Chapter 83 Stories With Holes
Stories With Holes
Tessa
By the time Ryder answered, my hands were shaking. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Tell you what?"
With a hard swallow, I said, "About the night Griff didn't come home."
He paused for several beats like he was planning a masterful defense – or so I thought until he asked, "Who says he didn't come home?"
Seriously? In a tight voice, I replied, "You did."
"When?"
Oh. Right. Now, it was my turn to pause. Before the blowup with Maisie, she'd told me she overheard Ryder giving Griff a hard time about staying out all night.
But technically, Maisie had been eavesdropping at the time, which meant – damn it – the details weren't for public consumption.
As the silence stretched, I became uncomfortably aware that if I wasn't careful, I'd just make everything worse.
On the phone, Ryder asked, "You still there?"
"Just tell me this," I said. "Did you, or did you not, see Maisie at Griff's place the other night?"
Again, he paused. "The night he was supposedly missing? Or a different night?"
"A different one. Monday, when we had our movie date. Earlier that night, did you stop by?"
"I wouldn't say it was night. I mean, the sun was still shining, so…" He never did finish.
"But you did?" I made a sound of disbelief. "And you never thought to mention it?"
In a careful tone, he replied, "I thought about it."
"And…?"
He exhaled slowly. "And I figured you'd only worry."
My tone grew sarcastic. "Oh, so you were protecting me? Is that what you're saying?" And then, when he made no reply, I asked, "And you didn't think I'd find out, anyway? I mean, Maisie is my roommate."
"Yeah, and Griff's my friend."
"So?"
"So maybe you're not the only one I'm protecting."
Ouch. I opened my mouth, then closed it again, trying to figure out what to say. His loyalty to Griff might've been touching if only it didn't feel like disloyalty to me.
The silence between us lingered until Ryder broke it by saying, "And your roommate – I don't think she likes me much."
"Why do you say that?"
He gave a humorless chuckle. "You wouldn't have to ask if you'd seen her. Your friend has one hell of a glare."
I couldn't even imagine. Maisie was unfailingly polite. And yet, if she had been glaring, was it any wonder?
At the time, she'd just learned that her boyfriend had been missing overnight without any explanation.
I shifted gears. "Back to the other night…when you called me after whiskey, where were you exactly?"
"Why do you ask?"
It felt like a dodge. "Maybe I'm curious. Is it a secret or something?"
"It's no secret," he said. "But I want to know what you're getting at."
"Who says I'm getting at anything?"
"Tessa," he said, his voice losing all trace of humor. "We both know you're getting at something, so why dance around it?" But then his voice softened. "You wanna come over and talk?"
I gave a bitter laugh. "I can't, because if I disappear now, Maisie will think I've gone to see Griff."
His voice went suddenly flat. "Griff."
"Yes. Meaning your friend."
"I know who Griff is. But why would Maisie think that?"
"Because on that night he was missing, I was missing, too."
"What?"
"Not missing-missing. I just mean, I wasn't at home."
He didn't sound thrilled to hear it. "So, where were you?"
"Well…I was home earlier, but then…" I broke off as I realized something. "Hey, wait a minute…I asked you the same question, and you never answered. On that whiskey night, where were you?"
"I was at Griff's. So, where were you?"
Something about his tone wasn't sitting quite right. But fair was fair, so I just laid it out there. "I fell asleep at the coffee shop."
"Nope."
I frowned. "What do you mean nope?"
"I met you right after work."
"So?"
"So it was right outside that back door. It didn't look like you were sleeping to me."
"Well, obviously," I said. "I meant later that night, I went back to make sure the store was locked, and—"
"Alone?" He sounded incredulous, like I'd just confessed to sleeping in a pit of vipers.
"Yes, alone. It wasn't a big deal."
"So you decided to do what? Camp there?"
"I wasn't camping," I said. "I fell asleep in Skip's stupid recliner."
Sounding unconvinced, he replied, "Right."
"What, you don't believe me?"
"I dunno. Does Maisie believe you?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Because of what you said." His voice tightened. "She thought you were with Griff."
"Well…she didn't say it outright, but she was definitely wondering."
"Huh."
"Huh, what?"
"It's a curious thing to wonder, don't you think?"
The memory still stung. "Yes, actually."
"So she thought the two of you were what? Getting busy at the coffee shop?"
I didn't like the way that sounded. "Are you accusing me of something?"
"Like what?"
As if he didn't know. "Oh, come on. Let's cut to the chase. Surely, you don't think I was doing anything with Griff." If so, I didn't think my heart could take it.
"No. I don't. The truth is, it didn't even cross my mind." I let out a long sigh of relief, only to cut it short when he added, "I know Griff."
What the hell? "And you don't know me?"
"I do. But your story has holes."
"My story has holes?" I sputtered. "What about your story?"
"What story's that?"
"Correction," I said. "Your lack of story. I mean, seriously, you and I have spent the last few days together – and nights, too. And that whole time, you never once mentioned running into Maisie and Griff. Don't you think that's a little odd?"
"Not as odd as sleeping at a coffee shop, which, for the record, you never mentioned either."
That did it. "You know what? I'm done with this conversation."
"Too bad," he said with just a hint of sarcasm. "It was just getting good."
I couldn't even tell if he was joking. But it didn't matter. By now, I'd lost all sense of humor.
Obviously, he was angry. But if anyone should be angry, it was me.
When we hung up a few moments later, I was regretting calling him at all. And judging from his tone as he'd said goodbye, the feeling was more than mutual – which really sucked.
And that was putting it mildly.