Chapter 24: The Illusion of Blissful Ignorance

"Is everything okay?" I answered the phone, concerned about how he had dropped the call earlier.

The whole time I'd been waiting for him to call back I'd spent opening and closing my contacts list, my finger hovering over his name as I considered calling him to check.

"Sorry about that," he apologized. "Ryder and my dad got into an argument," he explained sounding exasperated.

"Shit... hope everything is okay now," I said, wondering whether the argument was about me, but I was hesitant to ask.

"Yeah, it's okay. For now at least," he finished, sounding a little uncertain.

I was quiet for a moment, tempted to ask what that meant, but he went on, "So, when do I get to see you again? I know you've got plans to see Ryder tomorrow, so I figured we should make plans too?" he suggested, sounding sure of himself.

I felt an immediate rush of guilt as he mentioned my plans with Ryder.

"Tyler, I'm sorry—" I apologized, but he interrupted me.

"Don't be, it's no big deal," he confirmed befo