Come Together

by Jessica Hawkins

  “What the hell, Olivia?” he hissed, bolting toward me from around his desk. He looked into the hallway, shut the door and leaned toward me. “Where’d you hear that?” he whispered.

  “Is it true?”

  He looked me up and down. For all his lack of expression, he wasn’t hard to read. He was frightened. “Whatever I did, it was to keep a criminal off the streets,” he said quietly. “I’ve never done it before, but you have to understand, Lou Alvarez deserved the maximum sentence.”

  “I know you’re an honest lawyer and that you must’ve had a good reason. But it’s still wrong.”

  “So what’re you saying? You’d rat me out?”

  “No. I don’t want to hurt you anymore. But if you go to the press to tarnish David’s name, I won’t hesitate.”

  His jaw set, and he cursed. “Throwing a drink in Dani’s face, blackmailing me. I don’t even feel like I know you anymore.”

  “I want you to drop the adultery charge. And I want the divorce in six months instead of two years.”

  “Why would I agree to that? So you can run off and marry him?”

  “No. I don’t want to drag this out. I want us all to move on.”

  “Move on? It’s only been weeks. Well, weeks for me, but I guess you’ve been planning this for a while.”

  “You know that’s not true. This is all new to me too.”

  “What’s messed up is that even with what you did, I could still get stuck paying alimony.”

  I sighed deeply. David’s love was doing something to me. In the little time we’d spent together, I was realizing his love was real and that I not only had it . . . I deserved it. It was a small bud blossoming inside me, but it was there. It made me realize that there was no victim, no villain here; Bill and I had both made mistakes, and we were bother suffering for them.

  “I’ve put you through a lot,” I said, “and I’m sorry. I really am. But I think one day you’ll see that this isn’t all my fault.”

  “I don’t think – ”

  “If you agree to the six months, I will waive the right to alimony. Not only that, but you can keep the car and everything you didn’t throw in those boxes. The only thing I want is what I contributed to the savings account.”

  “Are you crazy?” he asked. “Why would you do that?”

  “I have my reasons.”

  “He put you up to this?”

  “It’s my decision.”

  “Your share of the savings isn’t much. Not enough for legal fees or anything really.”

  “I know.”

  “So I get everything?” he asked warily.

  “Yes.”

  I read the pity in his eyes clearly. He was thinking that David would leave me with nothing. He knew, as a lawyer, the risk I was taking, and I’d figured he’d try to talk me out of it. But he didn’t.

  “All right,” he said slowly. “If I am completely exempt from alimony, I will agree to six months.”

  I nodded.

  “And I have one more condition.”

  “Okay,” I prompted.

  Hesitation crossed his face, but it was fleeting. “Beyond the divorce proceedings, you and I no longer have any contact whatsoever.”

  And just like that, in a matter of weeks, our relationship had come to its abrupt end. It had never occurred to me that Bill would one day be just a memory. Something that had happened but was no longer. And one day, these years with him would seem like so little time.

  I knew it was Bill’s anger speaking, but, regardless, he was right. I looked at him with sadness and regret; not for losing him but for the pain I’d caused him. I now knew that we were wrong for each other, but it didn’t change the fact that we had loved each other. And I didn’t want to hurt him anymore. For that, I knew the only way to make things right was to cut him free. So I said, “Agreed.”

  ~

  Everybody else had been in Florida since the day before, so they were settled by the time I arrived. Brian’s parents’ house was just outside Miami, a four-bedroom place on the water that comfortably fit the group of us. Brian showed me to a room upstairs. We had plans for a sunset dinner, so I dropped my things and changed into a navy shift dress and knee-high brown boots. I was curling my hair when someone knocked at the door.

  “Ready yet?” Gretchen asked, poking her head in.

  “Almost, but can you curl the back of my hair?”

  She assumed position behind me to fix the pieces I’d missed. “So,” she started, “I have something to tell you that you’re not going to like.”

  “Already?”

  “You know Greg is still close with your ex, Jordan.”

  “Of course, he introduced us freshman year.”

  “And you know Jordan lives in Miami.”

  My eyes cut to her in the mirror. “He didn’t invite him tonight,” I stated.

  She cringed. “I’m sorry.”

  “Gretchen!” I squealed. “David won’t like me having dinner with my ex-boyfriend.”

  “I know. I tried to tell Greg, but he’s like making up for lost time or something. He thinks us hanging out will be like ‘the good old days,’ which, by the way, is his favorite phrase and I swear if I hear it one more time, I’m going to strangle him.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

  “I just found out. He knew we’d make him cancel.”

  “Well, he can cancel now,” I said resolutely.

  “Jordan’s already on his way,” she informed me. “Sorry, girl. I won’t tell David if you won’t.”

  I scoffed. “You’re delusional if you think he won’t find out. He knows everything.”

  “Deal with it tomorrow?” she suggested.

  I rolled my eyes. “I guess. If I were still with Bill, I wouldn’t even think twice about it.”

  “Seriously. It’s been years,” she said. “So did you meet Brian’s new girlfriend or whatever?”

  “No, how is she?”

  “I haven’t met her either. We haven’t exactly been chumming it up, the group of us.”

  “Oh.”

  “Whoa. I’ve never seen these before,” she said, touching my new earrings.

  “A gift,” I replied giddily.

  “So let me get this straight . . . David is gorgeous, sexy, romantic . . . and he buys you expensive things? You must be a tiger in the sack.”

  I laughed. “I am.”

  “What’s wrong with him?”

  “Well, he can’t really cook,” I offered. “And he can be a little controlling.”

  “So I noticed. Is it something I should be worried about?”

  “No,” I said honestly. “I’ll take him being controlling when he makes me this sublimely happy.”

  She giggled. “Bitch.”

  “Greg made you that happy once. Doesn’t he still?”

  She set the curler down and plucked at my hair. “Sure. I think this weekend away will be good for us though.”

  “How come?”

  “You know how it is in the city. It gets stressful.”

  “Is everything all right?”

  “Yeah, of course. I’m finally getting what I wanted. All this time I never stopped thinking about him. So, yeah, I’m glad he came around.”

  “Good.”

  I grabbed my purse, and we went downstairs. Brian introduced us to his girlfriend, Kat, who squeaked like a mouse when I shook her hand.

  It was a temperate night and the restaurant was close, so we walked. The moment we entered, Greg yelled across the restaurant to Jordan, who was seated at the bar. I hadn’t given Greg a thorough lashing yet, mainly because I hadn’t had a chance.

  “Hey, you,” Jordan said when his eyes locked on me. He stood and wrapped me in a hug.

  “Hi, Jordan.” Jordan and I had dated my first two years of college. After he’d dumped me, we remained distant friends because of Greg. Even though it’d been seven or so years since then, I still got a few butterflies when I saw him because he was the first boy I’d
loved. He had dark blond hair and green eyes, solid and tall, but nowhere near David’s towering frame. He was good-looking, he’d always been, but he knew it in a bad way.

  “That’s new,” I said, glancing at the tattoo peeking out from his sleeve.

  “Yeah.” He placed his hand on my shoulder and guided me over to the table where everyone else was being seated. “You look great, Livvy,” he whispered as he pulled out my chair and then sat down next to me.

  “I don’t think we’ve met,” Brian quipped from the other end of the table.

  “Jordan,” Greg said as an explanation. “An old friend of ours from college.”

  “Aha,” Brian said. His eyes darted between Jordan and me, and an anxious look overcame his handsome face. “I didn’t know we had a sixth.”

  “Greg’s fault,” I said, shooting Greg a daggered look.

  We promptly ordered a few bottles of wine. As Brian lamented about the day’s poor surf conditions, Jordan leaned over to me. “Greg told me about Bill. Sorry to hear it,” he said, but he was smirking.

  “Are you?” I asked.

  He grabbed a bottle of white wine from the center of the table and poured me a glass. “You got me. Not really.”

  “Jordan,” I admonished.

  “No, I’m just messin’. Divorce is rough, babe. Or so I’ve heard.”

  “It is, but I have someone to help me through.”

  “Gretchen?” he asked, raising his eyebrows playfully.

  “No,” I replied. “My boyfriend.”

  “I’m glad Greg invited me tonight,” he said, ignoring my comment.

  “Why’s that?”

  “Just ‘cause. Haven’t seen you since graduation. We get to catch up.”

  I nodded but narrowed my eyes at him in warning.

  Since David and I were the reason the group had come together, I did my best to keep the conversation flowing. I wished several times that David were there because I missed him. Part of me believed if I wished hard enough, he would appear.

  Greg, Gretchen, Jordan and I reminisced about college, memories that came easier the more we drank. Whereas Gretchen and I got giddier as we drank, Greg and Jordan seemed to get more nostalgic. They grasped at a time in our past that was long gone.

  When Jordan left for the bathroom, Greg leaned over Gretchen’s lap to get my attention. “So?” he asked just above a whisper. “Jordan?”

  “Jordan what?” I retorted.

  “You guys seem to be getting along.”

  My eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

  “I’m just saying. How awesome would it be if you guys got back together now that you’re single again? It’d be like the good – ”

  “Don’t fucking say it,” Gretchen interrupted. “And what the hell are you even talking about? Liv isn’t single.”

  “You know what I mean. She’s no longer hitched.”

  I glanced at Brian, who was thankfully preoccupied with his date. “Did you set this up on purpose?” I asked Greg.

  “I just think it would be cool.”

  Gretchen grimaced. “You’re a dick.”

  He glanced at her. “Why, babe? I thought you’d be into it.” She just shook her head and looked at me apologetically. Greg leaned back into his seat, but not before he said to me, “Think about it.”

  The waiter arrived with our meals then, and as he distributed them, I studied Greg. We had been best friends in college. I’d enjoyed getting to know him again, but the bond we’d had in college didn’t seem to exist anymore. Gretchen was right: he was a dick. Maybe he always had been. Inviting Jordan with the assumption that he could lure me away from David made me mildly sick to my stomach.

  I noticed that Brian was watching him too. It struck me as odd the way he stared at him over his glass of wine, but I forked a bite of salmon and ignored it.

  “So, Jordan,” Gretchen said, “seeing anyone special these days?”

  “I see some special girls at this table right now,” he said, glancing at me. I bent my head and looked at my plate.

  “Well, hands off, chap, they’re all spoken for,” Brian joked, but his voice held an edge of warning.

  “I know, dude,” Jordan replied. “I’m messin’ around.” But he was giving me his best fuck-me eyes, and he had been all night. Flirtatious by nature, but not afraid to go for what he wanted; it was what had drawn me to him in the first place. I silently thanked the universe that I had David and wouldn’t have to make up an excuse to shake Jordan later.

  “So, is it serious with this new guy?” he asked me in a lowered voice.

  I nodded. “Yes. Very.”

  “And where, pray tell, is he tonight?”

  “New York for work. He gets here in the morning.”

  He winked. “I see.”

  I made a face and soon found myself at the opposite edge of my seat. Since Brian’s girlfriend was the only person I didn’t know at the table and Jordan was making me uncomfortable, I quickly asked her what she did for a living. Her voice was so soft that I could barely hear her response. I just nodded and took another bite since I wasn’t sure what to say.

  Gretchen leaned over to me a moment later and whispered, “What’s with her? She’s creepy.”

  I stifled a laugh. “She is not, Gretch. Maybe a little shy.”

  “He probably just keeps dummies around who’ll listen to him talk about himself.”

  “Be nice,” I scolded.

  “Do you think she’s cute?”

  “Yes. Why?”

  “She’s all right, I guess,” Gretchen said and then sat back in her seat.

  Brian was more pensive than I’d ever seen him. When I looked up, this time his eyes were on Gretchen. I wondered if, impossibly, he’d heard her, because he looked tense. His eyes quickly shifted to me, and he smiled. I smiled back. Regardless of Gretchen’s opinions, I liked Brian, and I could tell that he was watching out for me in David’s absence.

  “More wine?” Jordan asked, positioning the mouth of the bottle over my glass.

  “I shouldn’t.”

  “Come on.”

  “No, I think I’m good.”

  “Livvy,” he sang, the way he used to when he was trying to convince me of something.

  “Jordan,” I replied in the same voice, shaking my head.

  He put the bottle down. “Did I tell you how pretty you look?”

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked.

  “I was just thinking about us. You know. We have a long history.”

  “History, yes. Future, no.”

  He pouted animatedly. “Listen, babe, I’m not a kid anymore. I was stupid to let a girl like you get away. I’m happy to hear about Bill.”

  “How can you say that? That was my marriage.”

  “Because it gives me a second chance,” he said.

  “I have a boyfriend.”

  “Who’s in New York,” he pointed out.

  I stared at him a second and then burst out laughing.

  “What’s so funny?”

  It took me a moment to catch my breath. I wiped a tear from my eye. “What’s funny is that my boyfriend is ten times the man you ever were.”

  “Aw, Liv, come on.”

  I continued smiling. “Sorry, babe.”

  He leaned in further, and I once again slid to the edge of my seat. “Think about it. We make perfect sense. We were college sweethearts.”

  I shook my head. “Nope. There’s literally nothing you can say to convince me. I am totally and completely taken. I might as well be – ”

  “Olivia.”

  I whipped around at the endlessly deep voice. David was standing behind me with his arms crossed, and just his tone alone was enough to quiet the table. He wore an expensive suit and a hard gaze. “David? What are you doing here?”

  “Who’s this?” Jordan asked. He squared his shoulders as if he was sizing David up.

  “Boyfriend,” David bit out, glaring at him. “Who the fuck are you?” />
  “You came early,” I said as my shock melted into a big smile.

  “Who is this guy?” David responded.

  “Honey, this is Jordan Banks – ”

  “Jordan?” he clipped. His face reddened as his nostrils flared. “Ex-boyfriend Jordan?” His eyes cut across the table. “Brian?”

  “Sorry, mate,” Brian said. “I didn’t know until I got here, and they told me he was just a friend.”

  “Mate?” Gretchen uttered under her breath. “Is he Australian now?”

  “Olivia,” David commanded, crossing his arms tighter.

  I gulped. “Yes?”

  “Outside.”

  I nodded and pulled my napkin off my lap.

  “Liv?” Jordan asked. “Is there a problem?”

  “No,” David answered for me. “And I’d advise you to keep your mouth shut.”

  “Ten times,” I told Jordan, as I pushed my chair out. “I meant that.”

  He slumped in his seat as I left the quiet table behind. Outside, the evening was much warmer than Chicago, but I shivered anyway.

  “We’re apart a couple nights, and you’re having dinner with your ex-boyfriend?” he started in.

  “It’s not like that,” I said, rubbing my hands over my sleeved arms. “Greg has some twisted idea about recreating the past, and he invited him without telling anyone.”

  “You didn’t know he’d be here?”

  “No, baby. I swear. I’m totally uncomfortable with this. Trust me?”

  He pressed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and his index finger. “Yes. I trust you, and I trust this,” he said, motioning between us. “It’s everyone else I don’t trust. And I don’t like the way he was leaning on you.”

  I pursed my lips and remained quiet.

  He cocked his head. “What?”

  “You have no idea how happy I am to see you.”

  “Why aren’t you arguing with me?”

  “Because you’re right.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You’re right.” I meant to sound confident, but the words came out squeaky. “I was clear that I have a boyfriend, but he won’t back off.”

  His shoulders tensed. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  I put my hand on his forearm. “I’m telling you because I trust that you won’t explode. If you freak out every time I tell you something like that, I’m going to stop telling you.” I slid my hand up his bicep until he visibly relaxed. “It doesn’t matter to me. I see right through his garbage. He’s no threat to you. Nobody is.”