The Players (TP4)

39 - Takes one to know one

Lana

Lana just stood in the old run-down cottage and looked at him. She'd be lying if she didn't notice that he looked thinner. He had called her his best friend, and she had been too angry with him to realize that he was affected by their falling out.

She couldn't believe that he bought a cottage. For the man who didn't seem happy to be here in May, he sure did a one-eighty. If their friendship was part of the reason he had enjoyed the summer, why would he buy a cottage when they were no longer friends? Yet here he was offering to tell her his secret. She had been after him all summer to confide and suddenly he was willing.

She made light of the situation. "Do you have any tequila?"

He laughed. "That stuff is poison and it isn't even noon. I did, however, get two lobster rolls, chips and a diet Dr. Pepper." She wanted to be angry with him, but he knew her favorite soda. "Will you please have lunch with me?"

She smiled. "Only if you tell me all the salacious details of your fall from grace."

"You will be severely disappointed. Okay, so there's this woman. Her name's Isobel and she's the ex-wife of a client..."

Lana listened and felt herself getting angry as his story unfolded. "You got played. How did you turn out to be the bad guy?"

"I don't know it seems to happen to me a lot. I think it's because I'm really a nice guy, but no one believes it."

She looked at him. "Are you still talking about Isobel?"

"Lan, I messed up. I should have told you I suspected him. Especially after that night, I learned about Erik, but you told me that night that you and Adam hadn't slept with each other."

"Oh God, don't remind me of that night." She still vaguely remembered practically throwing herself at Ryan.

"I honestly assumed once you started... you know ... that he had dumped the jailbait."

"The jailbait! How old is she?"

"She isn't. It was just a nickname. We saw pictures of them together before he met you and we made our opinion known about her age."

"We? You mean you and Jack right?"

"Yeah, but I bet he hid most of it from Jack. You know Jack's the stand-up guy and I'm Ryan the bad one. The thing is, I try to be loyal to my clients, so I didn't want to rock the boat with Adam. I know it was stupid and selfish. I lost a ton of business over the fiasco with me and Isobel."

"And you were the victim. I blamed you and it was Adam, but after everything with Erik."

"I know I shouldn't have assumed, but I did. Since you never told Adam about your divorce, I figured you two were just casual."

"We kind of were. Oh God, this is so embarrassing. I was the one who came on to him. I thought it was strange that he was content with driving up to take me to dinner and give me a good-night kiss. At first, I thought he was just a gentleman."

Ryan laughed. "None of us are gentlemen when there's a beautiful woman interested in us."

"You were with that one. Remember?"

"Oh well, she wasn't beautiful. We'll just leave it at that."

"Now I feel like I should apologize to you."

"No, don't! Just tell me you'll be my friend again."

"I'll be your friend." She watched as he smiled and his whole face lit up. Yes, he was definitely more handsome than Jack.