It happened over whiskey

Chapter 10

Ryan’s POV:

We sat on the bench silently for a few minutes noticing the entire city in front of us. I was happy that she found it beautiful enough to click pictures of it on her phone. 

“Thank you for bringing me here. I can’t believe I never saw this place even after living so close by”, she said excitedly while trying to keep a few strands of her hair from destroying the beautiful view of her face. “I discovered this place a few years back when I overhead some of my employees talking about an accident that happened here. So a few days later when I left my place for a car drive almost at midnight, I drove all the way here to discover this beauty”, I said while relieving that memory.

“Do you come here often?”, she asked me while folding her hands on her chest while rubbing her arms. “Not that often. Whenever I am stuck regarding a decision that I have to make or when I can’t think straight, I come here. This is my safe haven”, I said while looking at her intently.

I wanted to know more about her. I couldn’t control the urge to dive in her soul and take a swim around just to know how her world looked like.

I knew somewhere I would be crossing my limits to indulge in her private life but honestly I didn’t care anymore. I am so done living my life as someone who has absolutely no say in it.

The one person that I love more than myself is drifting further and further apart from me and I am so fucking helpless. I needed to pour my heart out even when I knew how someone could misuse such a private information about me but this girl in front of me didn’t seem like one to ever hurt me.

I somewhere felt that I could keep my trust in her and it will be all fine. I had this feeling that if I jump from this cliff she will happily be my wings to keep me from dying and instead, teach me how I could be a carefree bird in this world where life seemed like a mistake sometimes.

I was brought out of my thoughts when she nudged me lightly on my arm. “Do you mind if I ask you a question?”, she asked me nervously.

I raised my eyebrow at her signalling her to continue. “Why aren’t you at home during Thanksgiving with your family? I mean people enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with their loved ones around them, enjoying the turkey and the mashed potatoes. Umm...I guess I shouldn’t be asking you this. Nevermind”, she said while looking at the other side of the bench to avoid any eye contact with me.

“My parents live in Rhode Island. I used to be with them during festivals having the time of my life but this was years ago. After I married Khloe, she wanted to stay at home even during festivals and so gradually everything stopped. It has been years since I last saw them or for that matter even had a word with them. And to top it all, Khloe is not a big fan of celebrating festivals. She feels its too dramatic so here I am, sitting on a bench during Thanksgiving”, I said while wiping the stray tear that escaped my eyes. She sat there for a while probably speechless after hearing my sad story.

A few minutes later she gave me her phone and looked at me with an empathetic look. “What?”, I asked while looking at her and then at the phone in her hand.

“It’s never too late to mend. Call them now and make their day as well as yours. They would be missing you and I know that you are missing them so go for it”, she said while placing it in my palm. I looked at the phone in my hand doubting if this was a right decision.

I looked at her and she gave me a ‘what are you waiting for’ look. I typed the number on her phone and waited for them to pick the call.

I could see myself feeling warm even when it was actually cold outside. Seeing me getting all worked up just for a phone call made her shift closer to me and then she kept her hand on my shoulder and slowly rubbed her palms calming the storm inside me.