appearance — more than once.” Paige laughed, and then grew serious again.
“Anyway, thanks for letting me know that it wasn’t Gareth you were with. You had Clint and I really nervous there for a while,” Paige continued. “He really did a number on you, Riley, dumping you like he did, and after what happened to you, I’ve never forgiven him. None of us have. What he did was low and despicable and it’s a pity that karma hasn’t caught up with him.”
“Well, it wasn’t Gareth,” Riley said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “And no way would I ever want to see him again, not even if he called me and went down on his knees begging to see me again for old times’ sake.”
She brushed invisible lint from her jeans as she spoke, unable to look Paige in the eye, and wondered if she could ever pass as an actress.
“Liar,” Paige said, chuckling. “You so would.”
Oh, well. Guess not.
6
A Ménage à Cinq For Two
Three days later, it started with the billboards — or at least that’s when Riley finally noticed them. She’d avoided any movie ads ever since Gareth left her, his face seeming to mock her every time.
But with Ashe, Riley couldn’t look away.
And as if the ones that popped up all over the subways and city streets weren’t enough, there was Ashe’s dark blue eyes staring back at her from Times Square and looking every bit like the hero he was supposed to be in a fitting blue-and-silver spacesuit. Isobel stood behind him, and behind her, with the signature smirk Riley knew so well, was Gareth.
Riley found herself staring at the Clear Channel Spectacolor display as the trio of actors’ faces transitioned into a fight sequence between Ashe and Gareth in an airlock. And then there was Isobel, yelling at one of the characters to move out of the way, before the scene changed again, and this time it was Ashe, his gaze seeming to be directed at her, only to be replaced by Gareth’s face, and this time, it felt as if his green eyes stared right through her.
Just when Riley thought she’d earned a big win by being able to walk away from Gareth’s booty call two weeks ago, there he was all over the place again, reminding her of the years they’d spent together, the happy times and the sad times. And then there was the empty apartment he’d left behind after the guys he’d sent were done moving their things out, leaving her with nothing but the mattress they’d shared.
Was it some sort of message? He was, after all, so much into symbolism, she thought, remembering their many deep conversations, because at least talk didn’t cost money — not when all they had some days was ramen noodle soup in the cupboard and whatever she brought home from the diner. Was it supposed to mean that the mattress was the only place they’d actually connected until such time as he found her lacking and moved on? Was that the only place he thought her good enough for? In bed?
Riley hated the times such questions popped up, often when she least expected it. She really hadn’t gotten over him yet, she thought, even after three long years. Either that or there was simply too much of him everywhere she looked, and her self-esteem was still tied to that damn mattress even though she’d long since replaced it with a new one when she moved into her own apartment. New place, new future, new mattress. Even if no one else had shared that damn mattress with her since then — unless one counted the cat.
The next day, Tessa, one of the baristas at the Library Cafe, told her the plot of Ashe’s latest movie,
Sentience
. It was about a trio of space explorers in the distant future who end up having to battle one another when an unknown virus takes over their minds and sets them at odds.
“And they’re robots, by the way — or androids, or whatever,” Tessa said before yelling out a name that sounded like ‘Tipperary,’ then handing a medium-sized cup of coffee to a woman with purple
“Anyway, thanks for letting me know that it wasn’t Gareth you were with. You had Clint and I really nervous there for a while,” Paige continued. “He really did a number on you, Riley, dumping you like he did, and after what happened to you, I’ve never forgiven him. None of us have. What he did was low and despicable and it’s a pity that karma hasn’t caught up with him.”
“Well, it wasn’t Gareth,” Riley said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “And no way would I ever want to see him again, not even if he called me and went down on his knees begging to see me again for old times’ sake.”
She brushed invisible lint from her jeans as she spoke, unable to look Paige in the eye, and wondered if she could ever pass as an actress.
“Liar,” Paige said, chuckling. “You so would.”
Oh, well. Guess not.
6
A Ménage à Cinq For Two
Three days later, it started with the billboards — or at least that’s when Riley finally noticed them. She’d avoided any movie ads ever since Gareth left her, his face seeming to mock her every time.
But with Ashe, Riley couldn’t look away.
And as if the ones that popped up all over the subways and city streets weren’t enough, there was Ashe’s dark blue eyes staring back at her from Times Square and looking every bit like the hero he was supposed to be in a fitting blue-and-silver spacesuit. Isobel stood behind him, and behind her, with the signature smirk Riley knew so well, was Gareth.
Riley found herself staring at the Clear Channel Spectacolor display as the trio of actors’ faces transitioned into a fight sequence between Ashe and Gareth in an airlock. And then there was Isobel, yelling at one of the characters to move out of the way, before the scene changed again, and this time it was Ashe, his gaze seeming to be directed at her, only to be replaced by Gareth’s face, and this time, it felt as if his green eyes stared right through her.
Just when Riley thought she’d earned a big win by being able to walk away from Gareth’s booty call two weeks ago, there he was all over the place again, reminding her of the years they’d spent together, the happy times and the sad times. And then there was the empty apartment he’d left behind after the guys he’d sent were done moving their things out, leaving her with nothing but the mattress they’d shared.
Was it some sort of message? He was, after all, so much into symbolism, she thought, remembering their many deep conversations, because at least talk didn’t cost money — not when all they had some days was ramen noodle soup in the cupboard and whatever she brought home from the diner. Was it supposed to mean that the mattress was the only place they’d actually connected until such time as he found her lacking and moved on? Was that the only place he thought her good enough for? In bed?
Riley hated the times such questions popped up, often when she least expected it. She really hadn’t gotten over him yet, she thought, even after three long years. Either that or there was simply too much of him everywhere she looked, and her self-esteem was still tied to that damn mattress even though she’d long since replaced it with a new one when she moved into her own apartment. New place, new future, new mattress. Even if no one else had shared that damn mattress with her since then — unless one counted the cat.
The next day, Tessa, one of the baristas at the Library Cafe, told her the plot of Ashe’s latest movie,
Sentience
. It was about a trio of space explorers in the distant future who end up having to battle one another when an unknown virus takes over their minds and sets them at odds.
“And they’re robots, by the way — or androids, or whatever,” Tessa said before yelling out a name that sounded like ‘Tipperary,’ then handing a medium-sized cup of coffee to a woman with purple
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