Exquisite Betrayal (16 page)

Tills is laughing. “Do you really need to
question whether you’re in love with her? Look at yourself. You
look like a bloody, lovesick fool. You won’t even give me a chance
to answer.”

Her words nail me.

I don’t
want
to be in love
, I
tell myself again. It only leads to pain and suffering. Heartache
and misery.

She watches me and sees the change in me.
I’m guessing she does because she scowls while her lips stretch
into a thin line.

“
You know what? You’re a bloody,
fucking moron. That’s what you are.” Then she’s gone into her
room.

After her door slams shut, I sit and
think. The bottom line is, it doesn’t matter what I want. If I love
her, then I love her. It’s not like I can do anything about it.
Besides, how will I know if I
do
love her if I don’t seek her out to find the answer? Oh, I
suppose I can go on about my business the way I’ve been, miserable
and aching on the inside. However, if I don’t give it a chance,
then how will I know it wasn’t meant to be? Apart from that, I need
to give Fallon that chance, too; that is if she’ll even have
me.

Of all the things, why me? Why am I the one
to fall in love at first sight? And really, after Iris, I’m the
cynic. It’s only that experience that’s allowed me to write all
those sad romances, but I always change the endings to make them
happy ones because I can’t stand the thought of someone, even a
fictional character, going through what I did.

I knock on Tilly’s door.

“
I need your help.” I tell her my
plans, but she has an even better one. I can’t help smiling at her
and agreeing with her idea.

***

The Americans love their turkey, so Tilly
does her best to stuff one, but every year it ends up raw on the
inside and burnt on the outside. This year’s no different. As a
backup, she has some chicken, so we eat that instead with the
smashed up potatoes and gravy and other things she’s prepared.
Tilly hasn’t inherited Mum’s knack for cooking like I have, so the
food is merely okay, but I dig in like it’s the tastiest grub
ever.

“
Eck,” she says around a mouthful of
some vegetable concoction as she makes a face.

“
Know what? Next year, I say we go
out.”

“
Great idea and so much easier, too.”
Her exuberance over my suggestion makes me want to
laugh.

We carry on with our efforts to eat, but
after a few more forkfuls, we both laugh and give up. The food is
tossed in the trash and we make arrangements to eat out. I hug her
and say, “I’m proud of your efforts, though. That was a lot of hard
work.”

She shudders. “Yeah, but it was
disgusting.”

An hour passes and then we’re getting ready
to head to dinner when Tilly’s phone rings. She looks at it and
gets an odd expression on her face. “I don’t know this number,” she
mutters as she answers.

I watch as Tilly’s face falls, and I know
something’s amiss by the conversation. She hangs up and tells me
that Fallon was in an accident and totaled out her car. “That was
the hospital calling. She’s fine, but she’s suffered a broken foot
and a concussion.”

“
Oh shit!”

“
They’re going to let her go home
later, so she must be okay.”

“
Call her, Tilly. Now.”

“
No. Let’s give her some time to get
home.”

Thoughts are zipping through my mind, but
the main one is that I need to go to her. Minutes seem like years
as they tick by. Tills wants to strangle me after half an hour
because I keep insisting she call. She finally gives in.

As soon as she ends the call, I ask,
“Well?”

“
She’s a mess because she only had
collision insurance. She’s in financial straights and now she’s
worried about how she’ll make the drive out here.”

“
Is she okay?”

“
Physically, yes. Mentally, she’s a
wreck.”

“
Fuck!” I slam my hand against the
counter.

“
Think, Ryland Thomas. If you showed
up there, you’d upset her even more.”

“
Yeah, you’re right.” I think about it
for a second and then say, “I’m gonna give her a ring.”

Before she can stop me, I grab Tilly’s
phone.

When Fallon answers, my heart skips a beat,
but I don’t let it stop me. This woman needs my help and she’s
going to get it, no matter what.

“
Hi, R.T.”

“
Fallon, it’s not R.T., but I guess
you didn’t need me to tell you that now, did you?”

“
Ryland?” I can hear the catch in her
voice and it rips into me.

“
I wanted to check on you.”

“
I’m okay.”

“
Well, from what R.T. said, you could
use a hand.”

“
What are you doing at
R.T.’s?”

“
Er, I came to eat a horrid turkey
that was quite raw and disgusting.”

She laughs a bit and it eases me somewhat.
“Well, you two have fun.”

“
Look, if you need anything… anything
at all, you call us. You hear?”

“
I will.”

I end the call, look at Tills and say,
“You’re going to Fallon’s. To help her. Do you know anything about
that part of the country? We need to book you a flight and it’s not
gonna be easy, it being Thanksgiving and all.”

“
Uh-uh. But here.” We walk to her
laptop and look it up. Charlotte looks to be only about sixty miles
from Spartanburg where she lives. In a matter of moments, I’m on
the phone again and I’ve got a flight booked for Tilly the next
morning as well as a rental car reserved, which is equipped with
GPS.

I call Fallon back from my own phone this
time and she picks it up after only one ring. “Ryland.”

“
R.T. will be in late tomorrow. What’s
your address?” She rattles it off while Tilly writes it down.
“Don’t wait up on her. She has GPS so she’ll find you, Fallon.
Understand?”

“
Yeah, I hear you.” Her voice is soft
so I have to strain to hear.

“
Fallon, we’ll get this fixed. And by
the way, congratulations on landing the big job.”

There’s a pause before she answers,
“Thanks.”

“
Good night and don’t worry about a
thing.”

***

We sit at dinner, Tilly’s shoveling food
into her mouth like she hasn’t eaten in a month.

“
Tills, when was the last time you
ate?”

She stops and gives me an eat-shit look.
“I’m starving. So what?”

I laugh.

“
Hey, I could make a ton of sarcastic
comments about you, but I’m refraining. I’m just glad to have my
brother back.”

I put my fork down. “I’m scared as
hell.”

“
Of what?”

My brows go sky high. “Don’t act like you
don’t know. My heart’s so screwed right now, but when I see her, I
know I’m done for.”

“
Maybe. Maybe not. But hey, what’s so
bad in that anyway?”

I’d like to shake my sister right now, but I
refrain. “Oh, nothing, other than it scares the piss outta me.”

“
Right then.” She scrunches up her
face. “Is it because of the Iris thing?”

I shrug. “I suppose so, though I honestly
can’t say for sure. It’s the hurt part, I think. I loved Iris,
yeah, but the hurt was so bloody awful; the betrayal and that
feeling of destruction. You saw me afterward. That’s the reason,
you know. Why I’ve refused to get involved with anyone. I don’t
want to go down into that darkness again. I can’t explain how bad
it was.”

“
Was it Iris or was it Will that hurt
you so badly? And why do you think you’ll get hurt this
time?”

I laugh. “Oh, I don’t know. It’s in the
stars, maybe?”

“
Now that’s a load of crap. Ryland
Thomas, you got your balls kicked in by your best mate and girl,
but don’t let it ruin you for the one you deserve, the one who can
truly bring you happiness. You need to leave all that emptiness
that haunts you behind… let it go. Release it once and for all. I
hate seeing you this way.” At that, she grabs my hand and squeezes
it, hard.

“
I love you, Tilly. You’re always here
to patch me up, aren’t you?”

“
Well, you did a damn good job of
patching me up after Mum and Daddy died. You know I’m here for
you.”

“
Damn, I want to go to her so badly,
it’s killing me.”

“
No, you can’t do that. Fallon would
freak. She’s so vulnerable right now. She needs to deal with you
when she’s at full capacity, not weak.”

“
What if I want her weak?”

“
Ryland Thomas, that’s the last thing
you want and you know it. You’d always question whether she came to
you freely or because she needed rescuing.”

The truth is, I don’t give a damn how she
comes to me. I’ll take her any way I can get her.

***

The next day is the longest I’ve ever
lived.

I drop Tilly off at the airport and then
wait to hear that she’s arrived at Fallon’s. When she finally
calls, she tells me that Fallon looks like hell and is wearing one
of those boots for her fractured foot. It’s all I can do to keep
myself in California. I want to hop on the next flight there, yet
the sensible side of me knows that won’t work. We have the plan
laid out, and Tills is going to work through it. My part will come
in when Fallon moves here. Then maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to
win her back little by little.

When the morning sun wakes me, I hear R.T.
making coffee in my tiny kitchen. I try to hurry out of bed, but my
soreness as well as that cumbersome boot I have to wear hinder
me.

“
So, tell me what happened in your car
crash,” she says as I grab a cup of coffee.

“
I thought I did.”

“
No, not that… what led to
it.”

“
It was Thanksgiving and I was angry,
like I usually am over any holiday. My mom… well, you know. She
always makes everything so difficult. I thought I’d wait to tell
her about my job on Thanksgiving because she’d be around her
squirrely little husband and maybe for once I could make it through
unscathed. I was wrong. She berated me, and it was back to me being
worthless again.

“
She has this thing about me staying
away from men who want me for my money. I mean, honestly, I think
most men would run from me if they knew my financial status. So,
I’m not paying attention and here comes this guy and he T-bones me.
I don’t remember getting hit, really, only waking up in the
ambulance.

“
The next thing I know, I’m in the
hospital. I call my mom and she blames me for not being vigilant on
the road. And that’s it. They had to call a cab for me because all
my friends were gone and I didn’t have a way to get home. I didn’t
know the hospital even called you until you called me
back.”

“
Fallon, look at me.”

I do.

“
I’m glad they called. If I’d known
you suffered through this alone, I would’ve been so
hacked.”

“
Well, now that you’re here, I have to
say I’m really glad you came.” I hug her, refusing to let the tears
fall. After a few minutes, I take a giant breath and step away.
“You’ve been such a great friend, R.T. I don’t know what I’d do
without you.”

“
I have an idea. Why don’t we shower
and get dressed. Then let’s hunt down some brekkie. That’ll make
buying you a car all the more fun.”

I look at her like she’s lost her marbles.
“Uh-uh. You’re definitely not buying me a car.”

“
Of course I am. You don’t think I’ve
come all this way to pat you on the back and then leave, do you?
And don’t you give me that evil eye. You know what will happen if
you do. I’ll just go out on my own and buy you something terribly
elaborate that’ll make you extraordinarily guilty. So come
on.”

Knowing this is a no-win situation, I give
in and go take a shower.

***

We stop for breakfast and afterwards, at her
insistence, I direct her to the medical center. She leaves me in
the car while she goes in to pay the bill. Now we’re moving on to
buy a car for me. I’m a bit nervous because I don’t know how to
handle all of this. Since I only had collision insurance, the
little bit of money I’ll get from my car will be from the salvage
of it so it won’t amount to much.

“
Have anything in mind?” she
asks.

“
Only that the damn thing will get me
to California.”

“
Okay.”

It doesn’t take us long because all the car
dealerships are lumped in one spot. She finds a nice, used Ford
Fusion, which I’m comfortable with. I would’ve gone for something
even less expensive, but she won’t hear of it. As she fills out the
paperwork, I leave because it makes me uneasy. Lucky for me, it’s
my left foot that’s injured, so I’m okay to drive. We head to the
grocery store on the way back home so I can cook dinner since R.T.
really is pitiful in the kitchen.

“
I can understand what Ryland meant
about your turkey. You’re not into the cooking thing, are
you?”

“
Not at all, unless you call enjoying
the end result into it. I do so love to eat. You can probably
tell.”

I make a grunt-like noise. “Don’t even go
there.”