Play On (Game On 4)

“Ooh, do tell!” Bree bounced in her chair again.

“Isabelle’s coming to stay with me in three weeks.”

Bree leapt out of her seat and threw her arms around him. “That’s so awesome, Jesse! Can we meet her?”

“Of course.” He laughed. “But remember what I said. She’s shy, so you’ll need to be less… you.”

He winked at her and she rolled her eyes. “I get it.”

Jesse met Isabelle in London the year before, and in spite of people’s opinions about long distance relationships they’d managed to make it work. I had to admit, I was excited to meet her too. She sounded like a far cry from his last girlfriend, Taylor the psycho.

A small shudder rippled through me as it so often did when that night popped into my mind unexpectedly. The storm that killed Will had killed Taylor too. I couldn’t feel any sorrow for her, though. The girl was poisonous with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

Unlike Will.

“Dance with me?”

Bryce’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts, and as everyone else chatted about Isabelle’s visit, I nodded. Bryce’s habit of being in tune with everyone’s feelings had been my saviour on more than one occasion. Part of moving forward, I was sure, meant not needing to have someone to lean on every time I felt sad. Or at least not accepting every time. But dammit, it had been a couple of days of pushing myself. I had gone to work. I had forced myself to stay. To some people my steps were small, but at least I’d taken some. Quite a lot in two days.

“You okay?” Bryce rested a gentle hand on my hip to indicate to the guy dancing beside me who was staring at my legs that I was not available. The glare he got in return made us both laugh, and the guy turned his attention to someone else.

“Kind of. I can’t decide whether I want people to stop asking if I’m okay, or if I need it so I can ask myself the same question, just to check.”

“I hear ya.” Bryce pulled me in a touch closer so we could hear each other above the music. I kind of wanted to laugh. This was not the kind of conversation usually held on a dance floor. “It’s not exactly the same but when I first split with Sarah people kept asking me the same question too, with that look.”

Without realising what I was doing until it was too late, I tilted my head a little. “How are you doing?”

Bryce laughed. “I’m okay. It’s definitely weird being on my own and I miss my girls like crazy, but when I start to feel bad, I remember what it was like when we still lived together. Sarah and I weren’t living together anymore; we were two people sharing a house. It’s one thing to sit alone with nobody to talk to, but when you’re with the person you committed your whole life to and there’s silence… it’s a lot worse. We get along better now.”

“Do you think you’ll work things out?”

He shook his head. “I don’t love her the way I should. The way I used to. She doesn’t love me that way either. I think…” he trailed off and lowered his head. “I think she’s moved on already. Peyton mentioned something about some guy coming around and taking mommy out to dinner. It doesn’t matter; it’s definitely over but I’d have preferred to hear she’s dating from her, not from the kids. And I don’t like how she’s introduced them to someone new so quickly, but this is how things are now.”

The flicker of hurt in Bryce’s eyes made me step closer and give him a hug. Accepting something’s over doesn’t mean it won’t hurt anymore, and compared to the length of time they’d been married, the time they’d been apart was so short.

A blurry but familiar figure rushed by us, roughly shoving us aside. I don’t think he even noticed who we were as he hurried to the bar, and Bryce and I followed him with our eyes, our mouths dropping open.

“Was that Radleigh?”

Bryce nodded. “He said he wasn’t coming out tonight. Said he wanted to spend the evening with Leah.”

I raised my head to look up at him. “Has Radleigh said anything to you about him and Leah?”

His shoulders sagged a little. “Those two. I thought once they got together things would be better between them.”

“It is better.” God, it was so much better. When they first met it was almost dangerous to be in the same room with them. They fired each other up, and not always in the good way. But those times had passed, or so I’d thought.

“It’s a different kind of arguing now.” Bryce sighed. “I don’t know too much, but I do know that Leah’s been clingy. She doesn’t trust Radleigh and I’m afraid she’s gonna push him away by trying to keep him close. Like now, for example.”

He nodded towards the bar where Radleigh downed a bottle of beer, almost in one, then ordered another right away. His posture was rigid and tension oozed from him in waves.

Why didn’t I know about this? If I hadn’t overheard the argument the night before I’d never have had a hint that anything was wrong.

Of course, I knew why. It was just as I thought. Leah, and everyone, didn’t want to put anything else on me.

A woman dressed in hot pants and a neon pink halter neck top approached Radleigh; she couldn’t have been more than twenty-one, possibly younger. Some clubs were so lax with their standards. With absolutely no hesitation whatsoever, Nightclub Barbie took the beer bottle from his hands, wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned in to whisper something in his ear.

My eyes widened, as did Radleigh’s, at this girl’s shameless come-on. He pushed her away, shooting her an intimidating glare. She shrugged but wasn’t stupid enough to have another try with him.