Perfect Love Story

by Natasha Madison

  “Well,” I start but stop when he lifts his hand.

  “I’m not saying it’s a bad thing.” He shakes his head. “Trust me, it’s fucking great. I’m just surprised is all.”

  I nod, taking another sip of water, and walk to the kitchen table. Pulling out the chair and sitting down in front of him, I know I have to give him the truth. “I will be honest … when I got here, I was broken, empty, shallow. I felt like I wouldn’t be able to go on the next day. It was like I was the one who was dead. I was the one buried in a box with everything crashing down on me, crushing me. Every single time I took a breath, my chest hurt; my heart beat, but nothing else came out of it. It was beating to beat. But then I came into this broken-down house, and let me tell you, it was broken down. I thought Crystal was going to hightail it back home, but I went to the beach and I sat down on the cold sand, the waves crashing into the shore, and I felt as lost as the waves did. But then I felt something else even though at the time I didn’t know what. Now that I look back, I think I just felt at peace. So even if the house was in shambles, I knew this was where I wanted to be. It was where I had to be. So I moved in and the house was a disaster, but in a weekend, it was perfect.” I swallow. “And every day, I used to sleep maybe two, three hours tops, but I would wrap myself in a blanket and go outside, and I would watch the waves crash into the shore. I would think of all the little things Eric did to try to understand why.” I look down at my hands, thinking of how far I’ve come. “I would wonder what I could have done differently to be that person he needed. Or I would try to see if I missed any signs he had another woman. I mean seriously”—I laugh but the tears get me also—“how could I not know he was with another woman? How could I not see the lies that came out of his mouth? How could I not be that one person who made him complete?” I swallow as Blake squeezes my hands.

  “You were not the problem,” he tries, but I stop him.

  I nod my head. “Oh, I know that now, but I didn’t back then. I went through every memory and dissected it to see if I missed something. A clue, a word, something to see if it was in front of my face this whole time, but”—I shake my head as my thumb wipes away a tear in the corner—“but it wasn’t there. No matter what I did, I couldn’t see it then, and I couldn’t see it now. I loved him. I really did, with all my heart, but then I hated him.” I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “I hate him. I hate him more than I loved him. And I hate that I hate him; I hate that he did this to me. That he took what I thought was the love of my life and made me hate it. I hate that he took the love I gave him and made it into a lie.”

  “It wasn’t all like that. He did love you.” Blake reaches out, and I put one hand on top of his.

  “No, he didn’t because if he did, he would never have done what he did.” I shake my head. “He would never promise to love me till we grow old together when he already made those promises to someone else. When he already promised her more. Fuck, he had children with this woman.” I throw my hands up. “You see, he didn’t love me. He was just selfish. He didn’t love me; he loved himself.”

  “Hailey …” he says.

  “No,” I slam my hand on the table. “There are no words you can say that will make what he did okay. Nothing you can do or say will change my mind on that. There are no pictures you paint that will make it okay, but”—I inhale—“with all these memories and thoughts, I came to a conclusion. I deserve the fucking world. I deserve to have a man who will not only love me and only me but also won’t have to look elsewhere to be complete. That is what I deserve. I deserve to be put on top of the pedestal and kept there.”

  “You think that guy can do it?” Blake points at the door.

  I inhale and answer the loaded question as honestly as I can. “All I know is that I would never have to doubt Jensen. I know he calls me just because. I know when he has a shitty day, he talks to me about it instead of saying, ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’ I know he would never take off for work and not call at least once a day, and most of all, I know he would never lie to me. I haven’t known him that long, but I know in here”—I point at my chest—“that my heart trusts him. That what he says is what he means. And that means everything,” I tell him, and he nods at me.

  “There are some things I need to tell you.” He starts off, looking at me and then down at our hands. “Things that happened after you left that you should know.”

  I pull my hands away from him as I eye him, and he gets up and goes to my room as I watch him disappear and then come back out with a white envelope. “Now, I want you to hear me out before you say anything.” I look at him as he sets the envelope down in front of him, my eyes never leaving the bleak white envelope.

  “Eric left you a letter,” he says, and I gasp, my heart racing like a million horses running in a field. My hands fly to my lap, shielding itself from touching that white envelope. “A month after you left, Samantha showed up looking for you.”

  “What?” I whisper as my heart never does get back to a normal heartbeat.

  “She went by your old house because that is the address Elliot gave her.” He looks at me to see if he should continue or not. “The new owners gave her my name. She showed up at the firehouse.”

  “Why the fuck would she show up at my house?” I ask him, wondering what she was thinking.

  “She isn’t the evil one you think she is,” he says as she looks down and something glitches in his eyes. “She had no idea anything was happening. Or that he was leading a double life.”

  “I’m finally fucking happy, so why can’t he let me be fucking happy?” I say, pushing to get up from the table. “I don’t fucking want that letter. I don’t want to read it; I don’t want it in my house,” I say to the universe more than to Blake. “Better yet, I don’t fucking care.” I storm out the front door, slamming the door behind me. Angry I left my own house. Angry I let it get to me, but more so angry he has now tainted my table with his bullshit. I turn to walk to the back, down to the water, down to where I can find myself.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Jensen

  “Where are you?” Crystal asks me. I’m pulling up to the office when I answer my phone.

  “Just got to the office,” I answer, suddenly confused as to why she is calling me. “What’s the matter?” My body goes tight, and my blood goes cold.

  “I have no idea, but Blake just called me and asked me to give you a call. I don’t have the details,” she says as I start my car and make my way over to Hailey’s. “But she’s on the beach.” I toss my phone on the seat as I turn on her street and park in the driveway. Her brother’s sitting on the front porch swing.

  “What happened?” I ask him as I stand in front of the house.

  “She’s on the beach,” is all he says or all I hear because I’m running to the beach, running to her.

  I see her sitting in the middle of the beach, all alone, the wind blowing her hair as the water looks like its crashing on her. I walk down the steps to her. Instead of sitting beside her, I sit behind her. Resting my legs on the outside of hers, I lean my body over her, almost protecting her from the wind that howls around us. My hands go to my knees. I expect her to have her shield up and be stiff, but instead, she leans into me. “Hey there,” I say into her neck as I lean down and kiss her. Her sniffling indicates she’s been crying.

  “Why?” she whispers as she looks at the water, never turning to me. “Why can’t he let me be happy?”

  My hands form fists as I think about how it might not go over well to beat the shit out of her brother. “Hailey.”

  “No,” she shouts. “Trust me, these are not sad tears, these are angry tears. I finally fucking feeling like myself again.” She wipes her eyes and pushes her hair aside. “No, that is wrong. I feel better than I ever felt, and he somehow comes up with a way to kick me down,” she says as she wipes away another tear. “He was married, fucking married to someone else.” I wrap my hands around her, bringing her closer to me; her heart po

unding so fast under my hand I think it’s going to come out of her chest.

  “Hailey, breathe,” I tell her. “Just breathe.” I kiss her neck as she slowly starts to settle.

  “He left a fucking letter,” she says finally after her breathing evens out, and her heart rate returns to normal. “A white envelope and get this,” she says. “His wife, his real wife, not the other wife he kept on the side, the real true wife brought it to me.”

  I let her vent, hating Eric more than is humanly possible. More than even Julia, and I hated her right down to the pit of my stomach. “I didn’t read it.”

  “Do you want to read it?” I ask her as she turns in my arms to look at me. “No,” she says. “Not one piece of me needs those words in my life.”

  “Then don’t.” I kiss her lips, and then her tear stained cheeks. “You get to do this on your own time, when you want to. Not when he wants.”

  “Yes.” She leans into my shoulder, laying her head against it. “I’m going to do it on my time.”

  I nod my head. “When you want to.” I smile at her as she closes her eyes, and I hold her, thinking about that white envelope and wondering if things will still be the same between us when she opens it. I sit out there holding her while she processes whatever it is she needs to process.

  “Do you want to get pizza tonight?” she asks me. “We could grab Mila and eat it there.” She looks at me.

  “Yeah, you want to bring Blake?” I ask, knowing he won’t be visiting for long. No matter what she is going through, she still needs to spend time with him.

  “Yeah,” she answers as she gets on her knees, facing me. “I’m happy.” Her declaration makes me smile.

  “I’m happy too.” I grab her face and kiss her. She lets go to stand up and holds her hand out for me to take as she tries to pull me up. I laugh at her while she grunts. I finally stand up, linking our fingers together, and we walk back to her house. “I will see you soon.” I kiss her nose. “Call you when I get Mila.”

  “I’ll meet you there,” she tells me as she turns and walks up the stairs to the house.

  I pick up the phone and see I have about fifteen missed calls from Crystal, so I press her number. “What the fuck is wrong with you two? Why can’t you carry phones?”

  “Because they don’t want you to disturb them,” I hear Gabe in the background while Crystal hisses at him.

  “Mrs. Henderson is waiting for you to treat her hang nail. I’m assuming you can do that without a nurse,” she hisses. “What happened to Hailey?” she asks me.

  “I think it’s best for her to tell you.” I’m not going to break the trust I have with her. “I’m going to get Mila and then we are meeting for dinner at D’Amore.”

  “Oh, I want pizza. I’m coming too. What time?” she asks.

  “I have no idea. Probably around six.”

  “Perfect. I’m off by then, so save me a place.”

  “Me too,” Gabe yells from the background.

  “You aren’t invited.”

  “My cousin is going, so I can go to the restaurant if I want, Crys. It’s a public place.”

  “Whatever, but you aren’t sitting with us. Maybe you can meet another date?”

  “Oh my god, I dated her in fucking high school,” he counters.

  “Okay, are you guys done?” I ask the bickering duo.

  “I’m not talking to him. I’ll be there. See you at six,” she finally says then disconnects. I shake my head, thinking of the dysfunction that must be going on at that clinic.

  I pull up to the house, and when I walk in, I hear Mila giggle. “I’m home,” I yell, so she turns and runs to me.

  “Poppa.” She kisses my cheek. “We make cookies.”

  “Did you?” I ask her, smiling at Jessica.

  “We did, and I ate some cookie dough,” she whispers. “It’s a secret, so don’t say anything.” I laugh, setting her down to run back and finish the cookie she was eating before I walked in.

  “We are going to grab some pizza tonight,” I tell her as I grab the mail on the table. “Would you like that?”

  “Hmm.” She moans out between her bites of cookie.

  Jessica leaves right before six, at the same time as Mila and I make our way to D’Amore. I texted Hailey, telling her I would see her at six. She responded with a kiss emoji.

  As we finally walk into D’Amore, my eyes are scanning everyone when I see Hailey wave her hand at me. “Look, Hailey is here,” Mila says when we walk toward her.

  “Hey there, Princess Mila.” She smiles at her, and I nod to her brother, Blake, who is sitting in front of her. “Mila, this is my brother, Blake. Blake, this is the coolest four-year-old, Princess Mila.”

  Blake smiles at Mila. “Nice to meet you, your highness.” He bows his head as Mila laughs and asks for crayons.

  “I’m not driving you home. I hope you know.” I hear Crystal’s voice when she walks in. Looking around, she spots us.

  “You have to drive me home,” Gabe says while he follows her.

  “Hey there,” Crystal says, sitting down next to Mila and kissing her cheek. “Hello, Princess. Blake.”

  “What happened to you?” I ask Gabe when he pulls out the chair next to me and sits.

  “Someone sliced my brand-new tires again,” he says while he raises his hand to flag down the waitress. “Can I have two beers please?” he asks, then looks around the table. “Anyone else want anything?” Shrugging, he says, “That’s it.”

  “You ordered two beers?” I ask him, laughing.

  He puts his hands up. “I have two hands, and after the day I’ve had, I should have doubled that order.”

  Crystal picks up a menu and mumbles, “Maybe if you weren’t such an a-hole, people wouldn’t slice your tires.” Gabe doesn’t say anything; he just glares at her. I look at them and then turn my head to listen to Blake and Mila’s conversation. She’s asking him about fifty different questions about being a firefighter.

  “Do you run into the fire and save people?” she asks, wide-eyed.

  “Yup. Sometimes we have no choice,” he tells her. “Once I had to climb a tree to save a kitten.”

  Mila gasps. “Did you find the mommy?”

  Blake nods. “Yup and his brothers and sisters.”

  “I want a brother,” Mila says. I look over at Hailey to see how she is doing and find her eyes already looking at me. I smile at her and nod my head to the side.

  “I’m going to the bathroom,” I say, pushing my chair back.

  “I need to go also,” Hailey says, getting up.

  “Well, isn’t that convenient,” Gabe says as he downs one beer.

  I shove at his shoulder as I walk to the back where the bathrooms are. I look behind us and in front of us, then grab her hand and sneak us into the maintenance closet next to the bathroom. Her giggles fill the room while she squeezes into me.

  “Hello.” I pull her to me, kissing her lips. Her body molds to me.

  “Hello.” She kisses me lightly, then snakes her hands around me to pull me closer to her, my mouth taking hers.

  “It kills me to walk into a room and not be able to kiss you hello,” I tell her, kissing her cheek and then trailing kisses down her neck as she laughs at me.

  “We’d better get back out there,” she whispers.

  “Are you okay?” I ask her, looking into her eyes for the answer.

  “I’m good.” She smiles, and I see that she actually is fine. I grab her hand, then open the door, looking out to make sure no one is there when we walk out.

  “Oh, good,” Gabe says as we both sit down. “We ordered for you guys since you were in the ‘bathroom’.” He makes air quotes with his fingers, causing Blake to laugh. I smile at him and nod my head.

  “Did you see the house that just went on the market?” Gabe looks at me. My head nods, remembering the For Sale sign on Norma’s lawn. “Guess she got the point, right?”

  The meal runs smoothly till the bill comes and everyone fights for it, well, everyone but Gabe. He sits there glaring at Crystal, who returns the glare with a big smile.

  “Too late,” Gabe says. “I already paid the bill.” He gets up, looking at Crystal. “Let’s go.”

  This doesn’t bode well for her as she folds her hands over her chest. “I’m not driving you home.”

  Gabe shakes his head. “Let’s go.” Then he hisses out, “Please.”

  “Fine.” She throws her napkin on the table. “This is the last time.” She grabs her purse, saying bye to us as they walk out.

  “This was fun,” Blake says as his phone rings. When he looks down and sees the number, he excuses himself. “Hello.” We hear him answer and then he walks out.

  “Let’s go, Mila,” I tell her while she puts her crayons away, then jumps off her chair, coming over to my side to hold my hand.

  We walk out looking around for Blake who raises his hand still talking on the phone. “Do you want me to wait with you?” I ask her. She shakes her head, seeing Mila yawn.

  “No, go ahead,” she tells me. I lean in and kiss her cheek, waving goodbye to Blake as I pick Mila up and walk to my truck.

  Bedtime is fast since Mila is so tired. I’m in my room pulling my shirt off when I hear a faint knock on the back door. Walking to the door, I see it’s Hailey. “Hey there.” She comes in.

  “Hi, yourself.” I close the door, turning to look at her. “You snuck out?”

  She eyes me up and down. I’m not one to boast, but I work hard to make sure the dad bod is never a reality. She has never seen me without my shirt. “Blake crashed as soon as we walked in.” She walks closer to me, putting her hands on my stomach, making my body tremble from her cold hands. “I forgot to get a kiss good night,” she whispers, the heat in her eyes. I lick my lips as her face inches closer to me. “Kiss me,” she asks or maybe she demands—I don’t know because my hands fly to her hair. I grab it in my fist and tilt her head back, claiming her mouth with mine. As we groan into each other’s mouth, standing at the back door, I know that sooner rather than later I’m going to take her to bed.

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