“Have a good day, Kayla.” I tried to steer around her, but she turned her cart to block the aisle.
“That’s all you have to say to me?”
“I don’t have time for this. We need to finish and get back. Move your cart. Now.” I couldn’t keep the irritation out of my voice. She could still push my buttons.
“Go. I’ve already wasted enough time on you. I have a new boyfriend now, and he takes better care of me than you ever did.”
My eyes were drawn to her fingers twitching nervously on the handle of her cart. Her manicure was chipped, her cuticles picked. The back of my neck tingled.
“Lucky you.” I drew the words out, debating if I should voice the worries building in my gut.
“I am lucky. I thought you wanted the same things I did, but you had your head in the clouds with your kumbaya-save-the-world bullshit. Leo puts me first. His dreams are all about living the good life with me.”
“Enough,” Ryan growled. He moved around me and pushed Kayla’s cart over, leaving her no option but to move with it or be sandwiched against the shelf. He grabbed the front of our cart and pulled it, dragging me along.
“Goodbye, Kayla,” I said as we passed.
“Fuck, why are you still so polite to her? The woman is batshit crazy,” Ryan spit out.
“I can hear you, asshole!”
Ryan didn’t even grace her with a response. You got to respect his give-no-shits attitude.
We finished the rest of the shopping quickly. I grabbed anything that looked good and threw it in the cart. I’d cover the extra cost if we went over the budget. I just wanted to get the hell out of there without another confrontation.
I knew the answer to Ryan’s question, even though I’d never voice it aloud. I was polite to her because I still felt guilty about our relationship, how our demise had also seemed to be Kayla’s personal demise. I’d made promises, then reneged on all of them. Kayla married the man I led her to believe I wanted to be. We never should’ve gotten married in the first place, and we shouldn’t have stayed together after it was clear we weren’t happy together. I’d realized early on in the marriage that we didn’t love each other the way a husband and wife should. I ignored my gut for too long, but eventually I had no choice but to either listen to it or accept that I’d never be happy. I wished she would also move on and be happy, for both of our sakes, but instead, she was in worse shape each time I saw her.
Back in the car, I felt the need to defend Kayla to Ryan. “She wasn’t always like that. She has reason to be pissed at me. I did bait and switch her, but not on purpose.”
“That’s bullshit. I have no doubt you treated her like a fucking queen, whether you were a banker or a fireman. She was damn lucky to have you, and she threw you away and replaced you with a motherfucker.”
The tingling on the back of my neck returned. I appreciated Ryan’s support, but there was no reason for him to be that fired up. Unless he was having the same suspicions as me.
“What’s up, brother?”
“Did you see the finger marks on her arm? Someone grabbed her hard enough to leave bruises. I’m guessing it was her precious Leo.”
“Fuck.” I hated that for her, but what could I do? I was the last person she’d ever confide in or turn to for help. “Did you also get the impression that she may have been on something?”
“Yep.”
Fuck.
The rest of the day passed slowly. I had no idea how to handle Kayla. I couldn’t just ignore what we saw. It was Brady who had the brilliant idea of calling a mutual friend.
I scrolled through my contacts and clicked on Evan’s name. It rang once, twice, three times. We were friendly, but the main connection was between Kayla and his wife. He might not even have my number anymore, or he might just not answer.
“Hello?”
“Evan, it’s Dylan Larke.”
“Of course, how are you, man? It’s been a long time.”
“I’m good, how about you?”
“I’m good. What’s new?”
“I was hoping to talk to you and Jill about something with Kayla. Is Jill available?”