Chapter 1
The Present
“What you’re doing isn’t right,” I tell Ryder. Ry asked me and Jules to come over to his house. Fallon was already there when we arrived.
“For once, I agree with Jay,” Fallon says.
“Thank you,” I tell him. Of course, being Fallon, he has to be a dick.
“Not agreeing for your benefit.”
“Not the time,” Julien chimes in, breaking up the stare-off between me and Fallon. “What do you need us to do?” he asks Ry.
“I really don’t know at this point.”
“What about Liz?”
We’re sitting around the firepit in Ry’s backyard. Ryder leans forward in his chair and palms his face between his hands. When he looks up at us, his eyes are glazed with unshed tears.
“I love her. God, Jay, I’m so sorry about how things turned out. I know the past few months have been hell for you. But I love her so much. I don’t regret a single moment. I can’t.”
“And you shouldn’t,” I tell him. “We’ve both been blessed to have her love. We’re all blessed to have her in our lives. Liz has always been the best part of us. She’s what binds us together.”
I kneel in the grass in front of Ry and cuff his wrists, looking him in the eye. “Loving Liz is the best thing either one of us ever did.” I look around at Jules and Fallon. “The best thing all of us have done.”
“I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to tell her.”
“Tell me what?”
All four of us stand up and turn around at the sound of Liz’s voice. None of us were expecting her to show up here tonight.
“Tell me what?” she asks again, her sights locked on Ryder.