Page 91 of The Restoration Program

Another messagepingedon the laptop, and Nicole didn’t hesitate to avoid the room’s conversation once more. She set her coffee aside and peered at the message.

“Are you sure everything’s ok?”Darlene asked.

Nicole could practically hear her concerned tone. She leaned over the keyboard and began to type out her response. Leaving it at “yes” sounded too crisp, even if Darlene knew how cumbersome it was for her to type. As she started to elaborate, Ryan cleared his throat.

“You should give it a rest for now, babe,” he said. “You can message her later.”

“I’ll just be a minute.” She felt like a kid being told to put her phone aside for family time.

“You want me to type it out for you?” Ryan said after a valiant five seconds of patience. “That’ll be quicker.”

“Nope,” she said simply.

To her relief, Lauren changed the topic. The three of them sank into conversation about extended family members and things back home. Nicole half-listened to the latest gossip about people she had only heard about in passing. She focused on typing, trying to convey that everything was okay when it really wasn’t.

Seconds after she sent her message, Darlene replied. She felt Ryan’s eyes on her when thepingcame through. She had to answer—no matter what kind of look he gave her. She reached across the laptop, and sure enough, he gave a sigh so heavy that it interrupted Lauren’s tirade about her neighbor’s tacky privacy fence.

“Can’t she take a hint that you’re busy?” Ryan said.

Nicole pursed her lips. “She’s asking about next week. How am I supposed to explain to her that she isn’t welcome here at all anymore? It’s pretty dramatic, Ry. Seems silly any way that I try to explain it.”

“It’s her own fault for being so careless.”

Shock rippled through her. She glanced at his parents, who eyed her with their eyebrows raised, sipping coffee with tight lips, then to him. She knew broaching Darlene still upset him, but Ryan was unsettlingly calm.

Fine,she thought.If you’re going to bring this up in front of them, let’s fucking do it.

“She wasn’t careless.” Nicole’s voice trembled with effort to stay cordial in front of their company. “You know going out was my idea,” she lied.

“But she knows you’re processing a tremendous amount. She should have been a better support to you.”

“Shewas,babe. You said yourself you don’t trust anyone. So why are we having guests?” She touched the diamond on her neck, brows knitting. “It’s no secret your family has never wanted us together. They’ve never supported me even when I was normal. So Darlene has to go, buttheycan visit whenever they please?”

“It’s not like I’m leaving you alone with them!”

Frigid silence entered the air between them. Michael and Lauren were rigid in their seats, but they faded into the background as she and Ryan stared each other down.

“So you prefer to be my escort in every interaction now? Is that our life?” she breathed.

Ryan opened his mouth, but it was Michael Northe who jabbed a finger toward Nicole. “He’s protecting you, sweetheart. Look at how fragile you are.” Lauren choked on her coffee, eyeing him reproachfully for the choice words. “What? We shouldn’t mollycoddle. It’s a man’s responsibility to provide and protect his family. I’d do the same thing if I were in his shoes.”

Nicole could have screamed.

“All due respect, Michael, stay the hell out of this,” she told him.

Ryan gaped. “Nicole.”

The computer pinged again. Knowing she would enrage the room, Nicole looked at Darlene’s message anyway: “Give me a call if you need anything. I know this is big.”

Nicole pressed her lips together. She couldn’t leave her friend festering with concern. She knelt to reach over the keys.

“Leave it,” Ryan said, an edge rising.

“I’m just letting her know that—”

While she was still typing, Ryan got to his feet. His hand dropped into her path, shooing her off the keyboard. He closed the laptop.

She scrambled to stand, face on fire. “Hey!”