“He’s…” I stopped myself. We had been so careful to tell everyone here in Colorado Springs that we were just friends that I almost said the same thing to David. That would have caused more suspicion than I could handle when Micah showed up to get the rest of the riddle solved. “Please, David, if you’re going with him on this-this job, please don’t let him get hurt. I know you think I’m some kind of nut case, but I really still love him with all my heart, just don’t tell him. I’d die if something happened to him. Please keep him safe and bring him back without another gunshot or knife wound.”
“That’s my intention. I’ve got to go,” he stood up and pushed in his chair. “Call your mother. Oh, and Micah said to tell you to start ‘living your life,’ whatever the hell that means. Goodbye, Leese.”
And he walked away as I sat there and watched him get into a dark sedan and drive off.
I never made it to the market. I walked in a daze back to the house and put the annulment papers on the coffee table and simply crumpled up on the floor. It was around eleven when I felt a touch on my arm.
“He found us, didn’t he?”
“It’s over, Ryan. He isn’t coming to look for me. He’s leaving the country tomorrow.”
“He annulled the marriage-I saw the papers,” he was trying to be as gentle as possible when he uttered it. “Did he give these to you?”
“No, he didn’t want to come, so he sent his brother instead,” I said, still lying on the living room rug as Ryan tried to coax me off the floor. I wasn’t budging, so he joined me.
“Leese, I know this hurts, but it means you can get on with a normal life now. We can finish our last year of school. You can go out and buy a car for yourself. We’re going to be fine and you don’t have to jump every time someone comes to the door. We-”
“I can go home,” I said quietly, but evidently loud enough to cause him to go silent.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, baby girl, because if you go home and I stay here it’ll only be a matter of time before he thinks you’re available and shows up. You said this guy forbid you to get back together with him or else-”
“I know the or else, Ryan. Please, don’t remind me.”
“Leese, I have to know. Do you really want to go home? Because I’d like to think you’d rather-rather stay here with me. With the marriage annulled, your promise to him isn’t-”
“Yes it is, Ryan. I made the promise, not the piece of paper. I love him more than ever, I just never expected him to give in and walk away. I guess he was telling me the truth the day in the hospital when he said he’d rather give me to you a thousand times over than for something to happen to me.”
“Me? He said he’d rather give you to me?” Shock and surprise were clear.
“It’s a long story and I can’t discuss it now,” I said, wiping my eyes. “But to answer your question, no I don’t really want to leave here, but I’ve got to call my mom.” My cell phone had a full battery the night when I listened to all the phone messages and then turned it off and put it away. I was pretty sure the battery would still be good as I sat up on the rug and drug my purse beside me.
“I’m-I’m going to go outside and let you talk.”
My cell phone powered up and I hit the speed dial for Mom. Two rings and I sighed as I heard her voice. It was a long conversation. I couldn’t tell her any of the real reasons for me leaving because she might say something to David, who would tell Micah, and who knew what Micah would do if he knew the real person who caused all of our problems. So, I had to stick with the lie that I simply loved Ryan a little more, but didn’t realize it until I met up with him the day we left together.
She was angry with me, chewed me up and spit me out actually, but it was still good to hear her voice. Once she finished berating me, she began to forgive me and then to plead with me to come back home. She did pointedly mention Ryan was not welcome in her house, at least not for a while.
“No, I’m sorry, Mom. I love you, but I’m staying in Colorado with him. I won’t be coming home, at least not to live anyway, maybe just for a visit. I’m honestly out of the nest this time and I guess it’s time to start really living my life.”
We said our goodbyes and I clicked the phone shut. Ryan returned after another twenty minutes, carrying coffees and a bag of pastries from the café.
“Would you like to call your mom,” I said, offering my phone to him as he set everything down, “I’m sure she’s just as worried as mine.”
He smiled and accepted the phone.
By the end of the night, I purchased a pair of laptops for the house, a new cell phone for each of us, picked up a rental car, and placed an order for a new car.
It was late by the time we hit the bed, but we had church in the morning and Candace was supposed to be joining us so we needed some sleep. I got up once at six a.m. and unlocked the front door so she could get in while I was in the shower. She would be here around seven-thirty and she normally just came right in and relaxed while we finished getting ready. Ryan was zonked out in my bed which simply wouldn’t do, even though our relationship was platonic, no one would ever believe that we shared a bed without sex.
“Hey sleepy-head, time for you to go get in your bed,” I yawned, lying back down beside him for a moment. He hadn’t moved a muscle. I let my hand gently stroke across his jaw line and then allowed my finger to brush his lips. The eyes fluttered weakly open as he stared at me through his blue orbs.
“Don’t tell me it’s morning,” he said as if there wasn’t enough strength in him to get the words out.
I yawned again, “Yup, time to move to your room.”
His arm flopped across my side as he attempted to pull me toward him. A frontal embrace wasn’t a good idea, especially after the other night. I rolled my back to him and allowed him to pull me in tighter. It was late September and the weather had cooled to the point where being cuddled against his warm body was perfect.
“What time is it?” he whispered.
“Six-fifteen.”
“We have time for a little more sleep. Set the alarm for another thirty minutes, please, Leese.”
I didn’t argue. I was as tired as he was as I reached over and set it for six-forty-five. I was going to pull away from him in a few minutes and slip into a hot shower, but my eyelids drooped and the soft bed and the warm body lulled me to sleep.
The next thing I heard was, “You son-of-a-bitchin’ liar!”
The alarm had not gone off and Candace was standing in the bedroom doorway with Andy and Ty standing behind her. She told us she was inviting them, but I didn’t know for certain they were coming.
I jerked up right, pulling Ryan with me.
“She’s married!” was the first thing out of sleepy-heads quick-draw mouth.
“This isn’t what it looks like,” I said, tumbling from the bed.
Ryan was still trying to clear his brain as he stared at all the people looking at us, “We didn’t do anything,” he finally managed to say.
Andy and Ty were all smiles, but Candace was on the verge of an explosion.
“You both said you were just friends! You led me to believe… Aaah!” she turned to storm out and I knew I had to catch her before she got out the door. “Get out of my way!” she bellowed as I ran around to block her path to the front door.
“Candace, do you know who I am?”
“Yeah, you’re a freaking liar just like him!”
“No. I know you recognized me when you met me-I’m Annalisa Winslett,” I said hoping it would give a moment’s pause before she tore out of the house.
“The runaway princess?” she said, stopping and staring at my face.
The title was one I absolutely hated, but the national tabloid had dubbed me that after all I’d been through. They attributed Pensacola to me running away (although it wasn’t), my disappearance after the school shooting as running away, and, more recently, they published that I had married and then run away from my new husband with a mystery man. I was making the press a lot of money.