Page 4 of Playing for Keeps (Checkmate 4)

“Of course you can. You know you don’t have to ask.”

“I’m coming to see Riley. Can you tell him? Please smooth the way so he’ll see me. The last time we spoke, we fought, so he might not want to see me, but if you say it really nicely, if you tell him I’m really sorry, he’ll probably be okay with it.”

“Andi…” She pauses. “I don’t know. It’s not my place. He’s… it’s not as simple as you think.”

“I’m gonna book a flight, okay? The very next one. I’ll text you the details so you know where I am.”

“You know what? Why don’t you stay there for a little longer? If you fought last time, then now’s probably not a good time to catch up. He’s not in a good space to rehash old fights.”

“I won’t fight with him, Linds! I want to tell him I’m sorry. I want to ask for another chance. I want…” I swallow. “I want more.”

* * *

I rush home just as soonas Lindsi and I hang up, pack a bag, and run straight back outside again. Checking flight schedules at each red light, I send my apologies up to all the hard ass cops I know who’d ticket me for having my phone out while driving, then when I pull into long term parking, I sprint toward the check-in desks.

There are no flights left tonight, but there’s one tomorrow morning at six that allows small pets to be brought on as luggage rather than stowed away in the cargo hold. I make a bed out of coats in the flight lounge and tuck Nacho close against my body. Setting my alarm, I text Lindsi what time my flight is due to arrive tomorrow and beg her for a ride. Lying on my side, my head rests on my handbag, but I wish it was Riley’s chest. I wish Nacho’s heavy heartbeat beneath my hand was Riley’s, and the coats beneath my body were his plush bed.

Closing my eyes, I will the tears away when Riley is the first thing I see on the backs of my eyelids.

He’s the only thing I see anymore.

* * *

The big airportis an hour drive from the small town Riley lives in, so Lindsi picks me up and we make the drive in silence. For the first time in our whole lives, we don’t speak, because I can’t stop worrying about Riley. What isn’t she telling me? What is so bad, so horrible, that it hurts Lindsi to the point that her anxiety floats in the closed car and settles in my heart?

Of course I tried his cell again last night, but though it rang, which tells me it’s charged and being used, he doesn’t answer. He’s the sweetheart cop, the man that tolerated all of my bullshit and barely got mad when I tricked him into the lake, but now he ignores my existence. In my mind, I can imagine the way he probably stared at his cell each time I called, and told me to fuck off. The way he’d scoff, and maybe turn in his vacation-wife’s arms and laugh about the bitch he once knew.

Lindsi said he was hurt three weeks ago, and that he’s going home soon; that means he’s awake and able. That means he’s out of the woods and able to pick up a fucking cellphone.

He’schoosingnot to take my calls.

“Wanna take your things back to the house first?... Andi?” Lindsi taps my arm. “Andi?”

My eyes come away from the treelined road. “Huh?”

“Do you want to take your things back to our place first?” She casts a glance toward Nacho, who sleeps in my lap. “Get your rat set up and comfortable?”

“She’s not a rat,” I pout. “She’s a pig, and she’s sweet, so don’t tease.”

A ghost of a smile draws her lips up. “Wanna take your sweet pig home first? She can sleep in the forest out back with the wolves.”

I don’t bite at her mean words. Instead, I scratch Nacho’s ear and comfort her, since the flight wasn’t exactly comfortable for her anti-social tendencies. “Can we go straight to the hospital? I want to see him. I feel horrible, like our fight is the reason he was hurt. Like, if I was nicer, less afraid, less bitchy, maybe things would be different for him.”

“Are you sure about this?” Her brows pull together; she’s still my older cousin, she’s still in mother mode. “He wasn’t your boyfriend. He was just…” She pauses. “He was just your hook-up, ya know? Then you fought and broke up. You don’t have to visit him. You don’t have to–”

“I want to.” I study Nacho’s frilly pink harness and watch her lashes flutter. “I really want to see him. I can’t eat since you told me. I feel sick. He’s my friend, Linds. No matter what we were – hook-up, fuck buddies, broke up – I care that he’s okay. I want to see him.”

A little over an hour after rolling out of the airport parking lot and navigating the crappy city traffic, Lindsi pulls into the small town hospital parking lot and tugs the handbrake up. “You’re definitely sure?”

I nod. “Are the kids inside?”

“Yeah. Oz wanted to visit with Riley, but he didn’t want the kids to have to sit in the car half the day while I drove in to get you, so he said they could hang with him.”

“Okay…” Unbuckling my belt, I leave my handbag and most of its contents on the floor, then I push out of the car with a groan and tuck Nacho into her satchel and slip it over my shoulder. It’s dark and cozy; it’s her favorite place to be. When Lindsi looks at me, I shrug. “I can’t leave her in the car, so I’ll let Livi hold her for a minute.”

“Why’d you buy a pig, Andi?” She closes her door and locks the car. Walking around to my side, she hooks her arm in mine and leads me forward. “Why? You don’t do pets. Especially not the kind that live for twenty years. Why didn’t you just get a goldfish?”

Pigs live for twenty years?“I’m trying to be more responsible. I’m putting down the kind of roots that mean I can’t just up and run off to Barbados for the weekend just because it sounds like fun.”

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