Rock All Night

90




Poor Ryan.

I wound up discussing the Riley situation with him. Actually, venting to him is a more accurate description.

Derek was no good for that; he was more of a ‘Bulldoze through it or quit bitching’ kind of a guy, so trying to get any sympathy from him was like extracting water from a stone.

I’d already had one bad experience with Killian’s weird, so-not-comforting take on Aesop’s fables.

Miles? I’m laughing right now as I type this.

And Riley was the source of the problem.

Which left poor, longsuffering Ryan to listen to me rant. On several occasions.

He was sympathetic every time, and very kindly never pointed out the obvious – that I was just using Riley’s obstinacy as an excuse to procrastinate.

After I complained to him for fifteen minutes, I would usually feel a little better, after which I would go along my way and find other reasons to avoid writing the article.

After a half-dozen encounters with Riley, ranging from annoying to infuriating, I had written off ever getting any sort of a real interview from her.

Until I heard her talking to Ryan.

I didn’t think anyone had that kind of influence over her.

I was wrong.