Page 75 of Ring Rust

But this was Ryan. No matter how much Jasper was convinced he’d changed, or how much Jasper admitted he’d missed small acknowledgments of his love, the real Ryan was like this. He didn’t even offer excuses every time, just missed events for things he deemed more important and made up for his misdeeds by throwing money at the people he hurt.

He imagined leaving the dance hall to find Ryan in the parking lot with a pony wearing a pink sparkly saddle, then huffed out a sad, resigned laugh.

After what felt like two hours but was actually twenty-three minutes, Nina’s recital ended. An older class was coming out next, so Jasper and the sisters used the intermission to find Nina backstage and take her out for frozen yogurt.

“I am really surprised about Ryan,” Beni said.

Genuine worry marred her face, and Jasper had to bite back the urge to roll his eyes. “I promise, he’s fine.”

“He hasn’t texted or called or anything, though. Did he text you, Stevie?”

Stevie shook her head. “No, nothing. But we don’t text that often, so that’s not unusual. I don’t think it means anything.”

“And he didn’t text you, Jasper?”

“No. He didn’t even view the text I sent him earlier asking if he needed a ride.But—” Jasper said, putting his hand up to halt any potential panic, “—this is what he does. It’s nothing to worry about, other than worrying about him being a little selfish sometimes.”

“Will you stop?” Steve asked, pinching Jasper’s arm.

Beni frowned. “I know you guys have some shit going on, but he wouldn’t miss Nina’s recital.”

“He’s fine, sweetie,” Stevie said, rubbing her arm. “I bet his car just broke down.”

“His three-year-old Land Rover with below average miles just… broke down?” Beni asked.

Stevie bit her lip and looked at Jasper.

Ryan was Beni’s brother, he reminded himself. She didn’t have the same relationship with him that Jasper did, so she probably didn’t have the same expectations, and hadn’t noticed Ryan’s patterns to the same degree. And she did look legitimately worried. Bringing attention to Ryan’s absence in front of Nina would upset everybody, so he decided to be nice.

“Would it help if I called him? I can find out where he is,” Jasper finally said.

“Or I could,” Stevie said.

“No, I’ll call him.”

“Thanks, Jasper. Yeah. I hope he’s okay,” Beni said, biting her nail. “I am actually kind of worried.”

Jasper smiled grimly. “He either got distracted by a handful of fans who asked him for photos, or got abducted by aliens. I’ll let you guess which is more likely.”

Beni winced and Stevie reached for her.

“Jasper!” Stevie said.

“I’m kidding!” Jasper said. “Beni, he’s fine. I promise. I’ll be back in a few.”

Jasper stood from where he was leaning against a wall and mumbled an apology in Beni’s direction, then headed towards the closest door he saw under an exit sign. He sighed when he got outside and took his place against the exterior wall, scrolling through his call list longer than expected before finally landing on Ryan’s name.

It started to ring, the sounds of the unanswered call triggering a flash of misery inside him. How many times had he heard this sound, looking for Ryan, only to be called back an hour later with a lazy excuse?

He stayed on the line until Ryan’s voicemail picked up. But he had to be able to tell Beni honestly he’d done what he could, so he hung up and called back.

Ryan didn’t answer that time either.

Just before he reached to put his phone back in his pocket, an unknown number showed up on his screen. It was the same number that had called earlier, and once more during the recital. He decided to answer, since generally telemarketers didn’t try that hard.

“Hello?”

“Hello. Is this Jasper Sanborn?”