"I don't want to talk about it."
"Nate, you know Riley will tell me if you don't."
"Fine." I close my laptop and look at her. "Riley doesn't love me."
Her brows furrow. "What do you mean? Of course she loves you. She tells you that all the time."
"As a friend. Nothing more."
"Oh." She looks down, biting her lip.
"You knew I loved her, right? As more than a friend?"
Her eyes lift to mine. "Actually, no. You've always said she's just a friend. And all through college you dated other girls."
"Yeah, but it's always been Riley. She's the one I wanted."
"Then why'd you wait so long to tell her?"
"I was afraid she might not feel the same way." I look down. "Turns out I was right."
"Oh, honey." She scoots closer to me and puts her hand on my arm. "This happened last night? You told her how you felt?"
"Yeah. I took her to dinner and told her after that."
"That's why you didn't want Brad going along."
"Yeah. It was supposed to be a romantic evening. Just the two of us."
"And have you talked to her since?"
"I can't. I don't even want to see her. I might even call in sick to work."
"Nate, you can't be upset with Riley for not feeling the same way you do. I know it hurts that she didn't react the way you wanted, but you can't be angry at her for that."
"You sound just like Brad." I get up from the bed, taking my laptop over to my desk. "My own damn family won't even take my side in this."
"I'm not taking sides. I'm just telling you it's not fair to Riley to be punished for not feeling the same way you do. She still loves you, Nate, and always will. It may not be the same love you feel for her, but that doesn't mean she doesn't care about you. I'm sure she feels terrible knowing she hurt you last night, and having you not speak to her is only going to make her feel worse. Is that really what you want? To hurt Riley like that?"
"She hurt ME."
"But not intentionally." My mom comes up beside me. "Don't be this way. I didn't raise you to hurt people, especially those you care about most."
I sigh. "Yeah, I'll talk to her. I just need some time."
"Maybe you could also talk to Brad. I'm sure he didn't mean to upset you."
"I'm too pissed to talk to him right now." I turn to face my mom. "He went and talked to Riley last night, without even talking to me."
Her brows rise. "You're saying he needs your permission to talk to her?"
"Well, no, but he could've at least said something to me before he went over there."
"Honey, don't blame Brad for trying to be a friend, to both you and Riley. Since arriving here, he's spent all his time with the two of you. He can see the special relationship you two have. I'm sure he was just trying to help, seeing if he could patch things up between you and Riley."
"I don't need his help," I say, folding my arms over my chest. "He shouldn't have gotten involved in it. This is between Riley and me."
"That doesn't mean Brad can't be a friend to Riley. He's always been a good listener, which I'm sure she needed last night."
"Why do you keep sticking up for Brad?" I go past her to my closet. "You always act like the guy is perfect. It's really freaking annoying." I grab a t-shirt and stuff it in my backpack to take to the pool.
"I'm concerned for him," she says, coming over to me. "This is a difficult time for his family. He needs friends now more than ever."
"What do you mean? Did something else happen?"
She walks over to the door and closes it. "I just talked to your Aunt Sheryl. She said John's gambling debt is far worse than she originally thought."
"Like how much?"
"A hundred thousand. Maybe more."
"Holy shit," I mutter.
"Sheryl got a notice in the mail yesterday saying their mortgage hasn't been paid in months. John always made the payments, so she assumed he'd been paying them on time. And he always got the mail, so she wasn't seeing the late payment notices. All that's changed now that she knows about his gambling addiction." My mom sighs. "It's such a sad situation. They had so many plans for what they were going to do once the kids were finally grown. Traveling. Updating the house. They had even talked about getting a vacation home. But none of that will happen now."
"Do you think they'll get divorced?"
"I really don't know. As of now, Sheryl says she still loves him and is committed to getting him help. She's been calling counselors, setting up appointments, doing whatever she can to help John with his addiction. Nate, I'm telling you this because I want you to know what Brad is going through."
"Does Brad know about this?"
"Yes, but you know how he is. He's never been someone who opens up when things aren't going well. He'd rather smile and pretend everything's fine. But they're not fine, and he really needs a friend right now."
I nod. "Got it."
"Oh, and don't tell him I told you this. Let him tell you himself. Or if he doesn't, that's fine too. Just be there for him, okay?"
"Yeah." I check the time. "I need to get ready for work."
"You're leaving this early? You don't have to be there for an hour."
"I'm going to stop over at Riley's first. Maybe give her a ride to work."
My mom smiles. "Now that's the Nate I know." She winks at me. "Tell her I said hi."
"I will. Bye, Mom."
After she leaves, I pick up my phone and call Riley. When she picks up, I say, "I'm an ass."
"Yep," she says, popping the p.
"That's it?" I chuckle. "You're not even going to try to argue with me?"
"What's there to argue about? The truth is the truth."
"Listen, Riley, I'm really sorry about last night. I shouldn't have been mad at you. And honestly, I wasn't mad. I was hurt. I still am, but I'll get over it. It'll just take some time."
"I want things to go back to how they were before. You're my best friend, and I love you...just not the way you love me."
"I know, and...that's okay. It's not what I wanted, but I need to accept that and move on. It's just hard, you know? Because I really do love you that way."
The phone is quiet. She doesn't want to talk about this anymore. Neither do I. I just want to move past it.
"Can I come over?" I ask.
"Yeah but I was just about to leave. Dave's here. He and my mom are, well, you know."
"Why don't I pick you up and we'll go somewhere? Did you have breakfast?"
"No. We're out of food."
"Then I'll take you out. Anywhere you want to go. It's on me. In fact, it's on me for the rest of the summer as payback for being an ass."
"You're not paying all summer, but I'll let you get breakfast. See you in a few minutes."