“Your cheeks are a little flushed,” Ben said after he’d turned towards Rylee again. Her eyes widened at his remark, but she covered it up with a smile pretty quickly.
“We talked about our childhood and there were some embarrassing stories.” This answer seemed to satisfy him, because he didn’t continue asking her about it. Instead he said something that shocked her even more.
“Well, since you know him so well, you can take over my duties with the Bruins organization. There are charity events in the next couple of months and I have to attend games. It’s probably more fun for you to attend them instead of me. I never really liked hockey, but their organization is really good, and I have to maintain this connection.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Ben. They probably want you there, not me.” The bigger problem was that she wasn’t sure what to do about the whole Adam thing. He’d lit up her whole body with only a look. The kiss should never have happened, but she couldn’t say that she regretted it. That would be a lie. To be honest, she didn’t even remember the last time she’d been kissed or touched like that. Still, it had been a mistake and she was engaged to Ben. If she saw Adam on a regular basis now, that would probably lead to a lot of trouble.
“Rylee,” Ben said a little annoyed, shooting her a look that made her wince. “You’re about to become a Lowell. There are certain expectations. I have enough stuff I have to deal with, so you can at least do that.” Ben took a deep breath and rubbed a hand across his face. “Look, they’re probably happier to see someone there who knows and likes the sport instead of me, who’d be sitting there thinking about work instead of concentrating on the game.”
“Okay,” was the only thing Rylee could say. She didn’t want to argue with him, or even say another word, because it would always end the same way: She would go to the hockey games, and inevitably see Adam again and again. Next time she’d have to control her emotions better.
“I’ll go to bed.” Ben looked at her once more, before he turned around and headed towards the bedroom. He loosened his tie and took off his jacket before he entered the bathroom.
Rylee stared after him and took a deep breath. No, she didn’t want to go to bed right now. She wouldn’t be able to sleep next to Ben after this after all. She turned around and headed to the living room. She took off her jeans, grabbed a blanket and cuddled up on the sofa. She turned on the TV, zapped through a couple of channels until she found something that was at least a little interesting.
In the end Rylee fell asleep on the sofa. Not that she’d wanted to join Ben in their bed, but she could have done without being woken up like this.
“Wake up, Rylee.”
She felt a rough hand on her shoulder and jolted to attention. She sat upright on the sofa, blanket pooling around her body, hair tousled on her head, and her eyes only halfway open. She’d fallen asleep way too late and was still tired. Ben took the blanket and threw it aside.
“What do you think you’re doing falling asleep out here and not getting up on time?” He gritted his teeth. “You’ve got to become a little more responsible.” He threw her a dirty look, before he left the living room and the apartment altogether. He had work to do and couldn’t waste his time lecturing her.
Rylee blinked a couple of times to realize what had just happened. She was ready to cry, bury her face in a pillow and scream her lungs out, but she was better, stronger than this. She had known right from the start that this relationship wouldn’t be perfect.
She had to get out of the apartment. Before that she took a quick shower, blow dried her hair, put on some jeans and an old pullover and her coat, and left the apartment. Once outside she put on her sunglasses. Nobody needed to see the big bags beneath her eyes. Lack of sleep and the things she’d been worrying about had put them there. She wanted nothing more than a cupcake and a cappuccino. And she knew just the right place to get it.
Even though she’d told Abby the day before a couple things she wouldn’t have if she’d known beforehand that Abby was friends with Adam, she found herself entering her bakery. Abby’s face lit up the instant she saw Rylee.
“Hey, it’s good to see you here again.” Abby stayed behind the counter. She asked Rylee what she wanted, so that she could prepare it, while she continued. “You know, I was really surprised to find out, that you were talking about Quaider all the time yesterday.” She came around with the cupcake, placed it on the table and returned to finish the cappuccino. “But don’t worry, I won’t say a word to him. This is between you two. I can keep a secret.”
Abby came around the counter again and set the cup down on the table before she took the seat opposite Rylee. She was still wearing her sunglasses, even though she was inside. It wasn’t even that sunny outside.
“You can take them off, you know? It’s not that bright in here,” Abby said with a light chuckle. She wrapped her fingers around her own mug filled with tea to warm her hands a bit. It wasn’t cold in the bakery, but her fingers were somehow.
Rylee sighed and took off her sunglasses. For a moment she looked down, before she looked up and straight at Abby. Concern clouded her beautiful face, making Rylee regret that she’d taken her sunglasses off.
“What happened?” Abby inquired. “You look like you didn’t get a lot of sleep.”
Well, Abby had said that she could keep a secret, so Rylee felt good confiding in her. In fact, there was nobody else she could talk to about this. And so she told her about the previous night, about the kiss, how Ben had treated her and that he expected her to go to the Bruins games and events instead of him.
“Look at it this way,” Abby said, still smiling to herself about the kiss between Rylee and Adam. She knew Ben Lowell, had heard stories about him, and didn’t like him. Adam on the other hand was one of her friends, a genuinely nice guy, and he had history with Rylee. Oh, and she liked Rylee of course. “Use the games to determine what you feel, what you want. You’ll see a whole lot more of Adam and you can talk to him in a safe environment. See how you feel around him and you can make your mind up.”
It wasn’t a bad idea. Not at all. Rylee hadn’t looked at it this way. But did she really want to find out what she felt for Adam, what could be? She was still set on marrying Ben. Damn, why did all this have to be so confusing?
They dropped the subject for now and concentrated instead on different subjects and enjoying their tea, cappuccino and cupcake.