Brynleigh’s eyes widened and she inhaled sharply. Resting on top of several books was a folded-up photo, her phone, and a charger.
Tears rushed to her eyes as she swept all three items into herarms. She forgot about her exhaustion entirely as she hurried to the living room.
Dropping the pillow and blanket on the pull-out couch, Brynleigh plugged in her phone and waited for it to boot up. She sat, holding her breath as she gently unfolded the picture. Running her finger down the creases, she lay it flat on her lap.
A shuddering sob ripped through Brynleigh. The picture had been in her clutch with her phone on their wedding night, so it shouldn’t have surprised her to see them together, but it did. She’d assumed the picture had been lost, but she was wrong.
Even when he hated her, Ryker had been looking out for her.
“Hey, Sarai, I miss you.” Brynleigh traced her sister’s infectious, beautiful smile with all the care in the world. “I wish you were here. I think… I think you’d like Ryker. I know you’d like his sister.”
They would have gotten along so well.
Brynleigh lost track of time as she stared at the picture. She recommitted her sister’s face to memory, soaking it in until her phone started vibrating uncontrollably next to her.
Messages were undoubtedly flooding in, but she wasn’t ready to read them. She was fairly certain they would be negative. After all, she’d missed Hallie’s wedding. Brynleigh didn’t have many friends, but she was confident that friends didn’t miss their friends’ weddings.
It was cowardly of her, but Brynleigh didn’t want to face the Fortune Elf yet. She didn’t want to lose the one friend she’d made.
But there was one message she wanted to send before bed.
Navigating through her contacts, not that there were many, she clicked on Ryker’s name. Opening their thread, she scrolled up to their wedding day.
Her last message had been sent an hour before she walked down the aisle.
Brynleigh
Are you ready for today, Ry?
The response had come in seconds later.
Ryker
More than ready, sweetheart. I could barely sleep last night.
Who says you’ll be getting a lot of sleep tonight?
…
*winking emoji*
The hairdresser’s here. I have to go. See you soon!
There was so much hope in those few messages. So much to look forward to. And now everything had changed.
Ryker’s words from earlier echoed in her mind.
Iwant to fix this.
So did she.
Brynleigh’s eyes were heavy, but she wasn’t ready to sleep yet. Her thumbs traveled over the keyboard.
I miss you.
No, that wasn’t it. She pressed the backspace, clearing the screen.
Please be safe. We have a lot to talk about when you get back.