Marie had her pajamas on already even though it was only nine thirty. She hopped onto Ryan’s side of the bed and turned on his bed lamp.

“I’m sorry for slapping you.” She snuggled behind me, patting my back.

“You really hit me hard,” I whispered.

“I didn’t mean to.” Marie sounded remorseful. “You were getting irrational. I hope you forgive me. I promise I’ll never do it again.”

“That’s what you said when we were fifteen and you told Adam Caldwell that I wanted to kiss him.”

Marie chuckled lightly. “Well you did!”

“Yeah, but the entire baseball team didn’t need to hear you,” I groaned.

We both laughed.

“Ryan never called back,” I said sadly.

“Give him time,” she whispered. “He is just as upset as you are. He is trying to figure out who did all of this and film a movie at the same time.

He’s crushed right now too.”

Marie sighed and fluffed the pillow up under her head. “Someone sure went out of their way to try and break you two up, that’s for sure.”

“I should have never opened that envelope on his bed,” I sighed. “I thought it was a hotel bill or something at first. Maybe if I wouldn’t have seen it…” I took a deep breath. “Ah, who am I trying to kid? Nothing changes the fact that Lauren wrote the note.”

“Tar, Lauren didn’t write that note. Ryan confronted her about it. He said Lauren’s handwriting didn’t even come close to what was on that paper. Even Mike was there to verify it.”

I tried to remember what Lauren’s handwriting looked like. I had seen it once on the card that I found in the front of Ryan’s suitcase, on the day that Ryan told me he wanted to stay with me in the apartment.

“So the note was bogus and Ryan was really filming?” I asked. My chest was starting to feel tight again.

“Wait, back up,” Marie said quickly. “Where was the note again?”

“When I went to the bedroom, the bellboy had parked my suitcase at the foot of the bed. The note was on top of his bed by my suitcase.”

“It was on the bed?” Marie asked. Her eyes were all scrunched together as she questioned me.

“Yes.” I motioned my answer. “And the panties were on the floor, right next to my suitcase.”

“If you were going to leave a note for someone who was supposedly still asleep, wouldn’t you put it where they would see it, like on a table or the nightstand? How did it get on top of the bed?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” I answered. “And it doesn’t change the fact that there was some girl’s black panties on his floor, Marie. Maybe he’s not sleeping with Lauren, but he had some girl in his bedroom.”

“Taryn! Ryan is not screwing around on you! Was his bed made or was it still slept in?” she asked.

“It was made,” I said, wondering what her point was.

“Housekeeping,” she said, drawing some conclusion.

At this point the damage was already done. The only thing left to question was whether the damage was irreparable or not.

“I’ve been feeling like all the odds have been stacked against us from the very beginning,” I muttered. “As if that wasn’t hard enough, fate keeps throwing Kyle at me on top of it. If it wasn’t for him, I’d probably still be wandering around in a daze in the Miami airport.”

“Taryn, what was Kyle doing in the airport?”

“You know, I asked him that on the plane. He said he was there on a job but his assignment was finished. Ryan said he saw Kyle on one of the sets last week. Ryan called Kyle’s company to have him removed, so Kyle wasn’t supposed to be in Miami anymore. Ryan told me that Kyle was instructed by his company to stay away from me.”

“I know,” Marie admitted.

My wide eyes locked onto her face. I hadn’t told her about Kyle being in Florida. That was a fight between Ryan and me that I kept to myself.

“You know the paparazzi took your picture with him in the airport. That’s why Ryan is so pissed,” Marie informed cautiously. “There are pictures of Kyle hugging you.”

I threw the covers off and hurried to my computer. Pete and Tammy were in the living room watching Sunday night television.

I searched one of the online sources for paparazzi photos that I knew of. It was hard to get past the viscous headlines.

“Oh God!” I groaned, viewing pictures of me looking like a drowned rat. “Does Ryan think I look happy to see Kyle in any of these shots?”

I studied the picture of Kyle hugging and consoling me. “Look, my arms are straight. I’m not even hugging him back. And here it looks like I’m pushing him away from me. How could Ryan even think that I have feelings for this guy?”

“How could you ever doubt Ryan’s love for you?” Tammy whispered.

“I never doubted Ryan before, but when I saw the love letter and the panties… and then got a phone call telling me that he was with the other woman at that moment – what was I supposed to think?” I retorted.

I looked back at the pictures on my computer. “When I was on the plane to come home, I guess I started to agree with Kyle. He said that all things happen for a reason and maybe it was better that all this happened now instead of having Ryan leave me after we’re married and bring children into this world. That’s usually when all the celebrity marriages end.”

Marie groaned angrily. “That slick bastard.”

I looked at a few more pictures, reliving the devastation I felt at the time they were taken all over again.

“The note said that he’d let this go on long enough. I didn’t know what to believe.” My fingers trailed down my computer screen.

Marie couldn’t wait any longer; she punched a few keys on her cell phone. “Ryan, what did you find out?”

I knew Ryan had Marie’s cell number; I never knew Marie had his.

“Housekeeping said there weren’t any undergarments on the floor when they made his bed,” Marie whispered over the phone to me.

She informed him about how the bellboy must have put the note on the bed and her suspicions about Kyle’s involvement.

“He wants to talk to you.” Marie smiled, holding out her cell.

“Hi,” I whispered apprehensively. I didn’t know how he would react to me.

“Hi,” Ryan said softly. “Are you okay?”