Kiss Me Katie (Complete)

Chapter 29

Katie

I woke up Thursday morning to find a text message blinking on my phone. Rolling over with a smile, my heart fluttered at the thought of reading another one of the cheesy good-morning messages Riley had started sending me.

My smile froze as I read the text, my heart sinking to my toes. The message was from Riley, but it wasn't what I'd expected. It had been sent at 2.30am.

Hey babe... I'm so sorry, but at home and I need to deal with it. I don't know how long it will take to sort it out, but I'll do everything I can to be back by Saturday morning. Missing you already xxxxx

My stomach twisted, a feeling of dread washing over me. Riley had gone home? Something had come up? Seriously? He'd used the oldest line in the book of excuses for how-to-get-out-of-something-I-don't-want-to-do. Was there really an emergency at home, or had he just decided I wasn't worth the crap he'd have to go through on the weekend? And if the emergency was real, why hadn't he talked to me about it?

I'd bared my soul to him, told him every ugly detail of my life, and I suddenly realised I knew absolutely nothing about his. All I knew was that he had a brother and a Mum. Now that I thought about it... he'd shared nothing about his past.

Damnit, here come the tears again...

"Message from lover-boy? Honestly, you guys are pathetic. You'll see each other in, like, an hour..." I hadn't even realised Annie had moved until I felt the side of the bed sink and a hand on my arm. "Oh no... Katie, what's happened?"

I handed Annie my phone, unable to meet my friend's eyes. Annie's breath came out in a loud whoosh.

"Damnit Katie... you frightened the life out of me. I thought someone had died. Come on, I get that you'll miss him... but tears... seriously? It's only two days."

"What if he's changed his mind? What if he's running away? It's not like he hasn't done it before. And if there really is an emergency, why didn't he tell me what's happened?"

My eyes flew to Annie as she groaned, jumped off the bed, and started pacing the tiny amount of room between the bed and the door. Which meant she was practically walking in circles. I was getting dizzy just watching her.

She finally stopped, put her hands on her hips and glared at me. "Nope. I'm not buying it. Your idea of him running away I mean. Damnit Katie, I've watched you guys together for the last couple of weeks. Riley is head over heels in love with you, whether he realises it or not. Seriously — he thinks the sun rises and sets around you. There's no way he would leave you to face this weekend without him unless he had no other choice. What do you know about his home life? Anything you can think of that might have happened?"

"That's the thing. I don't know anything about Riley's home life. Except he was raised by his single Mum and has a brother."

Our eyes flew to the door at the sound of soft knocking. "Hey, it's me, Joel. Anyone awake?"

Annie opened the door before he'd even finished speaking. "Sshh, are you trying to wake the entire floor? Get in here before someone sees you."

"Sorry," Joel mumbled, shuffling in the door and looking around the small space for somewhere to stand. Annie sighed and pointed to her office chair.

"Have you spoken to Riley? Do you know what's going on?" Annie was like a drill sergeant. Poor Joel's shoulders slumped.

"No. I was hoping he might have spoken to you?" His eyes flicked to me, but he looked away before I could interpret the look in his eyes. Did he know something, or was he just thinking what I'd thought... that Riley had chickened out and bailed?