by Lulu Pratt
My mom was polite as always, looking across the table and giving me a wink. When dinner and dessert were over, Miles and Ryan agreed to clear the table while I walked my mom out to the car that was waiting for her. It had been a lot of excitement for her and I could tell she was more than exhausted. I didn’t want her to go, but I knew that she needed to.
“Thanks for being my backup, Mom,” I smiled.
“Any time,” she said. “And remember, they are just two men, don’t let them have that kind of power over you. Be strong like the woman I know. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“I love you,” I said, helping her into the car.
“I love you too, sweetie,” she smiled, as I shut the door and tapped on the roof.
Standing there, I watched the car disappear into the darkness before turning around and walking back inside. By the time I got there, Miles was already headed upstairs for bed, and I was exhausted from the day myself. When I got up to the bedroom Ryan was there, waiting for me. He walked over and put his arms around me, leaning down to kiss my lips. I turned my head, not in the mood for his passes.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, looking confused. “Are you all right?”
“I can’t stand Miles,” I said, pulling away. “He is rude, inconsiderate and I have to compete with him, just to not get my feelings hurt. I don’t like it, and I don’t like the fact that you don’t stand up to him when he is saying things you both know will upset me. I’m just tired of him being here, and I want things to go back to normal.”
“Look,” he said, a little stern. “I’ve known Miles most of my life, and he has been my best friend since my freshman year in high school. We have been through so much together, including the death of my mother. He is like a brother to me, not just a best friend. You’re just going to have to get over how he acted last night when he was drinking. There is nothing I can say to him that will make him give two shits about how you feel about him. He is just that way, and it’s not going to do any good for you to mope around holding a grudge.”
“I see,” I said, annoyed. “Well, you have fun together while he’s here then, because I’m not doing anything else with him.”
I turned and grabbed a couple of things and marched out of the room. I went down the hall and to the left where the guest room I’d slept in before was. I didn’t want to be away from Ryan, but how could I justify sleeping with him when he’d offended me like that? I couldn’t, that was the answer, so the best thing for me to do was just separate myself from the whole damn thing.
CHAPTER 15
Ryan
I stood in the kitchen staring out into the backyard, sipping my cup of coffee. Time seemed to have slowed down since Miles had come and gone. Today marked our six-week anniversary as a married couple, and it hadn’t been easy to get here, especially not in recent days. When we hit the four-week point I thought it was a breeze, with time flying by and things between me and Mira going really well. I was on my way to five hundred thousand dollars and had feelings for Mira I’d never experienced before.
However, after the Miles debacle, time just started creeping by. Matters had been incredibly tense between us, and it all went back to that first night Miles went out with us to the bar. She just wouldn’t let it go, even sleeping in separate rooms, making comments about it, and altogether avoiding me as much as possible.
Evelyn was just lapping it up, she loved the drama and the suspense, but I hated it. I wanted Mira to forgive me and go back to the way things were before Miles came. I’d known when I saw him standing there in the living room that he was going to be an issue. I’d just freaking known it. There was nothing else that could possibly happen. He was loud and spoke his mind, even when it hurt people’s feelings. I’m not saying it was right, but he was a friend who was sacred to me. Just then my phone buzzed on the counter in front of me, and looking down, I saw the name Miles on the text message screen. I opened it up and read it.
Things going any better?
Ugh. Not unless you say not speaking to me and avoiding me at all costs is an improvement.
Meh, she’ll come around. And if she doesn’t, just bag it and take your money.
I’ll text you later, Evelyn is here for the briefing.
10-4 buddy
At first when he’d checked in I thought Miles was going to offer an apology, but that didn’t happen, and I knew sure as hell that he thought she was being stupid about the whole thing. I did feel like she was being unreasonable in a way, and I wasn’t sure what she expected me to do about it. I was sorry she didn’t like how I lived my life before I met her, but the past was the past, or at least that was how I thought about it, anyway.
Besides, Miles had been gone for over a week at that point. We had been through other stuff with Evelyn, gone about our daily lives and moved forward. At least I had moved forward. I didn’t understand why Mira couldn’t just let the whole thing go and move on. I had tried talking to her about it, but she’d just got even angrier than before, so I let it go. It was bad enough that we were married strangers with obvious feelings for each other on national TV, I didn’t want to add to that by fighting in front of everyone too, no matter how much Evelyn liked to see it.
I sighed and poured myself another cup of coffee, waiting for Mira to come down and meet with Evelyn to get the day’s briefing over with. Dealing with Evelyn every day had already become annoying, and I felt like I never had time for my own thoughts. Harrison tried to take the cues when I wanted to be alone, but he also had a job to do and I tried to be understanding of that. I was the one who had signed up for this thing, it was my fault, and I couldn’t go back on it just because I needed some space. I had to push through and show Mira that I really did care about her, but I wasn’t going to spend the next four and half months begging for forgiveness. Honestly, I was beginning to wonder if Mira even knew what it was.
“Okay, Ryan,” Evelyn called from the other room. “We’re ready to start.”
I walked into the living room and sat down in the chair, glancing over at Mira, but feeling the sting of rejection once again as she completely ignored me. Evelyn looked back and forth between the two of us and sat down on the couch. She rubbed her chin, obviously thinking, and then stood again and nodded her head.
“You have really been keeping up with the drama and heartbreak,” she said. “I like that, but people are going to get bored with it. So, in order to try to pull you two love doves back together, we have scheduled another planned date. This time you’re really going to have to work together to get through it. We are sending you to an escape room, and it takes cooperation and teamwork to win. I know you both like to win, so you are going to have to remember how to communicate with each other.”
“So, basically you are locking me in a room with him and I have to be nice to him in order to get out?” Mira asked, making me flinch.
“You have to work together, so if that means being nice, then yes, be sunshine fucking daisy sweet to him,” she said. “I don’t want to have to come in there and tell you how to get along. This is a TV show and you are entertainers.”
“I think we will be fine,” I smiled.
“Good,” Evelyn said. “Be ready in three hours, the car will pick you up and take you over there.”
Evelyn threw her hands into the air dramatically and walked out of the family room and out to where her car waited. Mira stood up and walked straight past me, going down the hall and up the stairs. I looked up at Harrison who was just shaking his head, feeling completely sorry for me. I sighed and got up off the couch, heading up to get ready for the event, hoping beyond hope that the couple that we were in the beginning started to shine through again.
When it was time to go, I waited at the bottom of the steps and gave Mira my arm, walking her out to the car. She was quiet, but a little more relaxed than before. When we arrived at the escape room the energy was high, and I actually saw her smile and laugh for the first time in days. They explained to us how it worked.
“I think we got this, right?” I asked, looking at Mira.
She smiled but didn’t say a word. We headed into the first room and were able to solve the puzzle in the first three minutes. By the time we made it to the fourth and final room, things were definitely a lot harder, but we had started to work together as a team and talking to one another about something that wasn’t Miles. We read the clues together over and over, looking around the room for things that would fit. It was tense, no doubt about that, but surprisingly the tension was not between us, it was because we were working so hard to win it. In the end, we solved the problem, making our way out to a cheering group of employees. We worked really well together, something I hadn’t noticed until we were in that last room.
The crew gave us signs to hold up celebrating our victory, and I took that moment to bring Mira in close to me. She didn’t fight me, and that was enough for the moment. It was way better than having her not want to be within ten feet of me, so I would consider it progress. She was a tough chick and didn’t give in easily or give up when she thought something wasn’t right. Despite the fact that it irritated me in the Miles situation, it was a really good trait in general.
When we were done there, we headed out, deciding to stop and grab some fast food burgers on our way back home. It had been a long day and neither of us really felt like cooking. We ordered our food and headed back to the house.
“You want to eat outside on the porch?” I asked, as we put our stuff down in the kitchen.
“Yeah,” she smiled. “That actually sounds really nice. I’ll grab some napkins and plates.”
We went out onto the porch and pulled our burgers and fries out, laying them on the plates. I sat back and stretched my arms up high, happy to be back to my temporary home. Doing the escape room was a cool experience, but I was pretty sure I wouldn’t do one again.
“You know, we would never have gotten out of there if it weren’t for you,” I smiled.
“I know,” she smirked, with a giggle. “No, you contributed a lot. That third room riddle had me stumped like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Oh, I believe it. I saw the vein popping out of your forehead, remember,” I laughed.
“Oh stop! Yeah, I was stressed, but then you found the chalk board and it all made sense,” she said.
“I actually had a lot of fun with you today,” I said. “We really work well together in situations like that.”
“I agree with you,” she said, taking a bite of her burger. “I think we work well in almost every situation. Listen, I am still not happy about Miles, but I don’t want to keep ignoring each other. I miss talking to you. So, I’m going to let it go, I just ask that if the situation arises again before this whole thing is done, that you try to be a little easier on me.”
“I promise,” I smiled. “And I told him what was up with the whole thing. He felt terrible.”
“Yeah right,” she laughed.
“Okay, he didn’t actually say that, but I could tell he was actually thinking about something other than himself for a split second.”
“I’ll take that, it’s likely the best I’ll ever do with him,” she said with a wink.
I stared across the table at her as she finished her burger and wiped her mouth. She really was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. Miles was right, she was not the typical girl that I slept with, but she was far more to me than just some one-night stand. Not only was she technically my wife, but she was really special in other ways, too. I found that I missed her when she wasn’t nearby, and I enjoyed being around her more than anyone else I had ever met.
I stood up from my chair and walked around the table, reaching my hands down for her. She looked at me suspiciously, but put her hands in mine, letting me pull her to her feet. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and moved a piece of hair from her eyes, thinking about how glad I was that she was back to being her old self again. I didn’t know if I could have taken much more of the avoidance. I leaned forward and kissed her lips, softly at first but then harder, pulling her into my chest, feeling her body pressed against mine. Just as I was about to scoop her up, her phone rang, interrupting our kiss. She pulled it out and looked at it curiously before answering.
“Hello?” she said, smiling up at me. “Yes, this is her. She is? Right, okay, I’ll be right there.”
She hung up the phone and stared down at it for a second, her face turning to worry.
“I gotta go. My mom is in the hospital, and it’s really bad.”
CHAPTER 16
Mira
Ryan hadn’t thought twice, without a moment’s hesitation, he took me by the hand and led me straight outside to the car. He could see that my brain was running a million miles a minute, but I didn’t have the slightest idea what to do with my emotions. He even thought to grab my purse for me. He put me in the passenger seat of the car and buckled the seatbelt before running around and getting into the driver’s side. He zoomed straight to the hospital, not giving two shits about the speed limit.
When we got there, he took my hand and lead me straight to her floor, waiting outside the room while I went in first. My mom was asleep and hooked up to all kinds of different beeping and flashing machines. I stood at the end of the bed staring down at her, my hand clapped over my mouth. It was the most helpless I had ever seen her. It was also the most helpless I had ever feel.
From behind, I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned to find Ryan, with a concerned look on his face. Immediately I buried my face into his chest, letting him pull me into him, the tears staining his blue button-up shirt. I let myself go for a couple of minutes before finding my way over to one of the chairs and sitting down. He pulled a chair over next to me, and we sat there all night, watching my mom, hoping and praying she would be okay.
“You can go back,” I said, looking at him. “You don’t have to stay here.”
“I know I don’t have to, but I want to,” he said. “I’m right here, just relax.”
In a way I was thankful that he decided to stay, despite that I’d told him he could go several times. I needed the support and at that point there was no one else on earth I’d felt that comfortable with. He became my rock really, really fast.
“Thank you for staying with me,” I said, watching the heart monitor. “It really does mean a lot.”
“I want you to know something,” he said, turning to me and taking my hands. “No matter how it started, you are my wife, and that woman right there is my mother-in-law. I am going to be here to support both of you, no matter what.”
Smiling, I leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. I found the sentiment to be incredibly sweet. No one had ever made that kind of sacrifice for me, and though we both knew the wedding would have to be dealt with and resolved somehow at the end of six months, he was trying to be the best partner he could be in the meantime. It was something that I hadn’t expected from him, especially after how he had acted with Miles. I would have thought he’d be cold and withdrawn, feeling awkward and uncomfortable in the situation.
That wasn’t what happened at all though. He went back and forth getting water and coffee for us, finding different snack machines and bringing things back to the room and just genuinely being there for me. At one point he even sat and rubbed my mother’s feet while she slept. It was almost as if he was my real husband, even if it was only for one night. I realized that if he could get past allowing Miles do whatever he wanted, he was going to make a very good and loving husband for some woman one day. Part of me almost felt sad that it most likely wouldn’t be me. Still, it was nice not having to be alone in these trials.
I waited there for the doctor, watching the nurses come in and out, checking on her, and explaining the different medications they were giving her
. She was uncomfortable, so pain medications were given, and because of that she was either groggy or completely out the whole time. I was just glad to know it wasn’t a coma or something like that. When the morning hit, my mother’s regular doctor started his rounds, pulling me out of the room to talk to me.
“Your mother seems to be stabilizing now,” the doctor said, “However, it appears that her kidney function is getting worse, and the deterioration is accelerating at a very high rate. I have got her name moved up on the transplant list, but that is no guarantee of anything at this point. Please understand that I have seen the number one person on the list wait six years for an appropriate donor.”
“So, what does all that mean for her?” I asked.
“She is going to have to stay in the hospital and be on a very tight dialysis regiment,” he explained. “She will be on all liquids to keep the kidneys working as little as possible, and she will have to be monitored, especially her heart and blood pressure. She will be given medication as well as pain medications whenever she needs them.”
“Does she know any of this yet?” I asked.
“No, and I think that for right now we should just let her rest, get her strength back, and maybe get some liquid foods on her stomach when she comes out of the next round of pain meds,” he said. “Then we can all sit down and talk about everything. It’s important that your mother not get upset. She needs to stay calm and keep up with everything we need her to do. The longer we do that, the longer we can keep her stable and waiting for her kidney to arrive. Since she doesn’t have other family that would be compatible, we’re just at the mercy of the list.”
