The One Left Behind (The One Series)

by Lena Nicole

  “What do you mean?”

  “You look so out of it, like you’re in another world. What is going through that mind of yours?” Her eyebrows are creased together as she’s clutching at the necklace that hangs around her neck.

  Looks like now is as good a time as any. I take a deep breath and blurt it out hoping the faster I say it the less it’ll hurt, “Addison got engaged to that Pierce guy.” I say it in a monotone voice hoping to hide the underlying hurt I feel at having to say those words.

  My mom literally gasps. Whatever she was expecting me to say, I’m sure that was not it. Dad pulls his paper down and looks at me from over the rim of his glasses.

  Mom finally composes herself and says, “Are you sure? I mean it could be just a rumor.”

  “No, Mom, it’s not a rumor. Pierce actually came to my office to tell me he planned to do it. He said he wanted to give me the heads up out of respect. Anyways, Addison text messaged Morgan a picture of the ring while I was over at Jeremy’s hanging out with them.” I look away from Mom because sympathy is starting to cloud her face and I really don’t want to see it right now.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry. I know this must be hard for you.” She leans down to give me a comforting hug. I hug her back and gently push her away so I can talk to her.

  “It’s okay, Mom. Really. I’m obviously not thrilled with the news, but I’m learning to deal with it. At this point I’m just trying to move on. This might have been the closure I needed. Now, at least I’m not waiting around forever hoping her memory comes back. Maybe I’ll find happiness again eventually.” I give her hand a reassuring pat hoping to convince her, as well as myself, that everything will be okay.

  “Colin, that is a great way to look at this. I’m proud of you for being a mature adult about it instead of feeling sorry for yourself,” my dad decides to put in his two cents. If he only knew the stupid things I did to numb the pain and the fact that I did nothing but feel sorry for myself, he wouldn’t be saying that right now.

  Mom gives me another pat on the back before she returns to the kitchen. I gladly take a sip of the tea she gave me to relieve the dryness of my throat.

  “Thanks, Dad. Anyway, enough of this depressing stuff. How have you guys been?”

  “Oh, you know your mother. She always wants to run around and try this new thing and that new thing. I just want to relax and watch some football. That woman runs me ragged.”

  “I can hear you!” Mom yells from the kitchen. They make me laugh. They’ve been like this ever since I can remember.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, honey. I was just telling our son how much I’m enjoying the retirement life now that I get to spend every waking moment with the love of my life.” My dad is being a smart ass and I’m sure it’s not lost on my mother.

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m sure that’s exactly what you said. But guess what? You’re not getting any pie tonight.”

  This is how the rest of the night continues. My dad pretends to think my mom’s nagging is annoying and my mom pretends to punish him with lack of treats. It feels good to be home. I should have come back sooner because I really needed this.

  We eat a late dinner, hang out for a while longer and then I go off to bed. It’s been a draining week for me and I need some rest.

  The next morning I wake up to the smell of bacon and eggs. I was looking forward to this. Every Christmas, Mom gets up really early to make us breakfast before she starts the turkey and everything else she makes for dinner. This ends up being like a second Thanksgiving for us and you won’t find me complaining about it. My mom is an excellent cook.

  After breakfast we all exchange gifts. It’s a quiet Christmas since my sister is spending the holidays with her husband’s family this year. I bought my parents tickets to see Paul McCartney in concert. My mom squealed like a teenage girl. I’ve never seen her like that. Dad, not being the overly emotional type, only smiled and said thank you. They were huge Beatles fans back in the day and Mom never got to see them in concert and said that was one thing she always regretted. She listens to Paul McCartney a little now, but it’s the closest thing I could get her to an actual Beatles concert short of a cover band. Either way, she seemed to like it and that made me happy.

  I really didn’t need or want anything for Christmas this year since I pretty much have everything. Except my girl. Mom and Dad got me a really nice leather briefcase for work with my initials carved into the gold name tag. It is really thoughtful and I’ll get a lot of good use out of it.

  Christmas is pretty uneventful and quiet. We eat all day and just hung out. I planned on leaving tonight, but decide to stay the night and leave in the morning. As I am preparing for bed my phone buzzes with a message. I’m not sure who it is since I already talked to Jeremy who was surprisingly MIA by the way. I’m not sure what he is up to, but he normally spends Christmas with us. Again, I need to find out what he’s hiding. I pick up my phone and am completely surprised by the name I see flash across the screen. I slide my thumb across it to open the message.

  Addison: Hey, Colin. I hope you’re having a nice Christmas with your family. I just wanted to say hi and wish you a Merry Christmas.

  That was nice of her. I wanted to text or call her earlier, but thought it might be inappropriate given the circumstances.

  Me: Thank you. We had a nice, quiet evening. I hope you had a good Christmas as well. Do you want to get together soon? I got you a small gift and would like to give it to you. Feel free to decline if you want to.

  Addison: No, that sounds great. Just let me know what works for you and where.

  Me: I don’t want to intrude on your time with your family, so do you want to get together this weekend? Maybe meet at Cup of Joes?

  Addison: Sure, would Friday morning work for you?

  Me: Yep. 10:00?

  Addison: See you there.

  I almost feel relieved. I got her something small which was hard to do. What do you give the person who used to be your fiancé, doesn’t remember ever meeting you, and now is engaged to a new man? Yeah, it stumped me too. Plus, I want to congratulate her on the engagement. I want her to know that she doesn’t have to hide it from me and that I can handle it.

  The next morning I’m waiting patiently at the coffee shop for Addison. I’m a little nervous to give her this gift since I’m not sure she’ll like it. She walks through the door a minute later and she’s beaming. She’s so happy and it almost breaks my heart.

  I greet her with a hello that she returns with a small smile. We talk about our Christmas with our families. Mine was quiet, which she already knew, hers was not. Hers and Pierce’s families got together to celebrate. She didn’t say, but I’m assuming to also talk about the engagement and to celebrate that as well. I’ve been trying to spot the ring, but I notice she’s been keeping her hands in her lap. I don’t know if she’s doing it on purpose because she’s afraid it’ll upset me, or if she just has her hands in her lap just because.

  “Well, I got you a little something,” I tell her. I hand her a small box and she opens it up. I rub the back of my neck as she pulls out a round, silver locket on a silver chain.

  “Thank you, Colin.”

  “Open it up.” Inside is a picture she took of the sunset right behind her condo. It was always one of her favorite pictures. I had it scaled down to size and figured it was better for her to have than me since she was so fond of it. I know how much she loves sunsets.

  “Oh my gosh, it’s beautiful. I love sunsets.”

  “I know. You actually took that picture. You always said you weren’t much of a photographer, but I thought you always found great inspiration in the ocean, especially at this time of day.”

  “Thank you so much. I wanted to get you something too, but since I can’t remember much about your likes and dislikes, I had Colby help me. So if you hate it, blame her.”

  She hands me a rectangular box. I’m curious to see what she could have gotten me. I open it and see a custom engr
aved name plate for my desk. The plate itself is gold and is attached to a shiny piece of cherry wood. “Thanks. I don’t have a name plate for my desk, so this is perfect.”

  “You’re welcome. You don’t have to take it if you hate it. I promise it won’t hurt my feelings.” She actually looks a little worried.

  I smile at her, “No, really. I needed one of these so it’s great.” We sit there in silence for a few seconds and I decide this is a good time to bring up her engagement. I have yet to really see her ring, by the way, which makes me think she’s self-conscience around me about it. “The other reason I wanted to meet you was to congratulate you on your new engagement.” I give her a weak smile that I’m sure doesn’t reach my eyes.

  She glances down, “Oh, thank you. I really had no idea he was going to do it. Did Morgan tell you?” She finally looks up to hear my answer.

  “No, actually Pierce came by my office to tell me. He wanted me to hear it first before I got word of it through the grapevine. I was actually a little shocked that he would come to me with it, but I guess it helped me prepare for the news when Morgan got your text.” There’s a drawn out silence filled with awkwardness while she stares at me blankly. It’s clear she did not know about this beforehand.

  “I’m sorry. This is sort of awkward for me. I’m not sure how to react to that. I don’t want to rub your nose in it or flaunt it around you, but at the same time I want us to be friends so it’ll be inevitable that you’ll hear us talking about the wedding and stuff.”

  “You don’t have to worry about me. Just carry on like you would with any other friend of yours. I’ll be fine, I promise. I want you to be happy and it’s obvious that you are with Pierce, so I’m happy for you. Although, I did warn Pierce that if he hurt you I would break his legs. So you let me know if I need to make good on that promise.” I wink at her to let her know that I’m kidding. Sort of.

  She lets out a small laugh, and just like that, the tension is gone and we’re kind of back to that comfortable place again.

  We hang out for about another hour before she says she has to go home to get ready for her shift at work. We part ways and I have so many mixed emotions. Coffee went well and I enjoyed her company, but I’m still trying to get over this and seeing her makes it hard. Especially when all I want to do is hug and kiss her and never let her go. But that’s not my place anymore and it never will be.

  I’M MEETING MY mom and Catherine today at the bridal shop to look at dresses. I’m actually pretty excited about this. What girl doesn’t want to try on a bunch of dresses and feel like a princess? Colby is driving with me while Lexi and Morgan are going to meet us there. I don’t mind because it gives me more one on one time with Colby.

  “So Cole, how has everything been now that Damon’s parents are not living together anymore?”

  “Eh, I guess you could say better. There isn’t fighting around his brother anymore but you can still tell he is hurting over it,” she replies.

  “I can’t imagine. That’s got to be hard on a kid.”

  “Yeah, but let’s talk about that another time. Today is a happy day so let’s not bring down the mood. How do you think your mom will act today? Like the mother of the bride or the bride?”

  I look at Colby with an amused look on my face and we both say, “Bride,” at the same time and start laughing.

  “Don’t worry, if she tries to overstep I’ll remind her it’s your wedding not hers.” I hope Colby can hold my mother back. I want her to be involved but I don’t want her overstepping and not give any thought to what I want to wear on the day of my wedding.

  As we pull up to the bridal shop I see Catherine’s and Morgan’s cars and I know everyone is already here. I park a couple spots down since there are none in front of the store. I’m talking with Colby and see the one face I don’t want to see today.

  Samantha.

  I’m hoping she doesn’t look up because she really seems like a catty bitch and I don’t feel like dealing with her today. As if she hears my inner thoughts, she looks up, sees me, and stops.

  “Madison, how nice it is to see you again,” she says in a fake sweetness that oozes bitchiness. I can tell she’s not happy to see me at all.

  “It’s Addison.” I correct her dryly although I’m pretty sure she knows that.

  “Right, Addison. So, where is Pierce?” she asks looking over my shoulder as if he’ll appear out of thin air. “Did you two break up already?” She lowers her voice as if she’s telling a secret and adds, “To be honest, I didn’t really see the two of you lasting that long anyway.”

  I see Colby out of the corner of my eye and she is in fighter mode and I sense that she is about to go on the attack. Her back straightens and she leans closer into Samantha’s face before saying, “Oh, hell to the no! Who do you think you are?” I put my hand up to cut Colby off. This is Pierce’s ex and I’m not going to have my best friend fight my battles.

  “Oh, don’t mine her, Colby. She must have left her manners at home,” I say sarcastically as I shoot Samantha a pointed glare. “But to answer your question, Samantha, not that it is any of your business. Pierce is at work today.” I don’t know why I feel the need to tell her where Pierce is, but I don’t like the way she was taking a dig at our relationship.

  “Same old Pierce always putting his job before his relationships,” she raises an eyebrow and makes a tsking sound. She is really starting to irritate me now.

  “I’m not sure what Pierce you know, but my Pierce always takes time off to do things with me. Especially when it comes to planning our wedding.” I hold up my left hand to show her my engagement ring. Take that bitch. “However, since Pierce is big on tradition and all, he didn’t want to see my dress until I was walking down the aisle. So that is why he is not here right now.” I have to bite my lip to hide the smug look that is threatening to appear.

  Samantha’s mouth actually drops open but she recovers quickly. A look of anger floods her face. “You have-— He gave you his grandmother’s ring? You have got to be kidding me.” She has the ugliest snarl on her face as if the thought absolutely disgusts her. This has got to be the highlight of my week.

  A laugh escapes Colby’s mouth. “I assure you this is no joke. As you see,” I point to the building we are standing in front of, “I have an appointment to keep, so unless you would like to join us while I try on wedding gowns, I have to go. It was really nice chatting with you. Give Max my regards,” I say with a smile on my face.

  Samantha huffs and storms off down the street. I see her grab her phone from her purse and she starts yelling at someone on the phone. I don’t know what that is all about and I really don’t care.

  “Who the hell was that rude bitch? I really wanted to punch her in her throat just to get her to shut up,” Colby asks.

  “That would be Samantha, Pierce’s ex.”

  “The one who cheated on him?”

  “The one and only,” I reply.

  “I can’t believe he dated her. She looks like she has a permanent stick up her ass. Did you see her face when she saw your ring? I thought she was going to have a heart attack.”

  We both giggle as we enter the bridal shop. We are greeted by Catherine who has a big smile on her face. “Hello, girls, what is so funny?” she asks. I am about to tell her it’s nothing until Colby opens her big mouth.

  “Just our run in with Pierce’s ex, Samantha. A real lady that one is,” her words are dripping with sarcasm.

  “I always preferred the word bitch,” Catherine retorts. I’m stunned that Catherine would say anything negative about anyone, let alone call them a bitch. It’s actually pretty funny. “Did she give you any trouble, Addison?”

  “No, I think I gave her more trouble than she did me. She assumed Pierce and I were no longer together, so when I corrected her by showing her my ring, I think she was about to keel over.”

  Catherine lets out a tiny snort, “Oh dear, I’m sure she did. I wish I could have seen you put her in her place
. I’ll bet it was priceless. She was always eyeing my ring when she thought I wasn’t looking. I knew there was something I didn’t like about her, I just couldn’t put my finger on it. Once I found out about her and Max, I knew my gut instincts were right.”

  “And what does your gut tell you about me?” I half joke. It’s important to me that his family like and trust me.

  “Well, you got my mother’s ring on your finger. If I didn’t like you or feel you were the right woman for my son, I wouldn’t have approved of him giving you that ring. Now, let’s go and try on some dresses. I’m afraid everyone got into the champagne a little early so I’m sure they’ll all have an opinion today.” She gives me a little smile with a wink and I know she’s referring to my mother.

  We go back to where everyone is waiting and am handed a glass of champagne. I am introduced to Shannon who will be helping me today with all the different dresses. She takes me back to my room to get a feel for the wedding and what I’m looking for.

  “So, tell me about the groom?” She’s smiling so brightly that her happiness is rubbing off on me.

  “His name is Pierce Whitmore. We’ve known each other for about a year. I met him on the beach when I was struggling through a hard time in my life. He was very supportive and helped me through it. He’s so caring and understanding and strives to push me to do new things. I couldn’t imagine my life without him.”

  “Where’d you guys get engaged?”

  “He took me to New York and got us a horse and carriage ride. We took it to Central Park and as soon as we got out, he dropped to one knee. I’ve never been so surprised in my life. I honestly never saw it coming.” I glance down at my ring and smile at the memory.

  “How sweet! Now for the fun part: what do you envision yourself to look like on the day of your wedding?”

  “I want to feel like a princess, but not look like one. I don’t want something super puffy or with too much going on. I haven’t tried any dresses on yet, but I know I don’t want a big ball gown. However, my mother insisted I try some of those on, so I will to make her happy.”