“So, how did the family event go?” I asked with a chuckle.
“Oh my god, Martin. I love his family.” Suddenly, she looked at me with concern and said, “I’m sorry, that was insensitive.”
“No, it wasn’t,” I assured her. “It is my curse to deal with momzillas and cousins from hell, not yours.”
I leaned over to her and kissed her cheek. “I’m so happy for you. Now, give me the juice; what did the sister say when you showed up?”
“Believe it or not, his sister came over, grabbed me in a huge bear hug, and told me she was so happy that her Kevin had found a woman who won’t let him get away with shit. I guess his ex-girlfriend was some kind of jellyfish that grated the nerves of the steely women in his family.”
I chuckled and said, “Well, that won’t be a problem with you now, will it?”
Janice playfully punched my arm. “Be nice to me,” she whined. “It was tough meeting his parents, but it may be tougher now that I kinda like them. It isn’t every day you meet a group of women who aren’t on the warpath to destroy any other woman who comes into their territory. That whole family seemed to put their arms around me and embrace me. Then, when you top that with the hunk of a man they have created, it’s hard not to want to be a part of the whole package.”
Grinning at her, I asked, “Have you told him you love him yet?” Janice glared back at me in shock as her color shifted to a shade of light green.
“No, Martin. Why would you ask that?” she asked, trying to hide her discomfort.
“Because, baby, I’ve known you most of my life, and you have never been this gaga over a man before. How long have you two been dating anyway?” I asked.
“Since last year. But Martin, until I almost broke his arm—or more accurate, my fingers—we hadn’t even discussed being exclusive. That was my hang-up, Martin, not his.”
“I know, honey, but here’s the thing—if he didn’t have feelings for you, he wouldn’t have taken you to his parent's house.”
I thought for a moment. Realizing in my head that I was projecting my own crap onto the situation, I added, “Unless the fucker is screwed up and insane.”
Janice cocked her eyebrow at me. “Yeah, that was fucked up. I’m sorry you had to go through all that,” she said, acknowledging she realized I was thinking about my first and second dates with Elian. “Have you heard from the fucker?”
“Yeah, he texted yesterday, but I ignored it. In fact, I deleted him completely out of my phone. I was feeling empowered.” I shrugged when she gave me a skeptical look.
“Deleting him from your phone isn’t the same as your heart,” she said. “Trust me, I’m an expert on this topic.”
I nodded my agreement. “I know, but for tonight, he is deleted, and I’m here with my girlfriend and her very hot boyfriend, who she has fallen in love with… although she hasn’t told him yet.” This earned me my second arm punch of the evening.
“Now, are we going to sit in an inconspicuous place and bash the party guests and the food like you promised or not?” I asked, causing her to laugh.
We had just stood up when someone tapped me on the shoulder. “Martin?” the voice asked. I turned around, and the world dropped out from underneath me. Standing in front of me was a spectacularly dressed, too damned fucking hot, Peter Reed.
I froze for a moment before the blood returned to my head. I heard myself stammer and ask, “Pe.. Peter, why are you here?”
Peter laughed and had the decency to appear embarrassed. “This firm is recruiting me to join them and move back to Austin. I was invited to come tonight to check out their gala.”
Not knowing what else to say, I looked over to Janice for help.
Janice stepped right up and reached for Peter’s hand. “Peter, it’s been a long time,” she said. As she shook his hand, she moved him slightly, so he was facing away from me. “So, you are thinking about moving back to Austin then? That’s good.”
I took the moment to collect my thoughts and get myself together as my friend thankfully took over the conversation.
After getting my bearings, I realized I really didn’t want to talk to Peter. I decided the best thing to do was end the conversation in a way that made my reluctance clear but in a way that would also be respectful and appropriate to the situation.
“Peter, it’s nice to see you. I hope all is well, but Janice and I have a date over at the bar. You have a great night and good luck on your new position,” I said and grabbed Janice’s arm, pulling her toward the bar.
“Smooth,” Janice replied as we walked away.
“I’ve learned how to forcefully, yet tactfully excuse myself from an unwanted discussion. It is a very necessary skill in my industry,” I replied after a laugh.
“Well, I’d have given a lot of money to capture Peter’s expression on camera,” she joked.
I laughed, “He definitely hasn’t met confident Martin before. I’m a little different from when we dated. It doesn’t really matter, though, what he thinks.”
Janice stopped and turned to me. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear that. He never deserved you, Martin, especially if he was willing to throw you away like he did.”
“That’s the damned truth,” I agreed. When we sat down at the bar, I ordered two shots of tequila, which I downed immediately. As I sighed from the hit, I turned to Janice, just as her eyes were growing wider.
“Martin, he’s coming back.”
“Oh, shit,” I said. “I guess he didn’t get the hint.”
“Clearly not,” she said as he came back up to us.
“Martin, I’m sorry. Can I have a moment to speak with you? I promise it won’t take long.”
“No, Peter,” I remarked without pausing. “We have nothing to say to one another. Shit, man, it has been two years. If I had known you would be here, I wouldn’t have come.” I said as confidently as I could. “If you don’t mind Peter, I’m here with Janice and her boyfriend, and I would really like to enjoy the evening. That can’t happen if you keep coming into my space. I mean no disrespect, but please go away.”
This was all said quietly and in a way that no one but Janice and Peter could hear. Peter’s face fell, and without another comment, he walked away and disappeared into the crowd.
“Well, isn’t that some shit?” I said with a sigh.
“That is some major shit,” Janice agreed. She waved to the bartender and ordered four more shots. When they arrived, she downed two, and I downed the others.
“This is going to be an interesting night,” I said to no one in particular.
Peter had effectively disappeared and neither Janice nor I caught sight of him again. I assumed he must have gone home with his tail between his legs. Peter had never been good with confrontation and tended to blow his stack, then regret it. His leaving was probably the best for me and Peter’s potential career with this firm.
Despite his appearance and strange request to speak, the rest of the evening was fun. Janice, Kevin, and I danced around with other couples. We drank, laughed a lot, and thoroughly enjoyed the event.
As we rode home together, I congratulated Kevin on the affair. “Those things are usually stuffy and boring, but your firm did a good job making it fun and light-hearted. Even the food was great, which is a feat when it comes to catering one of those. Who did you use?” When he told me Auburn Top Catering, I smiled.
“I’m glad they’ve made it. They were tiny when I was here, but they had great potential. I had a feeling, if they got their feet under them, they’d do well.”
We talked and laughed on the way back to my parent's house, and when they dropped me off, it was well past one in the morning. “I almost feel like I’m sneaking back after curfew,” I joked.
“It isn’t like we haven’t done that before,” Janice joked.
“Shh, my parents don’t need to know anything about that!” I giggled as I got out of the car.
“I love you, Janice Girl,” I said, leaning back into the c
ar to give her a smooch. “Kevin, you better treat her like a queen tonight, and I’m not talking about the royal kind,” I said as I pulled back out of the car.
“I have plans to do that very thing,” Kevin said with a mischievous expression on his face.
I wiggled my eyebrows at Janice, and she blushed appropriately. Again, with the blushing, I thought. I wondered how long it would be before the wedding bells chimed. “You kids have fun,” I said as they drove off.
I came into the house thinking it would be locked up to find my parents sitting at the table in a full out war about some rule my mother said my dad had broken. There were cards on the table, and Mom was standing with her hands on her hips.
“Mom, Dad, what’s going on?” I asked.
“Oh, hi honey,” my mom replied. “It is nothing. Your dad is trying to cheat again.”
“You mean, you are trying to make up new rules to the game,” Dad replied.
“Well, I see you two are getting along, so I’ll just go up to bed,” I said, shaking my head.
“No, honey, don’t go. Sit with us for a minute and tell us about the evening,” Mom said. “Besides, we are at a stalemate anyway.” She looked over at her husband and winked at him. “I’ll take care of you later,” she warned. The way she said that made my face turn red.
Mom went into the kitchen and hollered out to me, “Can I get you something? Do you want a beer or juice?
“I should probably drink some water if I want to avoid a hangover.”
“Good idea,” Mom added and brought me two glasses of water, placing them in front of me.
“You’ll never guess who showed up tonight,” I said.
Both parents gave me a blank expression. When I said, ‘Peter,’ however, their expressions quickly changed from blank to anger.
“What the hell?” Dad said. “Did Janice know that jackass was going to be there?”
“No, none of us knew. He was being recruited by the firm to join them. He just showed up.”
“What did he say to you?” Mom asked.
“He wanted to talk to me alone.”
Dad stood up as he asked, “Did you?”
“No, I basically told him to get lost and luckily, he did.”
“I’ll be damned,” Dad said. “The boy has some balls, doesn’t he?”
“I know him,” I said. “If he has it in his brain that we need to talk, he’ll probably show up here. I just wanted you two to be prepared to see him.”
“Want me to break his nose?” dad asked, a sly grin slowly crossing his face.
“As much as I’d like to say yeah, I’ve already had someone face-punch a guy for me this week. I’d rather avoid that, if possible.”
“Damn Martin, you are no fun,” Dad said, and Mom put her hand over his.
“Well honey, if you don’t want a guy to punch him, I could do it for you.”
Despite the serious situation, both Dad and I burst out laughing at the image of my sweet mother hitting anyone in the face.
“What?” she asked. “You don’t think I can’t hit that son of a bitch in the face? After he hurt my baby like he did? I could put him in the hospital!” she exclaimed.
“Honey, of course, we know you can kick his ass!” Dad reached over and kissed his wife squarely on the mouth. “Just when I think I couldn’t be more in love with you,” he said and kissed her again.
“What do you want us to do if he shows up, Martin?” Mom asked. Then, after she thought a moment, she said, “I won’t promise to be nice to the SOB, but I can promise neither your father nor I will hit him. At least, not in reality, although I don’t promise I won’t be imagining him writhing in pain at my feet.”
I couldn’t help but smile at my parents. They always had my back, and that mattered more and more every day. “If he comes,” I said, “then I’ll go talk to him and put an end to the nonsense. I guess it’d be nice to get some closure. I haven’t spoken to him since that day. It still seems so surreal how we were engaged one minute and separated the next, never to speak again.”
“He is deranged, honey, just like his mother. You can’t fix people like that; you just have to deal with them.”
“And,” Dad added, “you thank the good lord you didn’t marry him.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” I agreed.
I hugged them both then and headed up to bed.
The next morning, I was up before my parents. I’d put a pot of coffee on when the doorbell rang. I looked at the clock and rolled my eyes. “Peter,” I said to myself. Sure enough, when I opened the door, there stood my ex.
Peter didn’t appear to have slept the night before. I didn’t invite him in but rather came outside and gestured for Peter to sit on the porch swing while I sat in a rocking chair next to it. “What do you want, Peter?” I asked.
“I needed to see you,” Peter began.
“No, you didn’t,” I said to stop him before he went on. “This isn’t going to be a storybook reunion, Peter, so you can cut out the sappy bullshit. You said you wanted to speak to me, so speak. I’m sitting right here… at least for another minute.”
Peter sighed. “I guess you aren’t going to forgive me, huh?”
“I forgave you a long time ago, but I sure as hell don’t want to spend time with you. Again, what is it you have on your mind that after two years of not speaking, you need to talk to me about now?”
“Give me a minute, Martin, please. This is hard to do,” he replied.
Peter took a breath and let it out slowly and said, “I fucked up with you, and I’ve regretted it for almost as long as we’ve been broken up. I tried to date other men, but I can only think of you. When I saw you last night, I thought it might be providence that maybe this would be my chance to make up to you what happened, and maybe we could have another chance.”
“Buddy,” I began, “if you came here thinking you were going to get back with me, you are barking up the wrong tree. There will never be another chance for us. Hell, man, I don’t think there could be a chance that we’d ever be friends, much less lovers.”
I stood to leave, and Peter jumped up. “Wait! I need to explain things to you… what happened back then. I think it’ll help you understand it.”
I sat down, put my hands in my lap, and waited for Peter to explain. Peter sat back down too and wiped his hand over his face.
“My mom was a bitch to you. Shortly after we broke up…” then looking over at me, he corrected. “When I broke up with you, Mom ended up in the hospital with a tumor. The doctors confirmed the tumor is what caused her to say such nasty things. I knew it was uncharacteristic. I think that’s why I didn’t believe you.
After the surgery, she was racked with guilt and told me in detail what she had said to you. I tried to reach you but you’d blocked me on social media. When I came here to tell you in person, your parents told me you’d moved out of state.”
Peter rubbed his eyes and sighed, “Shortly after that, I got my assignment in Georgia. You parents wouldn’t tell me where you’d gone and it didn’t feel right ot stalk you so I didn’t reach out to you. When I saw you last night, Martin I couldn’t help but come here and talk to you. I still think about you almost every day. You were the one that got away.”
The anger had gone out of me, and I sat rocking in the chair while listening to Peter explain. “I’m glad you explained what happened. Mom and Dad told me you’d stopped by and that you told them your mom had a brain tumor, but it didn’t really make much sense. I did look it up and found the type she had. So yeah, it’s plausible. I’m happy she is OK,” I said.
“I know she’d like to see you… to apologize,” Peter said.
“Yeah, tumor or not, that ain’t going to happen, Peter. It took me a long time to get myself pulled together after you and your mom ripped me apart. I chalked it up to being too young to handle adult relationships, but I’m still having to learn to trust again because of all that.”
Peter sighed, and his longing was clearly a
pparent in his eyes. “We were both young, and I was stupid. Now that you know Mom’s reaction to you was medical and not personal, you still don’t think we could start again?”
I closed my eyes and rocked in the chair. I wanted to be able to put closure on this for myself, and now for Peter, too. When I opened my eyes, I leaned forward in the rocker and grabbed Peter’s hand in my own.
“Peter, I loved you. I guess part of me will always love you, but no, there is never going to be another us. That part of my life is over, and after you shut the door, my wounds finally began to heal. I never want to reopen it again, Peter. I don’t want to be in a relationship with you.”
I sighed, seeing the hurt and confusion in Peter’s face as I went on. “It’s good that your mom wasn’t just hateful ‘cause she didn’t like me, but that doesn’t change your reaction. No matter what we’d do to try to mend this relationship, I would always know that when push came to shove, you chose not to believe me.”
When Peter opened his mouth to argue, I put my hand up and added, “I know you should choose family first, but you chose her before you even knew what had happened. You assumed I, your fiancé, was lying before you had a chance to ask her if I wasn’t. You can’t change that. For me, that means no matter what, I’ll always be second best to you. The worst part is that I’d always be waiting for you to let me down again. Even if you swore you were different or that you’d changed. I can’t be my husband’s second, Peter. If I can’t be your primary person, then I can’t be your husband.”
I could see the light finally going off in Peter. Before I knew it, Peter had me in an embrace.
“I will always love you, too, Martin, and as much as it hurts to admit it, I can see you’re right. It’s time to move on.”
I nodded, trusting my emotions not to betray me. I watched Peter walk out to his car parked on the street, and then pull away. As soon as he was out of sight, the tears spilled over, and I sat back on the chair, pulled my knees up to my chest, and let them flow.
Love By Chance (Chance Series Book 1) Page 15
