ‘who is calling you at this hour’?
“Andrews. Yeah. Umm, well it was going to be a nice evening at home since I had to leave on Monday. Yes, I understand. Give me an hour? Alright, see you then.” He hung up and gave me that sorry look.
“Who was that?” I could tell it wasn’t anyone from work by the ringtone. “One of the New York guys, Kevin, he wanted to getsome of the contracts together so we could all sign them and be done pretty quickly. This way contractsweren’t the one thing that we had to worry about. It would just be schmoozing and the big presentation. I guess we have to present to them on Monday and then a few other offices are coming in on Wednesday to check it out. Tuesday we just have the day to get everything signed. So Kev, just had a few things he wanted to go over in the outlined portion and make sure everything was up to par.” He was already getting dressed as he was giving me this story.
“Oh. You can’t do it over the phone or Skype?” I asked as I began to bite my nails. “Just easier if I go down there and then if there is any sort of corrections to be made, it doesn’t come as a surprise. I won’t be gone too long, okay? Who knows, when I get home maybe your stomach has had time to settle and we can make love the rest of the evening.” He leaned in and gave me a kiss. I tried to be as passionate as I could with him, but this time he was the one that seemed to be put off.
“Alright, well, be careful and just call me or text when you are on your way home?” I was kind of hurt that he was leaving. Granted it could have been for work, but at the same time I almost felt like whoever called was now more important than me. Especially if it were another woman.
I heard the garage closing and could see his car coming down the drive and speeding off a moment later. I grabbed my cell phone and texted Courtney.
Dinner. Yeah…. Awkward…
She must have been sitting next to her phone waiting for my text.
How? Did Caleb show up? Does he know that you know? Sorry again. Where is he now?
I forgot about the whole ratting me out to Caleb, but the sorry made me remember all over again.
You’re lucky you are preggo! I should kick your ass! He showed up and met Liam! Liam still doesn’t know I know…he left!
I began to cry. I quickly typed up a reply, knowing I was going to have to explain.
He left????? Where’d he go?
I sent my reply. I think one of his skanks called for him and he said it was work. Said he wouldn’t be gone long, but left! I don’t care…it was so weird to be with him. He and I seemed to have drifted apart in the last few days….
It took her a few minutes to respond. I think that I had eaten all of my fingernails waiting. My nail polish I just had done was already looking like a wreck, I was kicking myself. Ryleigh, you drifted because you are finding out shit on him. It’s not that you have just lost interest, well I guess you have but, he’s cheating… technically you are too. But you have found your love. You need to come out and say something and just move on. Things are going to be more and more awkward! Here if you need me! Love ya.
She was right. It wasn’t so much that we had drifted but rather fallen apart. We just were two people who are completely different than we were, 6 years ago, 6 months ago, even 6 days ago. I wanted to call Caleb, but I was happy to put my phone on the charger and cuddle up with my own pillow. I needed to get some sleep and in my own bed tonight.
As I lay on my own pillow, I imagined Caleb’s fingers rubbing all over me. I could feel his kisses on my neck and down my spine. I missed him right now. I looked down at my wedding band and tried to put Caleb out and figure out what would make my husband do these things without any sort of remorse. This was eating me alive and he didn’t even appear to have any problem doing this.
Even with a clouded head, I welcomed sleep.
Chapter Twelve
I woke with a startle. I felt like I had only been asleep for a few minutes, my heart was racing so fast. I hadn’t turned my phone down or put it on silent, it was ringing and vibrating. Scared the shit out of me!
/> “Hello?” I was still half asleep when I answered. I didn’t even take a look at the number that was calling me. I rubbed my eyes and glanced at the alarm clock, 4:42am.
“Good morning, Mrs. Umm. Andrews, this is Lieutenant Marquez down at the Denver Police Department.” I could hear him shuffling through papers, as if he wasn’t quite prepared to talk to me.
My heart began to race faster; the fact that the police were calling me at this time was not a good sign. I rolled over to find that Liam was still not home. Shit!
“How can I help Lieutenant? Is everything okay?” I asked in a panic. “Oh, yes ma’am. Sorry I have four other angry wivesto be called here in a moment. The reason for my call, we have your husband down here in our facility. Right now he is being held in our detox room, we were going to book him but it seems as if he had quite a bit to drink. Since he is nowhere near being able to drive home, would you like to come and pick him up? You are more than welcome to make him sleep it off here, but if we don’t release him into your custody we will place him under arrest.” He paused and I interrupted.
“I’m sorry, what would he be under arrest for?” I demanded. “Public intoxication, there was a bar fight that he was involved in. There are several people pointing fingers in different directions on who started it but we do know that he was one of the main characters.” Lt. Marquez was still shuffling through papers. “Mrs. Andrews?”
“Oh I’m sorry. I’m still not quite awake.” I sighed. “I’ll come pick him up. Do you know if his car is still at the bar?” So much for going into work, Kevin, or even being home in a little bit. Now would be as good of time as ever to have my talk with him.
“Yes ma’am. He thankfully didn’t try to drive. The bar owner, he is used to cars being left overnight, so it shouldn’t be an issue for you to leave it until later this morning. Do you know where we are located?” He now seemed to be rushed to get off the phone with me.
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