by Nia Anderson
"Yeah. I think he even started crying at one point." Ryan laughed.
"Aahh, I would have given anything to see that. You should have called me."
"Well it was a year ago…"
"So?”
"So would you have talked to me?"
"I didn’t hate you, Ryan. Is that the impression I gave you?"
"You just didn’t talk to me..."
"You didn’t talk to me either."
There was a lull in the conversation and Grace laid back down. She resumed her position on her side.
"I thought about calling you." Ryan’s voice pierced the darkness.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Grace turned over to face Ryan. "I thought about calling you, too. Like, a million times. Freshman year of college was really lonely for me."
The clouds had moved and the moon was providing a sliver of light into the darkened hotel room. Grace felt Ryan’s hand upon hers. She looked up to see that he was watching her for a reaction. She intertwined her fingers with his.
Ryan wondered what was going through Grace’s mind. He knew what was going through his, but Grace was hard to read. She had never been that easy to read, even when they were dating.
"Yes,” Grace suddenly said.
"What?" Ryan asked confused.
"The question you asked me earlier – about if I had an orgasm when you and I were…you know…the answer is yes."
"Oh." Ryan was all smiles.
Grace recognized the look on Ryan’s face from years prior. He wanted her. She wanted him, too.
Ryan began to rub his hands over Grace’s hand and up her arm. Grace knew that if she didn’t stop him soon she wouldn’t be able to.
"Ryan…we can’t." It took all of her strength to move her arm away from him. But Ryan was not a free man. He had a girlfriend.
Ryan rolled over on his back and stared up at the ceiling. He knew Grace was right, but his body would not take no for an answer. He hadn’t been filled with this much desire since…well, never.
"Sorry,” Ryan mumbled.
"For what?" Grace asked him.
"I don’t want you to think I planned any of this. I didn’t come here thinking we would sleep together."
"I know that." Grace patted Ryan. She meant to retract her hand, but he grabbed hold of it before she could.
"Whatever happens, Grace, let’s remain friends, okay? You always were the best one I had."
"Yeah. Okay,” Grace agreed. The moment seemed like it needed an emotional gesture, so Grace leaned over and hugged Ryan.
Ryan and Grace held each other, neither of them wanting to be the first one to let go. Ryan loved the feel of Grace’s silky smooth shoulder against his cheek. In a bold move, he kissed her shoulder. When she responded by rubbing his back, Ryan moved his lips to her neck. By the time Ryan’s lips reached Grace’s, there was no turning back. He lifted up the thin tank top she was wearing and kissed and licked at her breasts and nipples.
Every fiber of Grace’s being knew that what she was doing was wrong, which made her want it even more. As Ryan kissed a trail from her breasts to her navel, she promised herself that she wouldn’t let him go any further, but when he gradually removed her underwear, she let him do it. And when he bowed between her legs and kissed the inside of her thighs, she let him do it. And when his tongue danced within her, creating sensations she didn’t even know existed, she let him do that, too.
As Grace repositioned herself so that she and Ryan could orally pleasure one another simultaneously, Ryan rationalized his guilt away by saying they weren’t having real sex. But as the night progressed, his body begged for more and more of Grace. He rolled over on top of her.
"Do you have a condom?" she asked him.
"No." It pained Ryan as he came to that realization. "Do you have anything?"
"No." Grace lay beneath Ryan, staring up at him. He was staring back at her, willing her to change the obvious outcome of the situation.
"Aarrgh!" he collapsed in anguish against her. Grace laughed as she rubbed Ryan’s back. "It’s funny?" Ryan pretended to be upset. "I’m dying here."
Grace giggled again and kissed him on his neck. She knew it was driving him crazy and she was enjoying the reaction she was getting out of him.
Ryan began to return Grace’s kisses as he tried to distract himself from what he really wanted. After a few seconds of kissing, he was sure he was going to explode. "Grace, please…" he whispered in her ear.
"We can’t. We don’t have anything,” she whispered back.
"I’ll pull out,” Ryan begged breathlessly.
Grace didn’t answer him with words. She simply continued to kiss him until he entered her and they melted into one another.
The wake-up call never came the next morning.
Chapter fifteen
Grace couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw the numbers displayed on the alarm clock the next morning. Not only would she not have time to make it to the hospital to say goodbye to Matthew, but in a matter of minutes she was going to miss her flight.
"Ryan! Ryan wake up!" If Grace was concerned about facing Ryan, that apprehension was overshadowed by the fear of missing their flight.
"Huh? What?" Ryan sat up with a start. "What’s wrong?"
"Look at the time! We’re going to miss our flight!" Grace jumped out of bed and scrambled to put on her underwear. Ryan did the same.
As they bustled around, throwing clothes into suitcases and putting on the first clean thing they could find, Ryan and Grace made a silent pact not to acknowledge what had transpired between them the previous night.
"What about Matthew?" Ryan asked.
"I’ll call the airline and then I’ll call the hospital. I’m sure Monica and Steve are there." Grace failed to make eye contact with Ryan.
"Okay. And I’m gonna go talk to the front desk. This is all their fault. If they had given us our wake up call like we’d asked we wouldn’t be in this situation,” Ryan bellowed.
Grace’s first call was to the airline. There was no way she and Ryan would make it to the airport and through security screening in time to catch their flight. They were able to book a flight a few hours later, but because the debacle was their fault, they would have to pay an additional fee.
Monica and Steve were very understanding about Ryan and Grace’s predicament. They said that Matthew still seemed to be doing well and that he was going to be in the hospital one more day for observation. If Grace and Ryan timed everything well, they would still be able to swing by for a quick goodbye.
Ryan returned with a look of smug satisfaction on his face. "Boy did I let them have it,” he said.
"So they’re going to reimburse us for the additional fee the airline is charging us for booking us on the next flight?" Grace asked.
The egotism left Ryan’s face. "What fee?"
"We have to pay to be booked on the next flight. I put yours on my credit card so you wouldn’t have to call back."
"What the – they are definitely paying for that!" Ryan left the room again and headed down to the front desk.
When the front desk manager wouldn’t comply, the hotel manager, once again, was summoned to deal with Ryan and Grace’s situation. He repeatedly stated that usually these types of situations were the responsibility of the guests, but since he and Grace had had such a series of problems since their arrival, the hotel would compensate them this one time.
Now that they had a little breathing room, Grace took the time to take a shower, brush her teeth and comb her hair. She felt much better in her clothes as she went down to the lobby to make a private phone call. She pulled out her cell phone and called Morgan.
"Hello?" Morgan answered quietly on the fourth ring.
"Are you sleeping?" Grace asked.
"It’s before noon on a Saturday morning. What do you think?" Morgan asked.
"Sorry." Grace had forgotten what day of the week it was.
"That’s okay. I need to get up an
yway. How’s everything going?"
"Good. The surgery went well. We’re going to stop by before we take off for the airport but they truly won’t know anything for a couple of weeks. That’s how long it’ll take for the new bone marrow to take over,” Grace explained.
"Wow. Well I hope everything works out."
"Me too. Listen, are you going to be busy tonight?"
"No. Why? Do you need a ride home from the airport or something?"
"Yeah. We’re turning the rental car in at the airport so I don’t have a way home."
"What’s all this ‘we’ stuff? You and Ryan? Sounds like you’re a couple."
"Don’t be crazy. That’s ridiculous. No. No, we are definitely not a couple. Me and Ryan…no."
"Well…you’ve certainly set me straight on that issue." Morgan laughed.
Grace laughed too, lightly. She had really come down to the lobby, under the cloak of hunger, to tell her friend what had recently transpired between herself and Ryan. But now she felt as if it were too big of a mistake to share. Did she really want to admit that she had had sex with someone else’s boyfriend? Or that she hadn’t even used protection?
The latter was, perhaps, her biggest concern at this present time. She had no idea what Ryan had been up to in the past two years. And Sophia? Just the thought of her left a bitter taste in Grace’s mouth. But what if Sophia was the type of person to engage in all types of lewd acts? What if Sophia was cheating on Ryan and had given him some disease that he didn’t know about? And aside from diseases, what if Grace got pregnant?
"Something you should have thought about before, idiot…" Grace said aloud.
"What?" Morgan took offense. "Why’d you call me an idiot?”
"Not you, I was talking to myself. I should have asked you a long time ago about picking me up at the airport. I can’t believe I waited until the last minute." Grace covered herself.
"No big deal. It’s not like you didn’t have a lot of other things on your mind."
Grace provided Morgan with her flight information before ending the phone call. She heaved a sigh as she thought about what was awaiting her throughout the rest of the day. Could she and Ryan keep up the charade of normalcy? What would they talk about on the way to the hospital, the airport or on the long flight home?
Ryan pulled his bags and Grace’s into the trunk of the rental car while Grace settled their bill and received their reimbursement check from the hotel manager.
"What did you get to eat?" Ryan asked Grace.
"Huh?" Grace was distracted.
"You said you were going down to the lobby to get something to eat. What did you get?" Ryan asked.
"Oh, yeah. I didn’t end up getting anything,” Grace stated as she stared out the window.
Ryan looked over at Grace fleetingly before returning his eyes to the road. Her silence spoke loud and clear. She was embarrassed about what had happened between them the previous night. Although Ryan was confused, he wasn’t embarrassed. In fact, if Grace said that she wanted to continue seeing him, he was sure he’d be up for it. All he needed to know was if she would be.
Back at the hotel that Ryan and Grace had just left, a new employee was being trained at the front desk.
"This job is pretty easy." The front desk manager was saying. "Once you remember a few simple codes, you’ll be fine. We don’t have too many things go wrong here. This past week was the exception."
"What happened last week?" the trainee wanted to know.
"This one couple came in here and it was like everything that could go wrong did go wrong. We lost her reservation so they had to share a room because we were all booked. Then the system wouldn’t recognize their room number for a wake up call so they missed their flight. It was a nightmare. I’m so glad they’re gone,” the manager rattled off.
The phone rang just as she finished her story and she pointed it out to her newest charge. "The sooner you get used to the phones, the better."
The young man picked up the phone and gave the customary hotel greeting.
"Hi. My boyfriend is staying at this hotel and I need to be transferred to him. I don’t know which room he’s staying in," said the voice on the other end of the phone line.
"Okay, may I have a name?" the trainee asked.
"Ryan Stewart. It’s probably under Ryan."
"Okay, one moment." The hotel employee set the phone down on the counter and turned to his trainer. "Do I just type the person’s name into the computer?"
"Yeah, what is it?" the manager positioned herself to do the work.
"Ryan or Ryan Stewart."
"You’re kidding." The manager looked up.
"What?" asked the employee.
"That’s the guy who I was just telling you about. The one that shared the room with that girl. Is that him on the phone?"
"No. It’s someone who says it’s his girlfriend."
"Oh. Well he checked out."
The hotel employee picked up the phone and reported the information, "I’m sorry. He’s checked out."
An almost inaudible ‘thank you’ was the reply as Sophia hung up the phone. "He shared a room with her?" she asked the empty room. Then, in anger, she threw her phone across the room. "He specifically said they weren’t even staying at the same hotel!"
***
Ryan and Grace were rushing as the hurried towards Matthew’s room. Grace continually checked her watch to make sure they were on schedule. When they arrived, Matthew was sitting up in his bed playing a handheld video game.
"We are so sorry to barge in, but we just couldn’t leave without saying goodbye,” Grace apologized.
"Of course," Monica said as she got up and walked towards them. "Come in."
"We can’t stay long," Ryan offered. "We just didn’t want to leave without dropping this off.” Ryan held up a large teddy bear. As he did so, his eyes scanned the room and he noticed a host of other stuffed animals and flowers. Monica followed his gaze.
"The children’s hospital sent over quite a bit of stuff for Matthew. He’s been having a great time looking at all the cards,” she said.
"That’s great.” Grace smiled. She walked over to Matthew’s bed and gently touched his arm. He moved away from her slightly and looked up at her with inquiring eyes.
"How are you?" Grace asked him.
"Eight." Matthew misunderstood the question.
Grace stifled a giggle as her eyes filled up with tears. "Yes you are. And you’re getting to be such a big boy."
"On my next birthday, I’m gonna have a Batman party,” Matthew informed Grace. “It's gonna be awesome!”
Ryan came and stood next to Grace in an effort to be a part of the conversation. "I love Batman. I have a lot of the comic books. Do you have any?" he asked.
Matthew looked over at Steve and Monica before shaking his head in the negative. "No,” he said.
"Well maybe I’ll send you some for your birthday. Would you like that?"
Matthew nodded, "But how will you know when it’s my birthday?"
Ryan and Grace looked at each other. "We’ll know,” Grace assured him.
Suddenly Matthew started to sneeze and cough. Grace and Ryan backed up so that Monica could come to the child’s aid.
"It’s just a side effect of the anesthesia. He’ll be okay,” Monica assured them.
Ryan and Grace watched as Monica and Steve doted on Matthew. The young boy seemed at peace and secure in their presence. After his sneezing fit, he settled down and began laughing at a funny gesture Steve made with one of the teddy bears. Grace caught Monica’s eye and nodded towards the door. She and Ryan made a silent exit.
"He seems good," Ryan said of Matthew as he and Grace made their way towards the airport.
"Yeah. Really good,” Grace agreed.
"So, was this easier or harder than you thought it would be?" Ryan asked. Then as if to clarify, he added, "Seeing Matthew."
"I guess a little bit of both." Grace thought about her answer. "It made it so much
easier to see how good Monica and Steve were with him, though. Just…how together they had everything. But it was definitely hard having him not know us and hearing him call Monica and Steve ‘mommy’ and ‘daddy’."
"Being a total stranger to him bothered me more than hearing him call them mom and dad. I mean, no one’s ever called me ‘Dad’ so it’s not like I’m used to it or anything. Plus…I don’t know…I just kinda felt in the way."