Page 47 of Always Choosing You

* * *

Rory was standing by the microwave waiting for her Thai food to heat up, staring out at nothing in particular as rain softly pattered against the window.

A fierce knock on the glass made her jump. She swiveled to find a slightly damp Tyler standing there, arms crossed, looking down at his shoes.

She slid open the back door. “Yes?”

“You here alone?”

She gestured toward the cold, lonely house. “Clearly.”

“Gabi’s working?”

“Unfortunately,” she grumbled, making room for Tyler to enter.

Tyler brushed the rain off himself, then offered her a look filled with sympathy. “I’m sorry, Ry.”

She shrugged, crossing her arms. “Why are you here?”

“Because my mom wanted to know if you’d like to come over for dinner.”

The microwave beeped.

“I, um, I’ll be good,” she responded.

“Let me guess…leftover Thai.”

She grinned. “You know me so well.”

Tyler chuckled, but it didn’t last long, his eyes and face growing darker as he gazed down at her. “I saw you. With him.”

She pulled the warm plate from the microwave, fanning her hand over the food as they stood there in silence, not saying a word.

“Why won’t you talk to me about this?” he pleaded.

She set her plate on the counter. “Ty, have you seen yourself lately? All you do is get mad and yell at me. Remember the movie theater?”

“Yeah, because I care about you, Rory,” he admitted, stepping closer to her. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Her heart began hammering in her chest. “Why?” she stammered. “Why do you care so much when you have a girlfriend?”

“Because—because—dang it,” he muttered, rubbing his hands on his face. “Because we’re best friends.”

“Are we? Because it sure doesn’t feel that way.”

“You told me you wanted this, Ry,” he said, his wet sneakers squeaking as he stepped closer to her, his face earnest. “You said you wanted things to go back to normal. I’m trying to do that.”

“Nothing feels normal,” she whispered.

“You’re right about that,” he said, his face even closer to hers now. “Especially if you’re with him.”

He spun around and left the house. Rory’s heart was beating at the speed of light, blood pulsing through her veins. She was so mad at him, so angry he’d moved on and left her behind.

Before she could even think about what she was doing, she followed him out into the rain. His fists were clenched by his sides as he continued home despite hearing her door slam open.

So she kicked off her sneaker and raised it, forcing all of her anger into her throw and watched it land right between his shoulder blades.

Tyler stopped, his back straightening. He slowly turned toward her, his eyes wide with shock.