More than Distance

4

So much for my willpower.

He tasted the soup and closed his eyes for a moment, like he was savoring it. “I forgot how delicious this is. I haven’t had this in probably…”

“Six years?” I asked, with a trace of bitterness I couldn’t hide.

He focused on me again, his gaze so intense it made me want to squirm. One of his black eyebrows lifted. “Have you been counting?”

“No, of course not.” I pictured stabbing him with my fork. I pictured knocking all the food off the table and dragging him onto it, tearing open his shirt, pressing my mouth against his neck. I took a sip of water instead, hoping it would cool me down.

“What are you in town for?” Dad asked Ryan.

“I’m visiting my father.”

There was an awkward pause—we all knew Daniel and his father didn’t get along, so there must be more to the story. When he didn’t offer it, Mom shoved another piece of cornbread onto his plate. “I’m so glad you could join us tonight. It’s been far too long. Have some more broa. I bet you never eat any homemade meals anymore.”

“No, not very often.”

Dad chuckled. “He doesn’t need homemade meals. He probably goes to fancy five-star restaurants every night.”

“Sometimes I do,” Ryan said. “But none of them are as good as your cooking, Eva.”

Mom playfully swatted his comment away. “Please, you know you can call me Mom after all these years.”

“Of course. Mom.” The way he said it sounded hollow, as if he’d forgotten how to pronounce the word after so long.

She’d told Ryan to call her Mom when he was ten, after he’d become a permanent fixture at our house. He’d met my brother in school, when they’d been paired up to do a project on ancestry and discovered their moms were both from another country. Like me and Daniel, Ryan was biracial. Our dad was black and our mom was from Portugal, while Ryan’s dad was white and his mom was from China.

Ryan’s mother had passed away when he was seven and his dad had always been working, so Ryan began to spend more time with us than at his own house. It wasn’t long before my parents came to treat him like a second son. He even had his own bed in Daniel’s room. But hearing him call my mother “Mom” always made me inwardly cringe. Thinking about Ryan like a brother was impossible for me.

“Would you like some wine?” Dad asked him.

“No, thank you,” Ryan said. “I’m on my motorcycle tonight. Drove it down from Seattle.”

“You’re so responsible.” Mom rested her chin in her hand, staring at Ryan like a proud mother.

“Is business going well?” Dad asked. “Everything’s good with Meta Entertainment?”

Daniel leaned forward, like he was telling us a secret. “He got an offer from Slade Industries to buy out his company.”

Dad whistled softly. “Slade? That’s a big deal. You going to take it?”

“I haven’t decided yet,” Ryan said. “I like running my own business, but it’s too good an offer to not consider.”

Dad nodded like he approved. “Wise man.”

It really wasn’t fair. Not only was Ryan the sexiest man I had ever met, but also the smartest and most successful. He’d developed a video game app in his senior year of college called Outerworld that was sort of like Pokemon Go mixed with Harry Potter, where everyone played a wizard or a warrior and interacted in this virtual fantasy world that overlaid the real one through your phone’s GPS and camera. It was genius, really—and a lot of fun. Yes, I played it sometimes, too.

Outerworld had turned into a huge viral success almost overnight and was still one of the most popular games around. Under Ryan’s guidance, he’d formed Meta Entertainment by buying up a lot of other, smaller startups. Now at twenty-four he ran an entire multimedia company and was one of the youngest billionaires in the world. He spent his days in a boardroom and his nights dating actresses and pop stars. Not that I paid attention to that stuff, of course. I just happened to see it since we were still f*******: friends, plus the internet loved talking about his various high-profile flings. I didn’t care who Ryan dated. I’d gotten over him long ago. Really.

“That’s so exciting,” Mom said. “And are you seeing someone? I heard you were dating that one country singer…”

“No one right now.”

Daniel smirked. “Only ‘cause he never keeps them around very long.”

Ryan arched an eyebrow at him. “You’re one to talk. When did you last have a girlfriend?”

“I’ve dated a few women,” Daniel said. But we all knew my brother’s last girlfriend was Jennifer. She’d broken his heart by turning down his marriage proposal because she didn’t want to get tied down, then went and married a guy at her office a month later. That was a year ago and he hadn’t dated anyone since.

Mom tried to shove more food at the guys. “You are both young. You have lots of time before you need to settle down. I tell Carla the same thing, but she doesn’t listen. She’s been with that boyfriend of hers for almost two years, yes?”

As of last week I wasn’t with him anymore, but now was not the time to tell her about my break-up. I definitely wasn’t going to mention it in front of Ryan either. I stared at my food as heat rose up the back of my neck, wishing this entire conversation could be over already. It was only made worse by the feeling that Ryan was staring at me intently, like he was waiting for my answer.

“Angel, are you okay?” Mom asked. “You look a bit flushed.”

“I’m fine.”

She studied me a moment longer and then turned back to Ryan with a smile. “I must confess, I always hoped you and Carla would fall in love and get married one day. Silly, I know! But then you would truly be part of the family.”