Page 30 of Go Find Less
“Piper?” Shit. I shake my head. He must have said something and I wasn’t paying attention.
“Sorry, what?”
“I was asking how the rest of your week went,” he repeats, taking another sip of his drink. His arm tightens as he brings it to his mouth. Pulling it away, he licks his lips.
“Oh, good,” I breathe out, and realize that I don’t have a drink to distract myself with, having left my Dr. Pepper on the other table. “We made our deadline yesterday.” I hitch my thumb back at Vic, who’s holding a plate up next to Alex while she surveys the two of us from across the room. Fitz’s eyebrows raise in confusion, and I realize why. “Vic and I work together at AllHearts.” Understanding flashes on his face, and he gives Vic a sideways glance before looking back at me.
“I’m glad the two of you have stayed friends. You seemed pretty tight back at Southwest.” I nod. If he only knew what the years after that brought us.
“We still are,” I reply, shrugging. “Nothing like going through massive amounts of trauma together to instill a long-lasting friendship.” He winces ever so slightly, I think because he assumes I’m talking about what happened between Andy, Vic and I all those years ago, but that was only the tip of the iceberg. “What about your friends?” I ask, genuinely curious. “I mean, clearly, you and Andy haven’t talked. What about you and Ryan?”
Beneath the passive face, I see him blanche, and his hand finds his collar, trailing down to the top of his tie, which he loosens uncomfortably.
“Uh, no,” he answers, sounding unsure. “Ryan and I haven’t talked in a while.” He swallows slowly before averting eye contact, downing the rest of his drink in one go. Well, shit, I seem to have touched a nerve. “He and Olivia are actually together.” Somewhere in the back of my head, it registered that I did know that - Carla, or maybe Alex, had mentioned it at Brett’s last jazz show.
“Talk about a downgrade.” If I didn’t currently have a sobriety chip stashed in my wallet, I would have sworn the words that just came out of my mouth were from drunk Piper. But it was. So that wasn’t even an excuse. I just let my loose lips fucking fly.
But it was so, so worth it, because Fitz’s head snaps back and he barks out a loud laugh that makes me grin, even though I can feel the pointed stares of my friends around us. Before he can recover, my phone buzzes on the table, and I see that it’s a text from Carla.
“I’m glad someone feels that way,” Fitz finally says, and then completely abandons his tie, stuffing it in the pocket of his suit jacket. He undoes the top button of his blue dress shirt. “Especially since she’ll probably have their kid on her hip at the reunion.” It’s my turn to be shocked this time - ok, that part, my friends had left out. I cringed. “Yeah. Tell me about it.”
“Were they - I mean…” I trail off, not wanting to pry, especially in such a public space, but he just shrugs, his normal unreadable face returning.
“Oh yeah, they were fucking long before the divorce. Probably for years.” He pushes the cup on the table back and forth a few inches between his hands.
“I know how you feel,” I say honestly, and he looks back up at me. “Mickey cheated on me, too.” Surprise crosses his face, and I toy with the edge of my watch band as my phone buzzes again.
“You get that,” Fitz finally says, pointing to my phone, and I watch as he reaches to put his empty cup on the bar’s corner with his long arm. “I’m gonna run to the restroom.” He gestures to the hallway behind me, where a “restroom” sign sits above the doorway. Then, he gives me a small smile, his head nodding toward the stadium seats at the front of the suite. “Save me a seat?”
I nod, unsure what to say after my confession, and watch as he passes me. I pick up my phone.
CARLA MONTGOMERY
You good?
Holy fuck, did Marble Man just LAUGH?
Chapter 10
Fitz
Two Years Ago
Aperfectly-decoratedtreeglitteredin the fading light of the evening across my living room, just two weeks before Christmas. Liv’s voice was just loud enough that I could hear it, still on the video call about some sort of presentation for her executive meeting the next day. She ran to her office to take it the second she got home.
I wanted to continue with my night as normal. I really did. But on the counter, her phone was buzzing. And my gut was telling me something is wrong.
Slowly, I pushed myself up from the armchair I was perched in, and made my way to the counter. If it was nothing, I’d ignore it. But I was betting it wasn’t.
The last several months, hell, several years, hadn’t been the best. Distance is a good word - separate worlds was better. Like we were roommates, clinical and unfeeling, sharing a home, a bed.
We’d never been the most passionate couple, even after this many years. But we fit together like two ambitious, emotionally stunted people did. Pushing each other to be better in our careers, our networking. Never really personally.
When I flipped over the phone, I read the screen, and when I saw the name, I felt my stomach drop.
Ryan.
A missed call and two texts.
