Any option is a loss for me.

I might as well call him.

On a deep breath, I tap his name and bring the phone to my ear. After the second ring, his voice comes through. “Myla, hey, is everything okay?”

Just hearing his voice makes my nausea roar to life, because I missed it. I missed him.

“Umm . . . Ryot?” I say, my voice tight. “Can I ask you a favor?”

“Anything, baby. Ask me anything.”

With that simple word, baby, I burst into tears.

* * *

“Thank you for picking me up,” I say as I get into Ryot’s SUV.

“Of course.” He turns toward me and those soulful eyes of his split my heart in two. I’ve missed them. Missed his fresh soap smell, his smile, his touch, his voice. Everything. “Are you okay?”

I dab at my eyes with the tissue that’s crumbled in my hand and nod. “Yeah, just lots of emotional stuff is all. I don’t want to bore you with it.”

“You never bore me, Myla.”

I try to smile, but it falls flat.

He clears his throat and turns back toward the steering wheel. “We’re going to your mom’s?”

I shake my head. “No, a legal office, which is actually ten minutes away. I plugged it into my phone for you.” I hand him my phone, and he sets it on his lap.

“Okay.” He puts the car in drive and once he gets on the road, he says, “So what’s the plan?”

I clench my hands together and answer, “Um, to act like we’re still together. I know that’s asking a lot from you, and I really shouldn’t be asking since, well, you know, since how things went down. But I can’t show up alone. She’ll make a comment about how I’m unlovable, and I just don’t think I can go through the mental anguish of dealing with her today, not alone.”

“Babe,” he says softly, placing his hand on my leg. “You know I’d do anything for you. I wouldn’t want you to do this alone either.”

“Thank you, Ryot.”

I stay quiet for the rest of the drive, unsure what else to say to him. But when we arrive and he parks, he tells me to wait in the car as he gets out. I watch him round the hood and then come to my door where he opens it for me. He holds his hand out like a gentleman and whispers, “Hold on to me for as long and as tight as you need. Okay?”

I press my lips together and nod as he helps me out of the car.

And I hold his hand. I hold it all the way into the building, up the elevator, down the hall, and when we reach the law offices, I grip him even tighter when I see my rigid mother sitting in one of the chairs, hands in her lap, waiting for the meeting to start.

“I got you,” Ryot whispers close to my ear.