“Promise me you’ll at least try and talk to her,” Tyler said when he returned. “You are an awesome woman, and she should be given the chance to get to know you as you are now. Let her know how you always felt about her.”
“I can’t promise that,” she said, shaking her head as she stared at the amber liquid in her glass. “Just the thought of her rejecting me makes my heart hurt.”
“Aww, who’s the romantic now?”
“Not romantic, just realistic. They all assumed she was a lesbian back then, but I don’t know for sure she is. She could be married with a whole house full of kids.”
“She could be, but if you spend your entire time there avoiding her, you’ll never know, will you?” He walked away to wait on another customer without giving her an opportunity to respond.
It was a nice thought, but Vic knew she wouldn’t seek Riley out. She’d spent years building walls to protect her heart, and she knew without a doubt Riley Warren had the ability to break through them all.
She downed half her drink, then stared into the glass again as her mind went back more than two decades to the one day she’d never been able to forget. It was the one moment that haunted her because Vanessa had shocked the hell out of her with the words she’d yelled at Riley.
“Hey, dyke,” Frank Mills said with a grin as he grabbed his crotch then rubbed up against Riley’s hip. “You just need a good man to show you what you’re missing, you know? I could help you with that.”
Vic cringed at the words, and she wanted nothing more than to shove Frank against the lockers and castrate him. He was such an ass. She really didn’t know what Vanessa saw in him.
“And you really think you’re the one who can do that?” Riley asked him as she shoved him away, and Vic silently cheered for her. “When I hear the word ‘man,’ I can assure you that you are not what comes to mind.”
“You fucking bitch,” he sneered as he towered over her. “I should kill you.”
“Frank, knock it off,” Vic said. “You’re such an asshole.”
“You a dyke too, Victoria?” he said as he turned his attention to her. He grabbed his crotch again and grinned at her. “Maybe you need a little of this.”
Vic looked at Vanessa, but she was just laughing at him. The others were all laughing too, and Vic felt her anger beginning to rise. She looked at Riley and saw her pleading with her eyes for Vic to make this stop, but she couldn’t. Not if she wanted to keep the peace with this group who had always been tighter with Vanessa than with her.
“You wouldn’t be able to handle me, Mills,” she said with a forced chuckle. Frank returned his focus to Riley then.
“She isn’t worth it, Frankie,” Vanessa said. Vic thought she might gag at the nickname.
“Yeah, her mother’s a drunk, and I’m pretty sure the shirt she’s wearing is one my mother donated to Goodwill last summer. She’s a fucking loser and isn’t worth the effort, Frank,” Harper, Vanessa’s best friend, said. “And she’s nothing but trailer trash.”
“You’re all assholes!” Riley yelled at them as she met every one of their eyes. Vic sucked in a breath because she knew standing up to this group just wasn’t done.
“Harper’s right,” Vanessa said, her face turning red with anger. “You’re nothing but a loser. Why don’t you do us all a favor and just kill yourself?”
They all laughed again, but they turned and walked away from her. Vic stood there for a second, wondering if she should apologize for what Vanessa had said, but she’d been so shocked at the words she couldn’t even form a coherent thought. She looked at Riley and hoped she’d see in her eyes how sorry she was before she ran to catch up with the others.
To this day she couldn’t believe Vanessa had said it. It almost made her physically ill to think how all their lives might have changed if Riley had taken Vanessa’s words to heart and actually done it.
She finished her drink and got to her feet after leaving her money next to the glass, along with a hefty tip, and walked out of the bar. She promised herself right then and there that sometime over the next three weeks, she would talk to Riley and try to make things right.
If that was even possible.
Chapter Five
“There was a phone call about an hour ago,” Nancy said Friday afternoon, sounding even more low-key than usual. Riley looked at her, wondering what was wrong. Nancy seemed to find straightening boxes of candy more interesting than elaborating on the mysterious phone call.
“Are you going to tell me what it was about, or are you going to make me guess?”
“You’d never guess.” Nancy shook her head but met her eyes as she took a deep breath. “They want to have a bachelorette party here.”
“Seriously?” Riley finished getting the popcorn machine going and then leaned against the counter and looked at her, her arms folded over her chest. Who the hell wanted to have a bachelorette party in a movie theater? It certainly wouldn’t be her first choice of venues.
“Yeah,” Nancy said with a chuckle. “And they want to know if you can get Fifty Shades of Grey to show for them.”
“Wonderful.” Riley rolled her eyes but didn’t move from her spot. She was sure she could get the film, but did she really want to? A theater full of crazy women who would no doubt be drunk sounded like her worst nightmare. “I assume you have a number for me to call back?”
“Yeah, about that,” Nancy said hesitantly.
In that moment Riley’s mind went exactly where she didn’t want it to go—Vanessa Thayer. But no, it couldn’t be her, could it? Why would someone with more money than God want to have her bachelorette party at a movie theater in Wolf Bay? The thoughts went through her mind in the half a second it took Nancy to tell her what she’d been holding back.
“The woman who called was Victoria Thayer.” Nancy looked down at her feet after blurting it out, and Riley just stared at her. This could not be happening. Nancy knew all about her crush back in high school, and she also knew the hell Riley had gone through with the group of kids Vic chose to hang out with.
“No,” Riley said, her voice quiet. “I won’t do it.”
“She offered to buy out the theater for twice what you would get if the picture sold out.”
“She could pay ten times and never miss the money.” Riley knew she was being childish, but she couldn’t help it. There was a part of her—a big part, if she was being honest with herself—that simply wasn’t able to push the past aside. The other part of her knew rationally that people changed, and twenty years was a long time. But apparently it wasn’t enough time.
“Honey, I know how you must be feeling, but don’t you think you should give her the benefit of the doubt?” Nancy said softly as she placed a hand on Riley’s arm. “At least give them the opportunity to try and right some wrongs.”
“They had the chance to do that after Vanessa’s accident,” Riley said, meeting Nancy’s eyes and refusing to look away. “It’s not like it was a mystery who saved her life that night. Megan made sure of that. My name was in the paper and on the news out of Albany. And not one member of that fucking family even attempted to thank me in any way.”