INTERIM LOVER, ryan howard.

039 ⋮ before the storm

CONTENT WARNING
This chapter makes mention of substance abuse. Reader discretion is advised.

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ㅤㅤㅤThree weeks had passed in the blink of an eye. Rachel had blown her annual leave and all her sick leaves within the first two weeks of the year. Initially, Michael wasn't pleased with the idea but after she'd promised to watch two episodes of Glee with him, he would've let her stay for another month if she so pleased. But she was happy enough with those three weeks. And she owed it to Ryan Howard, who had helped her realise that she'd always had a family. She'd always had a family for whom she could make sacrifices, a network to call her very own. All her adult life, she'd been chasing a Hallmark vision of family: mother, father, children, maybe a dog or two. But that wasn't it. She'd neglected the force that drew them together, the mutual pull that defined what it meant to love another. Sure, her family consisted of her two parents, but also Thi. Thi, with the toothy grin and whose heart was seven times bigger than her body. Thi, who had cartwheeled into her life three weeks ago and was leaving just as abruptly. Thi was part of her family. And in the same vein, so was Ryan.

"Let me get this straight," Abbey was saying, hands pressed flat on the breakroom table. Since Rachel had returned from her three-week vacation to Los Angeles, she'd become oddly sentimental and spontaneous. She was led by her emotions rather than logic, often chasing a few strange ideas such as this. "You want to go to New York to surprise Ryan, not your boyfriend Richard?"

"Yes."

"You don't see any issue with that?"

"No..."

"You have no desire to see your boyfriend, who you hardly see in the first place?"

Rachel rolled her eyes, taking a swig of her coke. "I told you, I have no idea where Richard lives or where he works."

"That's not sketchy at all," Abbey muttered. "How do you know where Ryan lives?"

"I know his neighbour, William—the one that came to the office with him the other day."

"Oh yeah," she nodded, scouring the ceiling for an answer. "Well, we can find Richard. We'll just go to every hospital in the city and stake him out."

The brunette nearly spit out her drink. It shouldn't have been so startling to her, but Abbey did have some questionable morals. "Abs, that's called stalking. Plus, there are a million hospitals—this is New York City we're talking about."

A scoff passed through her glossy lips. "It's fine, Rach. I've done it tonnes before. I didn't get the name Peepin' Patty for nothing."

Obviously, this did not reassure Rachel in the slightest. Nor did it make any sense.

"Chillax, Rach. I'll come with you to New York," Abbey grinned, squeezing her friend's hand comfortingly. "We'll party, find your man, find your second man, and party until Monday morning."

"We are not stalking Richard. Promise?" Rachel said firmly, but behind her humoured facade, Abbey could see that she was serious about the precaution. Almost like she knew she'd find something she didn't like if she dug too deep.

"Okay," Abbey sighed and Rachel gave her a grateful hug. She hadn't lied to Rachel—it was the truth that she wouldn't actively search for Richard. But if they so happened to end up in a hospital on their trip, and it happened to be the exact hospital Richard worked at, well, who would blame fate for the coincidence?

After that, it would only be a matter of time before the cat was out of the bag.

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