Chapter 20
Interlude
I spoon cereal into my mouth with one hand while holding my phone in the other. Even though I haven’t heard any notification chirps, I check my phone again to see if anything has come in within the last five seconds. It hasn’t.
Fallon never texted me last night and I am out of my mind with worry.
His almost daily texts are the only things keeping me from losing my shit and charging over to the Montgomery place to demand his dad tell me where they are.
Mr. Montgomery has to know because Fallon would be using the family jet to take Elizabeth to who knows where.
The jerk-slash-friend who basically kidnapped my girlfriend still won’t tell me where they are.
I have woken up every morning for the past two weeks asking myself the same questions. First and foremost—is Elizabeth okay? Fallon says she’s getting better; that she’s healing and smiling more. However, I won’t be able to fully believe him until I see her with my own two eyes.
Then, I transition to the other questions: Why didn’t she come to me?
Why did she run to Fallon? Why did she run to Jay when her memories came back?
Why did she sleep with him? And why am I not angrier at them both about that?
I should be. I should be livid about a lot of things.
But I’m not. Worried? Yes. Concerned? Absolutely.
Missing the hell out of her? Most definitely.
Perhaps that comes from knowing and loving someone for almost a decade.
I know Elizabeth loves me, just as I know she also loves Jay and Jules.
She isn’t the type of person to go around callously hurting people, especially me and the twins.
The four of us share an unbreakable bond that has weathered every obstacle put in our path.
Yes, we fight and argue. Yes, Jay and I have exchanged punches in the heat of the moment.
But the four of us love one another, deeply.
And that love means we forgive. Maybe it’s easier for us to do because we’ve grown up together in this weird little bubble of intimacy and friendship.
It may not make sense to outsiders, but it makes perfect sense to us.
When my phone dings in my hand, I scramble to unlock the screen. That quick burst of happy expectation pops like an overfilled balloon when I see the text is from Daniel
Daniel: Any news?
Daniel and I check in daily. He tells me whether he’s heard from Elizabeth, and I tell him if I’ve heard from Fallon.
I’ve stopped by his house a few evenings to check on him.
Mom has invited him over for dinner a few times.
The Jamesons have too. What’s the African proverb?
It takes a village. Although, in this instance, our families are coming together to be there for Daniel, who is an adult and not a child.
Me: Nothing yet.
I finish off my breakfast and slide the bowl and spoon across the counter island towards the sink.
Daniel: Me neither. I’m meeting with Phillip later and will see if he’s heard anything.
Me:
Huh. I wonder what business Daniel has with Mr. Montgomery.
“How are you feeling this morning?” Dad asks me as he enters the kitchen and goes straight for the coffee machine.
He’s dressed in his usual work attire of clean, but oil-stained blue jeans, and a Randy’s Custom Auto logo T-shirt.
“I thought you had already left,” I reply, getting up and pouring myself a large glass of milk
He cuffs the back of my neck, which is his parental way of taking my temperature. Mom has a different method; she kisses my temple.
“I’m fine. Just tired,” I reassure him. I’ve been exhausted the past couple of weeks, the result of waking up constantly to check my phone and not having Elizabeth next to me in bed. I miss her so damn much.
“You can skip a day of school if you want to stay home and rest.”
“I’m good, Dad. Honest,” I promise him.
I don’t want to spend the day at home. All I would do is sit around thinking about Elizabeth and being sad. I’d rather be at school. I need the distraction.
“Hey, man.
Dad and I turn around at the same time to see Jay standing in the kitchen archway.
“If you’re expecting a full breakfast this morning, it’s a cold cereal day,” I inform him, propping my hip against the counter.
Dad looks back and forth between the two of us; me at one end of the kitchen, and Jay at the other, like we’re two cowboys in an old spaghetti Western. The tension in the room is palpable.
Dad downs his coffee in one go. “Okay, then. I’ll be leaving now. You two boys behave,” he tells us, giving each of us a pointed look before kissing the side of my head goodbye. He pats Jay’s shoulder on his way out of the room.
After a minute, Jay walks over to me and mirrors my stance next to the counter island. He looks about as good as I feel. “We need to talk.”
“And you thought catching me off guard forty-five minutes before we have to be at school was the best time to talk?”
“You know me. My timing has never been the best.” Jay cracks a small grin, trying to lighten the mood.
“Where’s Julien?”
“I told him not to come.”
“Want some cereal?” I offer.
“Yeah, man. That would be great. I haven’t eaten yet.”
I get a clean bowl and spoon out of the dishwasher and take the milk out of the fridge. Jay does the rest. I tilt my head to indicate we should sit at the breakfast nook and we both take seats at the round, wooden table.
After practically inhaling his breakfast, Jay leans forward, rests his elbows on the tabletop, and spears me with his silver-gray eyes. “I hate it when we fight. I hate this distance between us. I miss our friendship.”
“I have every right to be pissed at you,” I rejoin, sitting back and folding my arms across my chest. I meet his gaze head-on but keep my face expressionless.
He nods his head in agreement. “That’s why I’m here. I should have said it fourteen days ago.” He takes a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Ry. I’m so sorry that I hurt you.”
Not wanting to accept his apology so easily, I counter, “Yes, you did. But our friendship is littered with your past hurts. You have a habit of not caring about anyone other than yourself.”
Jay’s head snaps up from where he had been staring at his clasped hands on this table. “That’s not fair. I never meant to hurt you—”
“But you always do,” I interrupt him.
“Ry, I’m trying to be better here. Do better. Be more like you.” His last words are barely a whisper. “I thought the things that happened between us in the past were just that—in the past.”
Is he kidding me? “You thought wrong.”
His head jerks back as if I slapped him
“Jay,” I say pointedly. “You slept with my girlfriend.”
He goes rigid in his chair. “Liz was still my girlfriend when you went behind my back and started dating her. She and I hadn’t broken up when she was in the car accident.
Just because she couldn’t remember us, didn’t mean things were over between us.
And I know full damn well that you’ve been sleeping her.
You’ve been living at her house!” he shouts, anger emanating off him in waves.
I slam my hands on the table as I stand up. “You were the one who betrayed me first. You were my friend, Jay. And you betrayed me in the most awful way when you listened to me tell you how I loved Elizabeth and then you snuck behind my back and stole her from me!”
I prepare myself for Jay to fight back, wanting his anger so we can finally either get everything out in the open or burn our friendship to the ground.
But instead of yelling and placing blame on everyone else, Jay slumps back in his chair and contritely nods his head.
“We all know that I’m the screw-up in our group.
I leap before I look when it comes to Liz, never once giving a thought to how it will affect you or Jules.
And I’m sorry for once again hurting you.
I don’t mean to, but that’s no excuse.” He links his fingers together and taps them three times on the table.
“Do you regret what you did?” I cringe inwardly at myself for asking, but I need to know
Without pausing, he answers, “No.”
That’s what I expected him to say.
“Ry, I will never regret a second I have with Liz. I can’t. I love her.”
And this is where things get complicated. But haven’t things always been complicated when it comes to her?
“I love her too.”
“I know. I’ve always known. Jules accuses me of being possessive when it comes to Liz.
And I am. I was so afraid of losing her that I destroyed my friendship with you.
Instead of letting Liz choose for herself, I manipulated the situation and took her away from you and Jules.
And I am so very sorry, Ry. You should have hated me for what I did.
I wouldn’t blame you if you hate me now. ”
I should hate him. I should reach over this table and strangle the life from his body.
Instead, I say, “We’ve all made mistakes, Jay. I’ve made my fair share when it comes to her.”
He scoffs at my admission. “Ry, you have been and will be the better man. So, I guess that leaves us with the question of what comes next. What happens when Liz returns?”
Isn’t that the million-dollar question? As much as it breaks my already splintered heart, I tell him, “If she chooses you, I’ll step aside.” I choke on the words as I say them, but I say them, nonetheless.
Jay stands up and rounds the table. With a strength I didn’t know he possessed, he literally lifts me off my chair and engulfs me in a hug. “And if she chooses you, I won’t interfere. I miss you, man. I just want my friend back,” he tearfully avows.
Out of time, we leave things like that and head on to school.
So, imagine my bewilderment when, only a few hours later, Fallon calls me in the middle of class with the shock of a lifetime.