“Tell her,” Allysa says, her voice angrier now. “She has the right to
know, Ryle. She’s your wife. If you don’t tell her, I will.”
Ryle’s shoulders roll forward and his head is fully pressed against
the counter now. Whatever it is Allysa wants him to tell me has him so
agonized, he can’t even look at me. I clench my stomach, feeling the
angst deeper than my soul.
Allysa spins toward me and puts her hands on my shoulders. “Hear
him out,” she begs. “I’m not asking you to forgive him, because I have
no idea what happened last night. But just please, as my sister-in-law
and my best friend, give my brother a chance to talk to you.”
- • •
Allysa said she’d watch the store for the next hour until another
employee comes in for their shift. I was still so upset with Ryle, I
didn’t want him in the same car with me. He said he’d send for an
Uber and meet me at my apartment.
My entire drive home I agonized over what he could possibly need
to tell me that Allysa already knows. So many things went through my
head. Is he dying? Has he been cheating on me? Did he lose his job?
She didn’t seem to know the details of what happened between us last
night, so I have no idea how this relates to that.
Ryle finally walks through my front door ten minutes after me. I’m
sitting on the couch, nervously picking at my nails.
I stand up and start to pace as he slowly walks to the chair and takes
a seat. He leans forward, clasping his hands in front of him.
“Please sit down, Lily.”
He says it pleadingly, like he can’t take seeing me worry. I return to
my seat on the couch, but I scoot to the arm, pull my feet up, and
bring my hands to my mouth. “Are you dying?”
His eyes stretch wide and he immediately shakes his head. “No. No.
It’s nothing like that.”
“Then what is it?”
I just want him to spit it out. My hands are starting to shake. He
sees how much he’s freaking me out, so he leans forward and pulls my
hands from my face, holding them in his. Part of me doesn’t want him
touching me after what he did last night, but a piece of me needs the