I slid my eyes to the other side of the bed, and something wrenched inside my chest at the sight of it empty. I squinted up at the ceiling, trying to remember how I got home in the first place. Had D put me into an UBER last night? No, she was just as bad as I had been.
HOLY SHIT!
Noah and Riley had come over to her condo after they got off the team jet. Guilt, or maybe it was all the whiskey, bubbled up inside me as I remembered that Riley had a game today. I ran a hand across my face and groaned. I was the worst hockey wife.
I pulled my left hand back when it felt odd. My eyes widened, and I swore when I noticed my wedding ring was missing. Why was my wedding ring missing? I couldn’t remember anything from last night.
The condo was quiet, but when I looked at my phone, I knew Riley had already left for the arena. He had left a note on the bedside table along with a glass of water, which I drank quickly. I didn’t think there was any way I was going anywhere today. Especially not to the game if I couldn’t find my wedding ring. What would Riley think if he saw me without it?
I got up out of bed and paced. Then I went to the kitchen to eat some toast because it was all I could stomach at the moment. Luckily, I was keeping the whiskey down, but all I was thinking about was how Riley would look at me when he came home and saw me not wearing my wedding ring. I didn’t want that.
I finished my toast and started tearing apart our bedroom, looking for that stupid ring. I looked under the bed, opened all the drawers in the dresser, checked the box in the walk-in closet where Riley kept his cufflinks, and finally went to the bathroom. Nowhere. My ring was nowhere to be found. I stormed around the living room, searching behind every cushion, and even checked the damn refrigerator. Drunk Fiona was known to put things in weird places. Still nothing.
I slumped on the couch in defeat. I pulled out my phone and dialed Dinah’s number.
“You suck, you know that, right?” she said by way of greeting.
“Sorry, but it worked, didn’t it?”
“I’m not sure. I was too drunk to talk to Noah last night. I think we’re gonna talk when he gets home.”
“That’s good, though? You still want to be with him, right?”
She sighed. “More than anything. Anyway, do you feel like hot garbage too?”
I laughed. “Yup. And I have another problem.”
“What’s up?”
“I can’t find my wedding ring.”
She was silent for a minute. “Hang on. I’m going to go check if it’s here.”
I waited in silence on the line while she searched her condo. I sipped at my glass of water and tried to make my hangover disappear.
“Sorry, Fi, I can’t find it, but I’ll keep looking,” Dinah said when she got back on the line.
“Fuck, okay. Thanks. I better go; I need to find it before Riley gets home.”
“Good luck! It’ll turn up.”
I hoped she was right, but a part of me wasn’t that optimistic.
I went back into the bedroom and got down on hands and knees, searching the carpet for that stupid silver ring. It wasn’t even that nice a wedding band, but I loved the weird story behind my marriage. If Riley saw me not wearing it, he was going to think the worst. He was going to think that I didn’t love him.
It was at that moment, crying on the floor of our bedroom, that I realized why I was so upset about losing my wedding ring. And why I decided to get drunk last night instead of dealing with my feelings.
I loved him too.
I loved Aaron Riley, my best and oldest friend, and the man who was always there for me when I needed him. Maybe that was the real reason the universe told Eric to leave me at the altar because he wasn’t who I was supposed to be with.
I had always loved Riley in a way. In high school, we had been fooling around when his teammate Jackson had asked me out. Jackson was cute and sweet, so I had encouraged Riley to ask out Stacey Graves because I knew she had a thing for him. Jackson ended up being a douche, and I broke up with him a couple weeks later, but Riley and Stacey dated all senior year. She did not particularly like me. I think I made a mistake all those years ago, and now I knew why.
I’m not sure when Riley discovered he loved me. When Finnegan told me that was why he had saved my wedding day, it scared the shit out of me. Not because I didn’t feel the same way, because I was pretty sure I did, but I was scared that if I allowed myself to love someone again, they would leave me again. Like Riley had when he left for the NHL and like Eric had when I was supposed to marry him. Now Riley was probably mad at me for getting shit-faced with Dinah, and I had lost my wedding ring.
I was so afraid he was going to come home, see me without my ring, and think that I wanted a divorce, which I definitely did not want. Not anymore. I loved this man who protected and cared for me my whole
