by Erica Lee
Stacy stepped forward and ran a finger along my cheek. The sensation made me shudder, but not in a good way. “Baby, I miss you,” she sighed. “I made a mistake. Please come home to me.”
I blinked a few times, trying to take in the words she was saying to me. Guilt pulsed through me as I thought about the fact that I was going to have to now break her heart.
Luckily, Stacy eased that guilt when she decided to elaborate on her feelings. “I guess I didn’t realize everything you do for me. There’s no way I’m going to find someone else who puts that much effort into me.”
I narrowed my eyebrows at her, as I moved my face away from her lingering hand. “You don’t miss me. You miss having someone waiting on you hand and foot.”
“Yeah, so,” Stacy said nonchalantly, as if it was no big deal. “What difference does it make why I want you back? I’m offering to take you back. You should be ecstatic right now.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but Stacy cut me off. “Unless, of course, there’s someone else,” she laughed. Her laughter stopped as I looked at the ground instead of responding. “Wait. There really is someone else. Well, don’t you move on quickly?”
“Quite the opposite actually,” I sighed. “Being home made me realize that I never got over my ex. I’m still in love with her. I’m really sorry Stacy.”
To my surprise, Stacy started to laugh in return. “Oh sweetheart. I’m not concerned with some little blip like your ex. Do you think I never did any research into the infamous Alexis who broke your heart? It’s cute that you two have been playing house during your little getaway, but I know you could never choose her over me. That would be like choosing Target over Gucci.”
When I didn’t immediately respond, Stacy leaned closer to whisper into my ear. “Plus, I may have learned a few more tricks for the bedroom over the past few weeks,” she purred. Before I could comprehend what was happening, she was turning her face toward me and kissing me hard right on the lips. As soon as the initial shock wore off, I immediately pushed her off of me.
“What is wrong with you?!” I shouted. My anger caused Stacy to take a step back and she somehow looked genuinely confused. “Stacy, I would choose Alexis over you a million times over. She’s sweet and caring and she actually treats me like a human being. These past few weeks were eye opening for me Stacy. I can finally see that you never treated me right. You calling off our wedding was probably the nicest thing you’ve ever done for me.”
Stacy’s face twisted into a grimace. “You’re going to regret this. You are an average girl from a small little cowtown who was never going to make it in New York City. You were lucky to be with someone like me.”
Her words may have hurt if my blood wasn’t still boiling over what she said about Alexis. “Stacy, you need to go now,” I demanded, while pointing to the door.
Luckily, she walked out without saying another word and I sighed in relief. I prayed to God that it would be the last time I ever saw Stacy Nielsen.
Chapter 17: Alexis
I looked at the time displayed on my car radio as I drove toward Taylor’s house. I knew she would probably be annoyed that I was going to get there so much earlier than she asked me to, but I couldn’t help myself. Tonight was an important night. I was going to ask her to stay with me, so we could build a future together. I was prepared to beg and plea if I had to and if I wasn’t able to convince her to stay, I was going to make any sacrifice necessary to stay together, even if it involved giving up the farm.
I pulled into the bottom of Taylor’s long driveway and was surprised when I saw a car I didn’t recognize donning a New York City license plate. Disappointment hit me when I realized that one of Taylor’s friends from New York might have shown up for a surprise visit. It seemed strange that someone would do that just a few days before Christmas though. I climbed the driveway, then followed the path of the sidewalk toward the front door. When I got close, I noticed the door was open and when I was close enough to see inside, I caught a sight that stopped me in my tracks. Stacy Nielsen was standing right inside the door. Of course I had stalked her once after Mr. Bradley let her name slip in front of me and I would have recognized that long, skinny frame and blonde hair anywhere. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Stacy was smiling seductively as she leaned forward to whisper into Taylor’s ear. I couldn’t make myself tear my eyes away until I saw Stacy’s lips connect with Taylor’s. I immediately looked away and started to run back toward my car, as the tears streamed down my face.
So many questions circulated through my head. How could Taylor do that? Why would Taylor do that? I sat in my car and took a few calming breaths. Maybe I was overreacting. It might not have been what it looked like.
Before I could give it anymore thought, I saw Stacy storming away from the house toward her car. When she noticed me, her scowl turned into a devilish grin and she started walking toward me. Great.
She leaned against my car and smiled down at me. “Poor little Alexis,” she mocked. “When are you going to realize that Taylor will always choose New York over you? No matter how hard you try, life here with you will never be as exciting as a life in New York with me.”
With those words, she turned around and headed toward her own car. Within minutes, she was long gone. I sat in my car trying to decide what I was supposed to do next. Luckily, the part of Taylor’s driveway that I was parked in couldn’t be seen from her house so I had time to think without her noticing I was there. A whole half hour had passed before I finally decided what I needed to do. No matter how much she may have wanted to, Taylor clearly couldn’t let go of her life in New York. I guess, in the end, being able to escape from the pain this town had brought her growing up was more important than anything else. If she had made her decision, I knew I couldn’t hold her back. I also knew that I couldn’t bare to hear those words leave her lips so I needed to say them for her.
I took a deep breath before knocking on her door. Within seconds, Taylor swung the door open and pulled me into her arms. “I’m so happy to see you,” she whispered, while breathing me in.
It seemed like a strange reaction from someone who had just been kissing another girl not too long ago. I guess guilt did strange things to a person though.
“We need to talk,” she said as soon as she pulled back.
“We do,” I agreed. Before she could say anything, I continued. “I don’t think we should see each other anymore. It’s obvious that New York is where you belong and prolonging this any longer is just going to make it that much harder.”
“Oh,” Taylor stuttered, sounding surprised. “I mean, yeah. You’re right. That sounds like a good plan.”
The look in her eyes didn’t seem to match the words coming out of her mouth, but I decided not to think into them as I turned to walk out of the door and out of Taylor’s life forever.
Chapter 18: Taylor
I threw myself down onto the nearest chair, trying to figure out what had just happened. I had thought today was going to be the day that Alexis and I finally got our happily ever after, but it had taken a much different turn than I expected. I just assumed that if I wanted to stay, Alexis would want to be with me. In reality though, I guess we had never talked about that. Apparently, she didn’t want anything long term. Granted, I didn’t actually ask her, but she had said that I belonged in New York. Why would she say that if she wanted me to stay here with her? I agreed with her because I knew she would feel guilty if she knew just how strongly I felt about her. I’m sure it wasn’t her intention to make me fall so hard. Fighting her on it would have just made the whole situation harder on both of us.
I started to pack up my things, planning on making a run for it just like last time, but then I remembered my dad who had come up with an excuse to leave for the night to give Alexis and I alone time. I knew I couldn’t just disappear from his life again, so I dropped my bag and curled myself into a ball on my bed instead.
The next day, I finished packing and waited for my dad to get ho
me. His face lit up as soon as I met him in the kitchen and it broke my heart.
“I’m heading back to New York,” I tried to state as matter-of-factly as possible.
“Oh,” he returned as his sad eyes traveled to the bag in my hand.
“It’s not going to be like last time dad, I promise. I just need to get out of here. I still want to spend Christmas with you though. Would you consider coming up to New York for Christmas?”
My dad walked over to me and squeezed my shoulder. “Of course I will sweetheart.” He tried to smile, but I could tell it was strained. His eyes searched mine like he was trying to figure out just what he should be saying in this situation. I started to turn around, but he gripped my shoulder firmly. “Honey, what happened? Please tell me.”
I told myself I wasn’t going to cry in front of my dad, but just like that, my lips started to quiver and my body to shake. I fell into my dad’s arms just as the tears started to rapidly fall from my eyes. “She doesn’t want me daddy,” I cried into his shirt. He continued to hold me for a few minutes and I didn’t want him to let go. I felt safe in his strong arms. But finally, I did force myself to pull back.
My dad rubbed at the stubble on his chin. “Do you mean Alexis? I know that I’m not an expert at love, especially young love, and I don’t mean to doubt you, but that girl absolutely adores you. There is no way that she doesn’t want you sweetheart. I watched her struggle for years after you left last time.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe that’s why she doesn’t want me. Maybe I just hurt her too much the last time and she doesn’t want to risk it again. It’s not worth thinking about though. She told me that she wants me to leave. There’s nothing I can do.”
My dad nodded in response, but I could tell he was unsure. “Do whatever you need to sweetheart. You know I’ll support you no matter what.”
I thanked him and gave him another long hug, before heading out to my car. Once I was driving, I called josh to tell him that I would be staying with him for awhile. He gave me the address to his parent’s house and asked me to meet him there.
The next two days were a blur and, no matter what Josh did to try to cheer me up, he couldn’t snap me out of my sad stupor. When the morning of Christmas Eve came, all I wanted to do was sleep away the holiday, but I knew I should get up and spend some time with Josh’s family, before heading to the train station to pick up my dad.
Chapter 19: Alexis
I was awoken on the morning of Christmas Eve to the sound of my phone ringing. I tried to ignore it, but as soon as the phone would stop ringing, the person would immediately call back. I groaned to myself. I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I just wanted to lay in bed all day and forget how close I had been to having the greatest thing ever back in my life again.
When the phone started to ring for the fourth time, I reached over and plucked it off of my nightstand. When I looked down, I was surprised to see it was a number I didn’t recognize calling. I decided to pick it up anyway, mostly because it would get the ringing to stop, but I also figured if it was a spammer, I could just let them have it. It would feel good to let my feelings out on someone, even if it was a random stranger just trying to do their job.
Before I could even say hello, a voice on the other end of the phone shouted at me. “Oh, thank God you picked up. I can’t take it anymore. Taylor is falling apart and there is nothing I can do about it. I need to know why you don’t want her. If I’m going to pick up the pieces of her broken heart, I need to know the whole story.”
“Who is this?” I asked, as the words from the guy on the other end of the phone swirled around in my head.
“Oh, sorry,” he said, calming only a minuscule amount. “This is Josh, Taylor’s friend from college. We met a few times when you came up to visit. Do you remember me?”
“Of course I remember you Josh,” and I did. He was the kind of person that was unforgettable after meeting him just once.
“Perfect. Now tell me why you don’t want my amazing best friend.”
“I do want her,” I admitted sadly. “But she wants Stacy.”
Josh cackled on the other end of the phone. “Seriously Alexis? She never wanted Stacy. That was like the world’s longest, most committed rebound ever.”
“But I saw them kiss,” I quietly insisted.
Josh scoffed. “Are you some dense character from a hallmark movie? Did you ever think to stick around and see what happened next? Or, I don’t know, maybe ask Taylor about it.”
“No,” I answered softly, starting to feel embarrassed.
“Well, let me fill you in,” Josh said sarcastically. “Taylor pushed Stacy away, told her she was madly in love with you, and then demanded that she leave immediately. She was planning on telling you that she wasn’t coming back to New York, before you burst in and broke her heart.”
“She’s in love with me?” I asked, like an idiot.
Josh groaned into the phone. “Of course she is. I don’t understand how you didn’t know that.”
“I’m such an idiot,” I moaned.
“You are,” Josh agreed smugly. “But so is my bestie so you guys are just swell together.”
When I didn’t answer, Josh cleared his throat to get my attention. “So, did you want to talk to her? I can wake her up.”
“No,” I answered quickly. Before he could inevitably yell at me again, I added, “I’m coming to New York.”
I hung up the phone and rushed around my house, cursing myself for being such an idiot. When I ran out the front door so I could quickly take care of the animals, I crashed right into Mr. Bradley.
“Oh. Um. Hi. I’m..” I stumbled over my words, unsure how to tell him that I was an idiot who had accidentally broken his daughter’s heart and was now on a mission to put it back together.
Mr. Bradley just smiled at me and reached for something in his back pocket. When he held it up, I saw that it was a train ticket to New York. “Take it,” he demanded. “Bring our girl back home.”
I gave him a tight hug before rushing away. I had a lot to do if I was going to win my girl back in just a few hours.
Chapter 20: Taylor
When I finally pulled myself out of bed around noon on Christmas Eve, I found Josh sitting in his parent’s kitchen, intensely focused on something on his phone. When he heard me enter, he looked up at me with a strangely big smile on his face. It was one of those smiles that made me want to strangle him for being so happy when my heart had been shattered into a thousand different pieces.
“Cheer up little bestie,” he crooned. “I have a feeling this will be a great Christmas Eve. Your...dad will be here in just a few hours.”
I grunted in response. I wasn’t sure why Josh would be so excited to see my dad. I think he had only met him once before and the two had found virtually nothing to talk about. Josh immediately went back to typing rapidly on his phone and grinning like a little school boy.
“Are you back on one of those online dating sites?” I asked, while trying to sneak a peak over his shoulder.
He quickly pulled the phone away from me. “Absolutely not.” He was clearly lying. I’m not sure why he would though.
After we had eaten lunch and done the dishes, I looked at the time. It was almost 2:00 and my dad’s train was set to get in at four. Since Josh lived about an hour from the train station, I knew I had to leave soon. “We need to get ready quickly, so we aren’t late getting my dad at the train station,” I announced.
“No, I need to get ready quickly. I’m going to go pick him up by myself.” He scrunched his nose at me. “You need to take a nice long shower and do something about all of this.” He waved his hands toward me while he spoke.
I looked down at myself. I guess I had let myself go over the past few days. But what did it matter at this point? It’s not like my dad cared and I’m sure Josh’s parents had come to expect it over the past two days. When I looked back at Josh, he gave me a look that said he wasn’t going to take no for an a
nswer, so I just grumbled and headed to the bathroom to shower.
I was starting to worry when 6:00 rolled around and Josh and my dad hadn’t arrived back or contacted me yet. Josh’s parents were at an early Christmas Eve service so I was at the house by myself and had plenty of time to think about all of the horrible things that may have happened. Suddenly, I heard something outside, but it didn’t sound like a car. The sound was strangely similar to the sound of horse hooves hitting the ground. I willed myself not to let the sound bring back the memories of the two carriage rides I had shared with Alexis. I closed my eyes somehow hoping that would stop the mystery sound from ringing in my ears, but instead of going away, the sound got louder. I looked out the front window to see a horse drawn carriage, that was driven by none other than some offbeat Santa Claus, pulling into Josh’s driveway. What the hell was Josh up to now?
I wasn’t particularly interested in finding out, but figured I didn’t really have much of a choice. I threw on a coat and walked outside. “Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas,” the dollar store santa shouted at me. When I looked from him over to the carriage, I realized there was someone else standing there, but it wasn’t Josh or my dad.
“What are you doing here?” I cried out, while rapidly blinking my eyes to see if it was really Alexis standing in front of me.
She moved closer and placed her hand on my arm. “I figured if I was going to make a spectacle of myself, I might as well make it worthwhile,” she laughed.
Instinctively, I pulled her into my arms and we stayed like this for a long time. After a few minutes, I realized that Alexis had started to cry, so I pulled back to look into her eyes.
“Taylor, I’m so so sorry,” Alexis wept. “I didn’t mean any of that stuff I said on Saturday night. I love you so much and I just want to be with you. It was all a big misunderstanding..”
“Wait, what did you say?” I interrupted.
