Torn (18 page)

“Good evening, ma’am. Are you Ryleigh Andrews?” She asked with a smile.

 

“Yes?” I looked at her puzzled.

 

“Mr. Martin informed me that you would be arriving, he wanted me to give you this envelope.” She
handed me a fancy hotel envelope. I looked down at her name tag to find her name.

 

“Thank you, Betty.” With that she turned away and walked away.

 

I opened the envelope to find a key. It looked like a house key! Inside there was also a note.

 

I figured that you have the key to my heart, so I might as well give you a key to my new house. I
know that you are not going to move in but it is there for you to come by any time.

 

I love you.

 

Caleb

I think my heart stopped as I read the note. I just stared at it in shock. Why would he give me a key to his
place? He was moving way too fast, I was still married and not sure what I was going to do there and
here Caleb was giving me a key to his place. I know that he wants us to be together but this was insane.

I quickly walked over to the elevators to head up to his room. I kept looking back at the note and felt the
tears building up quickly. I knew that this had to come to a stop and that was what was going to kill me
the most.

I walked down the hallway to his door. I stood there a moment before I knocked.

 

“Hey beautiful! You’re a little early; I was trying to get everything set up.” He said with a smile. “But I’m
not going to make you stand out in the hall, so come on in.” He opened the door a little wider.

 

There were candles lit everywhere, several different color flowers and some champagne put on ice. He
went all out tonight.

 

“I only saw you a couple hours ago, but you still look amazingly beautiful. Do you like?” He pointed
around. “Did you get my envelope?” He sounded like his mind was going a million thoughts per second.

 

“It’s beautiful. I did.” I said quietly.

 

“Ryleigh, what’s the matter?” Caleb’s face then dropped.

“Caleb, this is all too much. I think it is very sweet how you went out of your way for this, but I got the
key and then started to realize, this is all moving so fast. Caleb, I just had a talk with Liam yesterday
about he wants to try to start over and…” I paused as the tears began to flow down my cheeks. “Caleb,
you’re an amazing guy and I really do love you, but I really shouldn’t just give up on Liam. I know that he
screwed up, but I did too.”

“Ryleigh, you can’t go back to him. He hurt you and he is just going to keep doing it. I am not asking you
to just jump right into my arms and forget all about him, but I love you so much! I care about you and
your wellbeing. I lost you once and that was my fault, but I don’t ever want to lose you again!” He
grabbed my arms and pulled me into his embrace. I couldn’t stop the tears from falling now.

“Caleb, I just can’t.” I sobbed into his chest. I reached up and squeezed around his neck and gave him a
kiss on the cheek and turned and headed out the door.

 

I ran down the hall towards the elevators. I could tell that he was coming down the hall towards me.

 

“Ryleigh, please don’t go. Come back inside and just talk to me!” Caleb desperately begged.

“Caleb, I don’t think I should. I need to really get things back to normal. I love being with you and I think
about you all day long, but it is going to end up bad. I don’t know how this got so far and me pretty
much leading you on.” He interrupted.

“You did NOT lead me on. We both felt something from the second that we ran into each other. There is
something here, I know it! Ryleigh, I really can’t lose you again. I understand that you are married,
believe me, I get it, but I wish you would realize that he is only hurting you. Ryleigh, look I am begging
you to just give this a little more thought and come back in the room with me and talk to me. Tell me
why you are giving him another chance.” Caleb was squeezing my hips, trying to pull me towards him.

“Caleb, I am so sorry.” The elevator door opened and I stepped on. I could see tears in his eyes as the
doors closed in front of us. I broke down. I walked across the lobby wearing my sunglasses to make me
feel like nobody could see me crying. I knew everyone was watching me run out the doors.

I had wished that I drove over here and not left my car in the work parking lot. It seemed to take forever
to get to my car, especially in my heels. I can’t believe that I just left him there; he was even beginning
to cry. I really wished that I had talked to him more, but I know that I wouldn’t be able to control my
emotions with him. This was the best for us, but right now I felt like shit.

I could see the garage only a few blocks away, my feet were killing me and my heart was hurting just as
bad. I found that I was walking a little bit faster even if it was hurting a bit more. When I finally got to my
car, I felt paralyzed. I picked my phone out of my purse and realized I had several text messages from
Caleb. Each one saying,please come back, please talk to me, please call me. I sobbed harder as I put my
phone back into my purse. I started my car and headed home.

Chapter Fourteen

I drove home in a complete daze; I know that I was in complete autopilot the entire way. I must have
been sitting in my car, on my drive way for at least 20 minutes. My mind was trying to get me to go in
the house, my heart was trying to get me to turn my car around and just talk to him or even give the
poor man a text.

I ended up listening to my heart, I pulled out my phone.

I am so sorry, you can’t imagine. I do love you Caleb, I always will. I’m married though and I have
to try and make my marriage work. We have been together for so long. He deserves a second
chance. I want us to be what we have always been, friends.

I waited for a reply, but nothing. I finally managed to get out of my car and sulk inside. The house was so
empty, so quiet. I did not like the feeling of being alone with my thoughts. I needed to go out or maybe
have Courtney come over.

I dialed Courtney’s number. I ended up getting her voicemail, I didn’t bother leaving a message, what
was I going to say anyway? Court, it’s me. I pretty much just dumped a guy that would do anything for
me for my cheating husband. I am all the sudden alone. I couldn’t tell her this; she was already pulling
for Caleb and thought that I was ridiculous for staying with Liam.

I would have called Ava, but she was probably having amazing sex right now. The last person that I
thought that I would call, I ended up dialing.

 

“Hey baby. What’s up?” Liam answered.

 

“I am just sitting here and thinking it’s too quiet in this house. How I miss you. How is your trip going so
far?” I asked softly. Hiding the fact that I was upset.

 

“It’s okay. I’m just finishing up some take out and watching some TV. I miss you too. I will be home in a
few days.” He sounded a bit worn out as he yawned into the phone.

 

“I know. Well you sound exhausted, go get some sleep and I will text you tomorrow? I love you.”

 

“I love you, too.” He yawned and then we both hung up.

Tonight, this bottle of wine was going to be my best friend. With my phone still in hand, I grabbed the
bottle out of the fridge and decided it was going to be a classy night; sans glass. I trudged upstairs, set
the wine bottle on my end table and plopped down on my bed. I checked my phone, but Caleb still had
yet to respond. Courtney had not called back. I turned on the TV and took a big chug of wine. I found the
tears were falling again; I was the one that had ended things and left him; not sure why I was the one
that felt like this. Shouldn’t I be the one that is not returning phone calls and having a nice evening in my
home?

After a few more sips from the bottle I decided to finally get off the bed and get my lounge pants on. I
wanted to throw this dress away, but threw it into the bottom of the laundry basket. I could still smell
Caleb all over me. I climbed into bed, wishing that I had more energy to take a shower and wash him off.

I felt a few more tears roll down my cheeks as I began to fall asleep. I really needed this week to fly by.
I woke to the sound of my alarm going off for the third time, I managed to hit snooze once more, telling
myself that 10 more minutes was not going to hurt. I don’t think I really went back to sleep after the first
alarm, but lying in bed was quite comforting. I looked over to my nightstand and realized that the bottle
of wine was empty. I know that I had enjoyed at least one glass last week, but if that was just the case, I
enjoyed a little more than half the bottle last night. My head was pounding.

I rolled out of bed before the alarm went off again and stammered over to the shower. The water felt
amazing and I hoped that it would at least help a little, but my head seemed to pound with each drop. It
definitely was going to be an extra coffee day and a lot of Advil.

I decided to wear black slacks today, the idea of wearing a dress made me want to cry. Thoughts of
Caleb were pouring through my brain as I continuedto get ready for work. The way he looked as I got on
the elevator, the tears he had building up in the room, his smile in my office hours before.

“Ah! I’m driving myself insane!” I screamed at myself in the mirror.

 

I hurried myself up and grabbed all of my things soI could drive in to get coffee. I checked my phone to
find I had a text, I quickly opened it.

 

Hi honey, I hope you have a great day. I might be home sooner than expected! Trip is pointless
for me to be here, might catch a flight later tonight! Keep you posted. Love you!

It made me feel a little better getting that message from Liam, having him home tonight would be
comforting. I don’t think that my liver could handle more alcohol. I then remembered Courtney’s Vegas
wedding; I needed to make sure that he could go.

Thank you baby. Courtney and Jason dropped bomb, they are getting married in Vegas. First
weekend of June, you in? Staying at the Aria, book tickets for the both of us?

I headed downstairs and decided that today was going to be a home brew day. I don’t think that my
head would be able to handle Tiffany on a wine hangover. I grabbed a glass of water as I began to work
with the coffee maker. As I fiddled with it for a moment, I could smell the delicious coffee begin drip into
the pot. My phone then buzzed back.

Of course, it’s their wedding! Use up the miles on the card and be sure to get us some sort of
suite…don’t wanna spend a weekend in a small room. This will be fun! Confirmed, I am getting
home early- well late tonight but don’t have to be gone til Thursday! I will call you before I board.
Love you lots!

I was excited to see that he was looking forward to a weekend away. I definitely needed it.

Great! Booking tickets at work today. TTYL. Love you too.
After what seemed like forever, my coffee was finally ready. I poured it into my travel mug and grabbed
everything and headed out the door. I still had not heard anything back from Caleb or oddly enough
Courtney.

Sitting in rush hour traffic was enough to make anyone lose their minds, but when you had million things
on your plate, it made matters worse. I sipped on my coffee as we inched forward, I tried to block out
my thoughts by listening to old school jams that I had programmed onto my phone. Just as I was getting
into some Justin Timberlake my phone began to ring. My heart stopped before I looked at the caller ID.
Courtney.

“Hey, I was just thinking about you! I tried to call you last night, but…” I began as she interrupted

 

“Yeah, sorry about that. Things got busy with planning. How are you doing?” She asked bluntly.

 

“I’m doing okay. Just sitting in traffic. Why?” I was really thrown off by this.

 

“Well, I knew that Liam was out of town and I know that being in that big house you don’t like being
alone.”

 

“Oh. Yeah, I am fine. I was a little lonely when I called, but I was comforted by an amazing bottle of Pinot
Grigio.” I laughed.

 

“Sorry, I wasn’t around. You know you are always welcome just come over, right?”

 

“Yeah, thanks Court. I just needed to get some sleep and unfortunately with drinking a bunch of wine,
falling asleep is not the problem, its waking up that is the problem.” I chuckled.

 

“Hey, did you talk to Liam about Vegas?” She quickly changed the subject. I could tell something was up,
but this early was not a conversation I wanted to go into.

 

“Yeah, just talked to him about 20 minutes ago. We are in! I am booking the flights and the room when I
get into the office. What are the exact dates now?”

 

“We are heading out May 31
^st
and then the wedding will be on June 1
^st
and we are going to stay a
couple extra days.” She sounded really excited about this bit of the conversation.

 

“Great! I will be sure to book that weekend. It will be a lot of fun, Court! Oh! What am I going to wear
for a dress? Any specific color?” I was really hoping she wouldn’t pick her favorite color, yellow.

 

“I was going to pick yellow, but I know how much you say that the color doesn’t look good on you. So I
am going to let you pick. Not tradition, but I don’t really have a set color scheme going on.”

 

“How about red?” I asked a little too excited.

 

“Red it is! You look HOT in red. However, you aren’t supposed to look better than the bride. Maybe I
should make it yellow!” She laughed.

 

“I will wear yellow; if that is the color you want! It’s your wedding!”

 

“You would wear yellow for me?” She asked very sweetly.

“Yes, I will wear stupid, I mean, wonderful yellow. But just because you sounded so sweet there, you are
pregnant and it is your wedding. Want to go shopping on my lunch for a dress?” I needed to keep my
mind really busy.

“I thought you would never ask. I will be there about noon and we can eat something quick and go
shopping!”