Chapter 25
Rya: Please tell me you’re not baking?
Violet: No. Just chilling on the couch with Zayn.
Rya: Oh really! What’s he up to?
Violet: Watching mechanic videos on YouTube. Don’t ask me why. It seems like he would be sick of mechanic work since that’s all he does during the week.
Rya: Laughing emoji. Huh. That’s funny.
Rya: Let’s go shopping. I need some shopping therapy.
Violet: When?
Rya: Whenever you are ready.
I set my phone down and look toward Zayn. He’s lost in his phone, focusing on these YouTube videos. “Zay.”
“Hmm?” he asks, still avoiding my gaze.
“I’m going to go shopping with Rya.”
He doesn’t move his head, but I see him give me a side-eye. “Just you two?”
“Yeah.”
His eyes move back down to his phone. “Why?”
I furrow my brows. “What do you mean, why?”
He lifts his head and looks over at me. “I’m just wondering why only you two are going?”
“Did you want to come?”
“No,” he says, turning back down to his phone.
“Then why are you asking why only Rya and I are going?”
He shrugs his shoulders. Okay, that was weird. I did think that Zayn might have been confiding in Rya before me. Is there something he told her that he’s worried she’ll tell me?
I get up from the couch. “I’m going to go get ready.”
We’re browsing around in Zara, the last store I hope we go in because I’m exhausted.
When Rya said she needed a shopping therapy trip, I didn’t think she meant going to every single store in the mall.
I glance over at her as she struggles to carry all her bags hanging on her arms and tries to look through the racks in the store.
Her shopping addiction is getting worse.
I don’t even want to know how bad her online shopping is.
By the looks of today, I’m sure it’s pretty bad. How is Ezra going to react to all this?
She hangs a few clothes on her arms, still looking through the racks.
“Rya.”
She looks over at me with a wide smile, as if she’s a kid in a candy store. “What?”
“Don’t you think you shopped enough today?” I ask.
I’ve only bought a couple of things today, and I’m even exhausted following her around the mall. I didn’t want to spend that much, and I have the discipline not to.
She glances between me and my small shopping bags hanging from my arm. “Don’t you think you didn’t shop enough?” She giggles sarcastically and rolls her eyes.
Ignoring her comment, I go off somewhere else to browse around. I know she hates being told to not spend so much and with the sarcastic giggle and eye roll, I know I hit a soft spot.
Rya comes out hauling another big bag from Zara. I watch as she struggles yet again, carrying all her bags on her arms.
“You ready?” she asks, standing in front of me.
“Yup,” I say, and we both walk side by side out of the mall.
After browsing for a little while, I waited for her to finish out in the mall hallway, where there are benches.
I sat and waited with all the other men waiting for their partners to be done shopping.
I felt like Rya’s husband. While I sat there, I regretted not bringing my car.
But Rya insisted she pick me up. Maybe this is why, so she could trap me into staying all day with her.
“Do you want to go get drinks?” Rya asks. “And some appetizers?”
“Yeah. I’m starving.” One of our favorite things to do is try a bunch of appetizers at a restaurant. We’ve been doing it since we were old enough to drive.
Once we get to Rya’s car, I wait for her in the passenger seat as she shoves the remaining bags in the back seat because the trunk didn’t fit them all.
She slides in and sighs as she starts her car. “Oh, my God. I’m tired. Today was a workout.” She chuckles.
I shake my head. “We were there all day. What got you in the shopping mood?”
She shrugs her shoulders as she turns out onto the street. “Just felt like spending some money.”
I shake my head again because I have a feeling Ez isn’t going to like this. Does he even know we went shopping? She might have told him something different.
“So how are you and Zayn?” Rya asks.
“We’re better now,” I say, remembering the last time we talked about us was when I spent an entire weekend over at her house. I haven’t told her anything else because of the way Zayn was so uncomfortable talking to me about his work stuff. I’m sure he wouldn’t want me to spread it around.
She turns into our favorite restaurant called The Modern Kitchen. As we step into the dimly lit restaurant, low chatter and clinking glasses fill the air.
“You two looked very lovey-dovey that day we had brunch,” she says as we follow the hostess to our table. We get seated at a high table near the bar. A big, open window sits behind us. Since this restaurant is at the top part of the city, we get a great view of the valley below.
“We talked, and he apologized,” I say, opening up the menu, and looking over the appetizers.
“That’s good. Did he ever say what was bothering him?”
I glance up at her, wondering why all these questions. She’s really not one to get involved a lot. Not because she doesn’t care, but because she keeps people’s business out of her own since she likes the attention on herself more. Or so I thought. Until now. “He’s had a lot going on at work.”
After we settle on appetizers, our drinks arrive, and I take a sip of my French 75 cocktail. The bubbles tingle my mouth as the drink glides down my throat.
“This view is so pretty,” I say, glancing out at the valley below. Cars and lights shimmer as the sun sets in the distance, making the lights glow more through the dimmed day.
“So, did Zayn say what was going on at work?” she asks, leaning back in her chair and glancing my way.
My brows furrow. “Why all these questions, Rya?”
She swallows the lump in her throat. “Well…” She pauses. “You were so upset that weekend you spent at my house, I wanted to make sure everything was alright.”
I smile at her. “Yeah, everything is fine. He’s been stressed. That’s really all.”
“Oh, okay.” She takes a sip of her Aperol Spritz. “I’m glad you two are better now,” she says with a wide grin before facing the windows, staring out into the valley.
I sit here gazing at her, wondering if there is more to her questions.
Is something else going on I’m too blind to see?
Does she know more than she letting on? The thought of her knowing more than me makes my stomach twist. This is Rya.
My best friend. The one who’s been by my side since we were kids.
She wouldn’t be hiding anything from me.
And Zayn’s my husband; if he had a hard enough time coming to me about his troubles, what makes me think he would go to Rya first. I scoff at myself just thinking about it all.
Rya notices my small scoffand turns to me with a confused look. I give her a small grin, hiding the thoughts turning in my head, and raise my cup, taking a slow sip. Thedrink runs down my throat, shutting out my doubts—at least for now.
“Where are you going?” I ask, as Rya misses the street to go to my house. I turn to look at her, and she has a guilty look on her face.
Her lips are tight as she says. “So…” She tightens her grip on the steering wheel. “Ezra might get mad at me with how much I bought.”
No shit.
He already said something right in front of us in Vegas when she wanted to go shopping a second day, and he’s not one to say things like that in front of us. He keeps their problems to himself most of the time.
“I was hoping if you came home with me, he wouldn’t get so mad.”
“Are you serious, Rya? You’re playing with his emotions, having me there.”
Her jaw tightens. “How?”
I glance over at her. “Because if this is a problem you two have, he has the right to say something about it. You know how he is. He won’t say anything with me there.”
“Come on, Vi. Stop being a goody-two-shoes.”
My mouth drops open. “It’s not me being a goody-two-shoes. It’s about you putting me in the middle of this,” I say as her car comes to a stop. I look out the front window, eyeing her townhome in front of me.
Great.
Something is going on with Rya. She never puts me in the middle of her business.
We walk into her house; both of us have her bags hanging from our arms. I see Ezra watching TV as we pass the living room to get to her room.
Rya passes him and I think we’re in the clear of him saying something.
But then we make eye contact, and he says, “Please tell me some of those bags are yours?”
I stand frozen in place, not knowing what to say. I look over at Rya as her head hangs low. She slowly walks back over and smiles at Ezra. “Hey, babe.”
Ez remains silent, his gaze shifting between the two of us as the air grows heavy.
Rya drops her bags in the hallway and walks over to him to give him a kiss. “What have you been doing all day?” she asks, probably trying to avoid his questions.
He leans his head back, looking up at Rya standing before him, shaking his head at her.
She pivots around and heads out of the living room toward their room.
I give Ezra a guilty smile as I follow behind her.