Chapter 19
CHAPTER 19
R iley woke up with a pounding headache. Even the light streaming from the window hurt her head. She grimaced and turned over in bed. That only made it worse. Why in the world did her head hurt this badly?
The memories started coming back: feeling lightheaded and silly at the reception. She’d actually demanded that one of Carson’s friends dance with her and then she’d draped herself over him on the dance floor.
Thank goodness he would check out of the inn before her shift on Monday. She wouldn’t have to face him.
Jace had told her that she’d drunk Mr. Traver’s spiked juice.
Jace.
More images came to her mind. Jace driving her home and bringing her tea and crackers. And… Had she… Had the two of them sat on the couch and kissed?
That couldn’t be right. It didn’t make sense. Jace had a girlfriend. He wouldn’t have kissed her. She must’ve dreamed the part about the two of them because Olivia had said that someone should break Jace and Jennifer up. It was part of being drunk—hallucinating events.
Delancey had been the one taking care of her last night. After Riley threw up, her roommate gave her a glass of water and put toothpaste on her toothbrush. Riley had memories of that.
She tossed off the covers and noticed she wore only a slip. Another blurred memory came back to her. Peeling off her clothes without any shyness while Jace was in the kitchen.
Please let everything about him have been a dream .
She stumbled out of bed, wrapped a throw around herself, and went down the hallway. Delancey stood in the kitchen making eggs. “You’re up?” she asked. “How are you feeling?”
Riley staggered over to the counter and put her hand to her throat. “Did I dream this, or did Jace Clark bring me home last night?”
Delancey stirred the eggs casually as though her answer wasn’t going to be the difference between respectability and mortification. “He’s the blond guy with the glasses, right? Yes, he was here when I got home.”
Oh no.
What had she done?
What had Jace done?
Delancey kept stirring the eggs. “I can’t believe you were running around in your slip while he was here.” She made tutting sounds. “You’re probably right to stay away from alcohol.”
Riley trudged to the table, sank down on a chair, and laid her head on the tabletop. It was all true. All of her memories were true.
Riley was right to stay away from alcohol because apparently after two drinks, she did horrible things like kiss a guy who had a girlfriend.
Delancey divided the eggs onto two plates and brought one to Riley. “Protein is good for hangovers.”
The eggs smelled wrong. This was probably the smell of regret. She stared at them bleakly.
“Eat something,” Delancey insisted. “You’ll feel better.”
“I won’t feel better,” Riley moaned. “I kissed Jace. I’ve hated Winter for months for making Lucas cheat on me, and I just did the same thing.” Riley wasn’t getting up from this table. She was going to stay here forever, wallowing in guilt.
Delancey’s eyes widened. “You kissed Jace?”
“A lot.”
Delancey shook her head and laughed. “I guess you have a type.”
Riley moaned again. “It isn’t funny. I’m the other woman now.”
Delancey patted her back and sat down beside her. “It isn’t the same as what happened with Winter at all. You didn’t call Jace multiple times so that you could cry on his shoulder and break down his defenses. You just got drunk. And not even on purpose. Jace is the one who shouldn’t have kissed you. He took advantage of your vulnerable state. I think that makes it ninety percent his fault.”
Riley lifted her head from the table. “Do I need to call Jennifer and apologize? Is that how this works? I’ve never been the other woman before. I don’t know the rules of trying to fix things.”
“I wouldn’t call her.” Delancey seemed aghast at the idea. “For all you know, Jace broke up with her last night, and telling her about it would be rubbing salt into her wounds. Or, maybe for him, last night was testing the waters to see whether he wanted to break up or settle down, and he’s decided now that he does want to settle down.” Delancey started in on her eggs. “If anything, you should talk to Jace.”
Riley had talked to Jace last night. She still vaguely remembered telling him that when she looked at him, she would always see Lucas. He’d been kind not to laugh at that statement. Yeah, everyone saw Lucas when they looked at Jace.
But Delancey was right. Riley should have another conversation with Jace. He’d said they should talk later.
It was officially later.
Not long afterward, Riley was dressed in a coat and hat, braving the cold morning air to stand on Mr. and Mrs. Clark’s doorstep. The house was a white two-story with a front porch optimistically filled with items meant for warmer times: wooden chairs, fake potted plants, and a Friends are Always Welcome sign. All were dusted with snow now.
Riley had come to the Clarks’ house before, always with Lucas. Being here to see Jace felt wrong in so many ways.
She took several deep breaths and rang the doorbell. If she’d had Jace’s phone number, she could’ve at least warned him that she was coming, but she didn’t have it, and there was no way she was going to ask Lucas for it. He would want to know why.
She was never going to tell him about last night.
Jace wouldn’t tell him, would he? Surely not. Lucas would be furious if he knew Jace had kissed Riley while she was drunk.
The door opened almost right away, and Elsie greeted her with a wide smile. “Riley,” she chimed. “How are you feeling this morning?” She swung the door wider to allow Riley entrance.
The house hadn’t changed. The same black leather couches stood on either side of a stone fireplace, while a picture of George Washington in Valley Forge oversaw proceedings in the front room.
“My mom told me what happened.” Elsie closed the door behind Riley. “After you left, my father chewed out Mr. Travers and would’ve thrown him out of the reception, except he didn’t want to embarrass Olivia. She and Carson still don’t know that anything out of the ordinary went on.”
“That’s probably for the best,” Riley said. Olivia and Carson were off on their honeymoon none the wiser. Let them enjoy it.
Kye McBride, Carson’s friend, sat on one of the sofas. No one else was around. That was interesting. He and Elsie were hanging out this morning.
Elsie slid her hands into her back pockets. “If you’re here to see Lucas, he’s at the inn.”
Riley had been depending on that fact. “Actually, I came to talk to Jace about something. Is he here?”
“Yes,” Elsie said. “I’ll get him for you.” Her eyes were curious, but she didn’t ask why Riley needed to see Jace. She just left the room to fetch him.
Kye nodded in greeting to Riley. “How’s the hangover?”
“Extra strength Tylenol is my friend.”
“Sorry you had to miss most of the reception. That’s the worst.”
One would think, but no. The worst was making out with her ex-boyfriend’s twin brother afterward. “Yeah,” Riley said.
Jace walked into the room, a questioning lilt to his eyebrows. “Riley,” he said, “What brings you here?”
He said the words as though he didn’t know. She swallowed and attempted a smile for Elsie and Kye’s sake. “I thought we had a few things to discuss.”
Understanding dawned on his face. “That’s right, I told you we should talk. I’m glad you stopped by before I left.” He glanced at Elsie and Kye and then at Riley in her coat. “It’s a nice enough day. Do you want to go for a walk?”
It was cold outside, but Riley nodded. The more privacy, the better.
Jace grabbed his coat from the closet, and the two of them headed out the door. They walked in silence for a few moments in the crisp air, their breaths fogging in front of them. Jace’s hands were shoved into his coat pockets, and his brow was pulled down in thought.
The Clarks’ neighborhood was like most in Lark Springs, with houses huddled together under snow-covered roofs as though trying to stay warm. Icicles dangled from gutters, nature’s most dangerous decorations, glinting in the sunlight.
A snowman with a crooked carrot nose and a missing arm stood guard in one yard, his scarf frozen to his chest.
Riley wasn’t sure how to start the So, we made out last night, and we shouldn’t have talk. She’d never had to deal with this before. Maybe he hadn’t either.
She was about to speak, when he said, “Lucas didn’t cheat on you with Winter.”
“What?” That hadn’t been the topic she’d expected.
His gaze turned to her, earnest and intent. “Lucas and I talk about stuff. If he’d cheated on you, he would’ve told me how much he regretted messing up. He never said that sort of thing. He’s always just been super frustrated that he couldn’t prove his innocence to you.” Jace gave her a small disapproving look. “And hurt that you refused to believe him.”
That wasn’t fair. Did Lucas expect her not to believe her own eyes? Did Jace? She’d caught Lucas lying about being with Winter. “Did he tell you why he was with her?”
Jace shook his head. “He said he’d been sworn to secrecy and couldn’t say anything. He said it was a matter of life and death.” Jace shot her another meaningful look.
She inwardly sighed. He didn’t have any more proof that Lucas was innocent than she did. Jace just wanted it to be true. Riley did too, but she wasn’t going to let wishful thinking blind her. She’d already had a front-row seat to see that sort of relationship play out with her parents. Riley had barely known her father. He’d mostly just become an object lesson, a warning about handsome men with wandering eyes who made promises they didn’t keep.
“A convenient and unprovable alibi,” she said.
“Have you been following any of Winter’s social media accounts?”
She gave him a look that said he should know better than to ask. “No, I’m not keeping up with my ex-boyfriend’s ex.”
Jace hesitated and seemed to be weighing whether he should say more or not.
“Why?” Riley asked.
“I don’t want to make speculations, but I’ve noticed that for someone who loves taking selfies, there aren’t any of her standing in front of European monuments.”
Riley’s brows furrowed. What did that mean? “You think she lied about going to Europe?” Why would she do that, and what did that have to do with Lucas?
Jace held up gloved hands. “No speculations on my part.”
“Obviously you’ve speculated something, or you wouldn’t have brought it up.”
“I’m only saying you should go look at it yourself and come to your own conclusions.”
Down the street, a snowblower started up, letting out a low hum of complaint. Jace raised his voice a little. “And I’ll reiterate that Lucas and I confide in each other about nearly everything, so if he said it was a matter of life and death, he meant it.”
Lucas and he confided in each other about nearly everything. Was this Jace’s way of saying he was going to tell Lucas about last night? Had Jace been making some sort of point when he dropped her off at her apartment—that people occasionally made mistakes and kissed the wrong person?
“Okay,” she said slowly, dragging out the word. “I’ll give some thought to what you said, but right now we should talk about last night.”
His tone turned sympathetic. “Sorry about what you went through with Mr. Travers. It couldn’t have happened to a worse person, and I’m not just saying that because you clearly don’t know how to hold your liquor.”
“Yeah, agreed. Look, I don’t remember everything that happened after you brought me to my apartment.”
His eyebrows quirked up. “That makes two of us.”
She couldn’t keep looking at him. She turned her gaze firmly to the sidewalk and the snow piled off to the side. “We really should talk about…you know…the way we kissed.”
She cut a glance at him. Jace’s eyebrows had lifted higher. He either thought she wouldn’t remember kissing him or he hadn’t thought she would bring up the topic.
She bit her lip. “I mean, if we don’t talk about it, last night will always be this huge awkward thing between us.”
“Awkward is one word for it,” Jace said.
“Obviously it was a mistake. I was feeling emotional and lonely, and I was drunk. I’m sure you also have an excuse…”
“I’m sure I do,” he said slowly, “but I can’t really tell you what.”
Just like his brother. She expected more from Jace. She waited. He kept shaking his head, jaw clenched as though chiding himself.
At least she hoped he was chiding himself. “You don’t have an explanation as to why you kissed me while I was drunk?”
Jace’s tongue went over his teeth, and he nodded unhappily. “Sometimes I’m just struck with uncommonly bad judgment.”
Well, people had certainly been saying as much since he started dating Jennifer. “Speaking of your girlfriend,” Riley said, “I don’t remember everything I said about her last night…”
“Wait,” Jace said. “How was any of what we just said speaking about Jennifer?”
Oops. Best not to explain that connection. “I just wanted to tell you that I was totally out of line.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“You know, when I said she was as unpopular as snow in May and that literally any other woman on the planet would be better for you. And if I said anything else about her flaws that I don’t remember, I’m sorry for that too.”
Jace grunted and shook his head. “Why shouldn’t we have discussed Jennifer’s flaws? That’s just par for the course.”
He was right. They’d betrayed her in every way. “I feel like I should call her and apologize.”
Jace held up a hand to stop that line of thought. “You should absolutely not call her. Just leave it to me. I’ll explain everything she needs to know.” He murmured things under his breath. Some of them swear words.
“Jace,” Riley broke into his muttered commentary, “I don’t know what your relationship with Jennifer is, but if you can kiss another woman like you kissed me last night, you probably shouldn’t be with her.”
His mouth compressed into a thin, frustrated line. “Yeah, being honest in a relationship is important. And you know what, there’s someone I really need to talk to right now.”
Riley nodded. He was going to talk to Jennifer. That was a good thing. “I’m so sorry about all of this.”
“You and me both,” Jace said.
He turned and stormed back into the house, still shaking his head.