Ryan's Place - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,52

been abandoned by his parents, had he felt quite so alone.

The pounding on the door to his apartment would have awakened the dead. Ryan scowled but didn’t budge from his chair. The drink he’d poured himself when he’d returned from Maggie’s was still full. Even as he’d filled the glass, he’d known the solution to his problems wasn’t alcohol. Unless he drank the whole blasted bottle it wouldn’t grant him the oblivion he sought.

“Dammit, I know you’re in there,” Rory shouted. “Open the door or I’ll have to break it down.”

Ryan sighed. He knew Rory was not only capable of such a thing but, given the heat in his voice, probably even eager to do it. He crossed the room in three long strides and threw open the door.

“What is your problem?” he demanded.

“I’m not the one with the problem,” Rory said.

“Oh?”

“Maggie called. She’s worried about you.”

“She shouldn’t be,” Ryan said.

“Then call her and tell her that.”

“I don’t think so.” As horrendous as this pain in his chest was, he knew that dragging Maggie back into his life wasn’t going to work. It was better that they end this with a clean break.

Rory noted the glass of scotch beside his chair. “I thought you didn’t drink.”

“I rarely drink. There’s a difference,” Ryan said. “And if you nose around a little more closely, you’ll see that I haven’t touched that drink, either.”

Rory gave a nod. “That’s okay, then. Want to talk about what happened?”

“No.”

“Interesting. Maggie didn’t say much, either.”

“How discreet of her,” Ryan said sarcastically. “It’s a pleasant change.”

Rory frowned at him then. “Maligning Maggie won’t fix whatever’s bugging you.”

“Don’t you think I know that?”

“Talking it out might help.”

“I am not discussing this, not with you, not with Maggie,” Ryan said forcefully, his gaze leveled at his friend. “Are we clear on that?”

“Whatever you say,” Rory said. “I suppose I’m expected to call her and tell her you’re still among the living?”

Ryan shrugged. “Up to you.”

“Perhaps I should drive out to console her,” Rory suggested slyly.

Ryan felt his gut tighten. “Don’t expect me to object.”

“Okay, that’s it,” Rory declared, plopping down on the sofa. “I’m not leaving here until you tell me what happened. The day you say it’s okay for me to pay a visit to Maggie is obviously the next-to-last day of the world.”

Despite his foul mood, Ryan felt his lips twitch. “It’s nothing that dire. It’s just that it’s over,” he told Rory, keeping his tone surprisingly even. “Not that there was anything to begin with, just the promise of something.”

“And you ended it, I suppose.”

Ryan thought back over the scene outside of Maggie’s. He’d said the words that had ended it, but it was Maggie who’d walked away. There was equal blame, if he wanted to be honest about it. No, he corrected, the blame was all his. He’d done what he was so good at doing. He’d shut her out, this time with a declaration she couldn’t ignore.

“Yeah, I suppose I ended it,” he admitted.

“Why the devil would you do a lame-brained thing like that?” Rory demanded, clearly dumbstruck. “And on Christmas, too? Have you no heart at all?”

Ryan met his friend’s scowling gaze. “No,” he said evenly. “And isn’t that the point?”

“Sure, and if that’s so, then why does it appear to me that it’s not your hard head that’s suffering so tonight? It seems to me it’s your heart that’s broken,” Rory said, then headed for the door. “Think about that one, why don’t you?”

When the door clicked shut, Ryan closed his eyes against the tide of anguish and regret washing over him. He tried once again telling himself that he’d done the right thing, but being in the right was cold comfort.

The remainder of Christmas day passed in a blur for Maggie. She managed to keep a smile on her face, but she didn’t really fool anyone. She knew, because they all tiptoed around Ryan’s sudden disappearance, not a one of them asking why he’d gone. Matt quietly offered Father Francis a lift back to the city, and the priest left after giving Maggie’s hand a sympathetic squeeze. Obviously, not even he intended to try to explain away Ryan’s abrupt departure. Of course, Maggie already knew the answer to that. He’d left because he couldn’t bear to spend another minute in her company…and because she’d run at the first sign of trouble.

The fact that her call to Rory had been as pointless as every other attempt to get through to Ryan only made