Hometown Girls: Reunion (Hometown Girls Series Book 2)

by Tressa Messenger

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  He smiled and brushed back a strand of hair that had fallen in her face. He brought her chin toward his and whispered in her lips, “I love you like that, bella. I can’t explain it. It’s so sudden, but I can’t stop it. I feel like my heart has known you all my life. ”

  She swallowed hard through the grit in her throat and whispered, breathlessly, knowing that it was true, “I do, too.”

  “The dinner!” he said quickly after a moment and rushed into the kitchen and opened the oven. “Sorry for ruining the moment, but I had put the food on while I went to pick you up and had completely forgotten about it.”

  She hated that the intimate moment was ruined, but she laughed despite herself and followed him into the kitchen. “Is it ruined, the dinner that is?”

  He cut open a piece of heavenly smelling meat, veal maybe, and inspected it before pushing it back in the oven. “No, but it is almost ready.” He stirred something red and creamy in a pot on the stove and brought the spoon back to let her try it. “This is my special sauce. Good, no?”

  She licked her lips enjoying the flavors. “Very. What's in it?”

  “Ahh, that, mi amore, is an old family secret. Maybe I will teach you one day.” He reached into a cupboard and pulled down two glasses and poured them each a glass of wine, the same red Merlot that he carried in the restaurant.

  “What should we drink to?” she asked.

  He thought about it for a minute then smiled. “How about new beginnings?”

  “I like it.”

  They clinked glasses, but Katie, who was infamous for her clumsiness, did it just a little too hard causing it to spill out over the top and soaked Eduardo's shirt. She threw a hand over her mouth in shock. “I'm so sorry.”

  He put his glass down on the counter and pulled his shirt away from his skin, then he decided to just take it off. Once unbuttoned he threw it on the counter. “It's not a big deal. I'm just sorry the wine got wasted,” he said with a smile which put her at ease.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah, don't feel bad, but you know, if you wanted to get me out of my shirt all you had to do was ask.”

  “Oh, well, I’ll have to remember that next time,” she said playfully.

  He laughed and grabbed a hand towel from a drawer and wiped his chest. She watched him as he did. The sight of his dark rippling body sent jolts of electricity through. Mindlessly, she reached out her hand and touched his abs, feeling the muscles bulge under her touch. She looked up and met his eyes, her mouth salivating with desire. He wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and pulled her to him. They kissed hungrily, their tongues fiercely exploring each other. He grabbed her by the hips and lifted her up and placed her on the island in front of him and for the next hour forgot all about dinner.

  They laid on the kitchen floor, sweaty and wrapped in each other’s arms, both seeming lost in the moment.

  “What do you think about moving to New York?” Eduardo finally asked.

  Katie turned her head to look at his face to see if he was being serious or not. “Would I get more nights like tonight?” she asked playfully.

  He kissed her forehead. “Of course, you could have all of me.” They laid silent for a few minutes before anyone spoke again. “So what do you think?”

  “Where would I live?”

  “Here,” he said matter of fact.

  She quickly looked back up at him. “Are you serious? It’s so soon.”

  He ran a hand up and down her arm causing goose bumps to flare under his touch. “I am very serious. I told you before, I love you, and after this week I can't imagine not seeing you every day.”

  “I love you, too,” Katie said and laid her head back down and hugged him tight. “I think we need to talk.”

  Twelve

  “Marissa, are you awake?” Becca asked from her bed.

  Marissa, who had been staring up at the ceiling in the darkened room, responded, “Yeah.”

  “Are you anxious about going home tomorrow?”

  “Yeah, I guess. Are you?”

  “Yeah, it's been fun, but I'm ready to be home. I miss my cat. And can you believe that they don't even have sweet tea here? I mean nowhere. Believe me, I looked.”

  Marissa chuckled, remembering feeling the same way when she moved to Pennsylvania. “Sorry, I forgot to warn you. It's a northern thing I guess because Pennsylvania didn't have any either, unsweetened or raspberry is all you’ll find.”

  “Phish, no sweet tea. Hey, what do you think they’re doing?” Becca asked.

  “Who?”

  “Katie and Eduardo, duh.”

  Marissa shrugged her shoulders. “Probably the same thing any of us would be doing.”

  “Hell, yeah, Eduardo is freaking hot.”

  “Yes, he is, but he's no Daniel.”

  Becca propped herself up on her elbow and looked at Marissa. “How does that make you feel?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Don't play dumb with me. I've always loved Katie and Jess, but you were the one I considered my best friend. You and I were the closest. That being said, I know you and I know that what she is doing is affecting you. Hell, it would me.”

  Marissa propped herself up on an elbow too and stared back at her. “Do I really have a say?”

  “You damn right, you do. You gave Katie everything and it nearly killed you. Somehow I'm the only one who ever seemed to notice that. Now, here she is, married to Daniel. They have a seemingly perfect life together, the life that should have been yours I should add, but now she is wanting out.”

  “She has every right to be happy, Bec.”

  “I completely agree. I am all for happiness, it's how I live my own life, but you need to start thinking about your own happiness for once. Be selfish. Be offended. Be pissed. You gave her everything and now she is just throwing it all away.”

  Marissa stared off, thinking about the past. “When I broke up with Daniel, I just knew in my heart that it was only going to be temporary. I wanted him to get it out of his system so that we could move on and go back to being us again. But then a few months passed and it didn't end. I lost him, but she was still my best friend. I did what I thought was right and I had to stand behind my decision.”

  “That's why you left, isn't it?”

  Marissa had never expected to tell anyone everything that led up to her deciding to leave, but she knew she could trust Becca. “That was partially the reason. The other part was Randy.”

  “Oh my gawd, I haven't thought about him in ages. Have you seen him since you've been back?”

  “Nope, and that's probably a good thing.”

  “What ever happened with you two? He was so freaking hot. Y’all were always together, then one day you just up and left. No good-bye or anything.”

  Flashes of the graduation party slammed into Marissa's mind. “He cheated on me at the graduation party.”

  “Shut up, he did not,” Becca said shocked.

  “Yep. I caught him with Tara Watson in one of the bedrooms.”

  “Wow, I'm shocked. Wasn't she a friend of yours?”

  “Yep, and that isn't even the worst part. I was already wasted by that point and once I saw them I got really wasted and ended up hooking up with someone else as well.”

  “You scuz, you never told me that!” Becca shouted and stared at Marissa wildly, loving the gossip. “Who was it?”

  Marissa sat up in her bed and stared at Becca and shrugged her shoulders. “No clue and it doesn’t matter, but it motivated me to get the hell out of dodge. That night, after I almost accidently killed myself, I confessed to my parents about the extent of my partying so they put me in a thirty day treatment facility far away from home. Once that was complete they let me stay there in that area for college.”

  Becca got up from her bed and sat down beside Marissa and grabbed her hand. “Are you serious, you went to rehab?”

  Marissa stared down at their intertwined hands and
shook her head “yes” unable to speak.

  “Wow, for what?”

  “What substance?” Marissa asked.

  Becca silently shook her head “yes”.

  “Well, at first it was just alcohol and pot, then came ecstasy and random pills, and by the end I had myself a nice cocaine habit. It was awful.”

  “Maris, I knew you started to party a lot, and I got worried about you a few times, but you always seemed to bounce back, so I let it go. I didn't know it was that bad. I would have done something to help if I knew.”

  “No one knew. Who could I talk to?”

  “Me! You could have talked to me.”

  “As crazy as it may sound, I didn’t know I had a problem until that night. Besides, I didn't know if I could trust you to not tell.” Marissa wiped away tears that had fallen at some point and tried to laugh it off. “It doesn't matter now. I got through it with little damage. It's life, you know?”

  “Yeah, but it doesn't have to be. You know, if Katie chooses Eduardo, Daniel will be free for the picking.”

  Marissa looked up at Becca. “He's Katie's husband. I could never do that.”

  “Bulllshit! You can and you better. It may not have happened during the time you thought it would, but if you get your chance again, you better take it. Like I said before, be selfish for once.”

  Marissa looked away from her, wondering if it would ever be possible.

  ***

  The following morning, while Marissa and Becca were packing up the rest of their stuff they heard a knock at the door. They looked at each other then both walked to the door to find Jess and Katie standing in the hallway.

  “Hey, good morning. Come on in,” Becca told them.

  Marissa quietly studied Katie. She knew she stayed the night with Eduardo, but she looked like she got back to the hotel early this morning to shower and change clothes. She seemed quiet though, almost scared and that concerned Marissa. “Is everything all right, Katie?”

  Katie jumped at the sound of her name. “What? Oh yeah, great.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Katie looked up at Marissa and tears formed in her eyes. She sat down on one of the beds and wept in her hands. All three girls looked at one another, each confused at what was wrong. Jess sat on the bed beside her and rubbed her back.

  “I don't want to leave,” Katie blurted out through sobs. “He asked me to stay. Even after I told him everything.”

  “Oh my god, what did he say?” Becca asked, her eyes lighting up.

  “He was pretty mad, but we talked about it. He still wants me to stay.”

  “What are you going to do?” Jess asked, still rubbing her back.

  “I didn't answer him. I don't know what to do.”

  “What do you want to do?”

  “I want to stay, but god, what about Daniel and the kids? I can't just leave my whole life behind. Can I?”

  “Yes, actually you can,” Becca said, speaking up. “You already said that you’re unhappy and you feel like it isn't even your life and you're right, it isn't, and honestly it never was.”

  Marissa looked at Becca, shocked. No one ever knew just how badly she felt all those years ago, if they did, they didn't say anything. Becca was the first person she had ever talked to about it and it made her proud that someone was finally standing up for her.

  “You're right,” Katie said quietly.

  Marissa looked back at Katie and Katie stared right back at her.

  “She's right. It was never my life in the first place. You and I kind of switched places during our senior year of high school and then life happened. Honestly, had I not gotten pregnant I probably wouldn't have married him or even stayed in the area.”

  “Then why did you?” Marissa asked. She had never spoken about how she felt all those years ago. She didn't think she had a right to, but dammit, Becca was right, she should be mad and offended. “You knew how I felt about him. I loved him more than anything.”

  Katie looked her square in the eye, shocked from what she was hearing. “No one forced you to break up with him. You did it all on your own. I told you I wasn’t going to act on it, but you insisted. It's not fair that you have blamed me all this time for something you did.”

  “You know what, you're right! I didn't have to do it,” Marissa shouted, anger for the past twenty-one years boiling to the surface. “I could have been selfish and stayed with him, knowing you two were developing feelings for each other. I could have been the shitty friend and not cared about your feelings and cut you out of my life for your betrayal. But that isn't me. It never has been. Instead, I gave you two the chance you both so obviously desperately wanted so that you two could find out if you guys could have a life together. I sure as hell didn’t expect it to last. Did either of you even give a shit about how I felt or what I wanted? No! And no one expected me to say anything or act any differently because we were all such great friends, and I didn’t. I put myself through hell for that decision and kept it bottled inside and it nearly killed me. And I promise, had I not moved away it would have. So don't sit here and tell me what's fair!” Marissa stormed off and slammed the bathroom door.

  * * *

  “Well, that's just great!” Katie yelled.

  “Oh, shut up, Katie. She has every right to feel that way and you know it. She has been nothing but selfless to you through this whole thing,” Becca said, then walked away as well, to stare out the window.

  Katie had never really thought about it much. Daniel was her first boyfriend, she didn't know to act a certain way. But they were both right. Katie was a terrible friend to Marissa, then and now. It just sucked that it took so long to realize it. She took a deep breath and got up from the bed and walked up to the closed bathroom door. “Marissa, can I come in?”

  Silence.

  “Come on, Marissa, I want to talk to you.”

  “Come in then. It isn't locked.”

  Katie slowly opened the door and peeked inside the bathroom, half expecting Marissa to come barreling toward her to rub soap in her eyes, but instead she was sitting on the toilet, crying. She closed the door behind her and sat down on the edge of the bath tub. She remained like that, silently thinking about what to say, but the only thing that would come to her mind was, “I'm sorry.”

  “It's too late for that now, isn't it?”

  Katie thought about that for a minute. “No, not really. If I’ve learned anything from this week, it’s it is never too late for anything. You were right. You were selfless and a great friend for doing what you did and I really appreciate that. I'm sorry we, I, hurt you. You didn't deserve that. But we were young and honestly, as much as an excuse it may sound like, I didn’t know any better. I'm also sorry that this week has been so hard for you too. I didn’t realize it at the time. I know you feel like you made this huge sacrifice for me and now I'm just throwing it all away like it was nothing for some meaningless fling. But I'm not. I love Eduardo. I do. I've loved him for a long time, long before this week, but I was too afraid to admit it. I think you coming back has forced me to think about things that I swept under the rug because they were too messy to deal with. Things like my lack of love for Daniel and the life we have.”

  “Are you going to stay here?” Marissa whispered.

  “With all my heart I want to.”

  “What about Daniel and the kids?”

  Katie shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I mean, my kids are old enough now, Mattie will be leaving for college soon, and then it’ll just be me and Daniel.” Katie sat quietly for a minute before continuing. “Maybe this is finally your chance.”

  Marissa wiped her wet face and looked up into her eyes. “What are you talking about?”

  Katie sighed and shrugged her shoulders again. “Becca was right. He was never mine in the first place. I was just holding your spot for a while. I’m just sorry it has taken me so long to come to terms with that.”

  “But, Katie, you are my friend and he is your husband. On top of
that, how am I supposed to talk him into choosing me when he is married and has children with you? We both know he’s never been the type to betray that.”

  Katie was quiet for another minute, then smiled. “Do you remember what you told me when you broke up with him?”

  Marissa took a moment, then shook her head “No”.

  “I had asked you the same thing you just asked me, how I was supposed to make him choose me over you. You told me to tell him that you loved us both very much, more than anything else in the world, but we needed this chance to figure out what we could have together. You told me not to screw up because he was special and you would be waiting for your chance to come back around once all this nonsense was over.”

  * * *

  Marissa nodded her head and whispered, “I remember now.” Everything happened so quickly at that time, but hearing the words now, made the details of that day flood in and constrict her heart.

  “I told him what you said, word for word. So now, I’m telling you to do the same thing. Go up to him and tell him that it is your chance again. Tell him that I love y’all both very much, more than anything else in the world, but you need this chance to figure out what you could have together. It may take a minute, but he'll get it, and if he refuses or feels guilty, tell him I said he has my blessing.” Tears began to swell in Katie’s eyes. “I love you, Maris, and I want us both to finally be happy, we deserve it. We only have this one life to live, you know, and it is up to us to live it and make our own selves happy and I’m ready for it. It took a long time to figure it out, but this is what I want, for both of us.” With that Katie got up and left Marissa in the bathroom with a million things running through her mind.

  Thirteen

  Once the girls got back home, minus Katie, life went back to normal, well almost normal. Marissa spent the first few days in her room at the B&B or taking long walks around the Oriental waterfront enjoying the rest of her free time before work began, or more like hiding while trying to clear her mind. She had longed for the moment to be with Daniel again for so long and now that the moment had finally come, she felt paralyzed with fear. The thought that he didn’t want her back was crippling and she feared the downward spiral she experienced the last time he crushed her heart.