“She’s the worst,” Oliver said. “And Liam swore it was over. I thought they actually broke up, but I guess he didn’t pull the trigger. That’s all I know.”
“So,” I said into the phone, “he either decided not to break up with her and thought he could get a little piece of action on the side, or he was never going to break up with her at all, and thought that maybe by lying to you, you would tell Emma and then he could even more easily get a little piece of action on the side.”
“Umm,” Oliver hedged.
“That’s all I needed to know,” I snapped, turning my back on Emma and the guy who was probably lying in her bed right now, waiting for her to come back.
“Listen,” Oliver tried again. “Neither of those options sound like Liam. You haven’t known him very long, but I swear, Liam is a standup guy. He talks about you all the time.”
I turned back to Emma, who quirked her mouth as if considering what Oliver was saying. “No, you listen,” I said, feeling only slightly guilty I was taking out all my frustration on Oliver, who probably was a standup guy. “Your best friend just broke me today. I’ve already been put through the wringer with one asshole boyfriend. I don’t need another one. And if he ever asks about me again, you can tell him I’ve moved on.”
For the second time that night, I marched out of the room and into the bathroom. I could hear Emma take Oliver off speaker and say, “Yeah, obviously, she’s pretty upset, Oliver. She had no idea, and she’s not the kind of girl who would knowingly cheat. Katie’s the nicest person I know. She wouldn’t want to hurt anyone the way she’s been hurt before.”
I sank to the tiled floor, beginning to sob all over again, trying to hold in the tears that racked my body as Emma whispered, “No. I don’t think I’ll be back tonight. Go home. I’ll talk to you later.”
A few seconds later, she tapped lightly on the door, and asked if I’d like a cup of hot tea. I blew my nose and agreed, coming out of the bathroom only once I heard the tea kettle whistle.
Liam
I sprinted to my car and slammed my head against the steering wheel, cursing myself. Sitting up, I slammed my fist into my chest once, then twice, then a third time, until my knuckles were bruised and shredded.
How could I be so incredibly stupid? I let out a frustrated roar, not even caring when a couple walking home together paused in front of my truck and, frightened by my outburst, quickly hustled away.
An angry beast clawed at my chest, straining to break out. My frustrating, unfulfilling relationship with Nicole. My lame attempts at breaking it off. My desire for Katie. The way she’d looked at me when she found out I was a cheater just like the ex who destroyed her trust. Even my inconsistent performance at the Academy. Every single thing that had gone wrong over the past few weeks was boiling to the surface.
I slammed my truck into gear and squealed out of the parking lot. I felt like doing something reckless. I didn’t know what. Driving down Snake Hill Road at 80 miles an hour? Finding a bar and drinking myself into oblivion? Ignoring the hour, calling Nicole and dumping her over the phone? All three? No. I wasn’t quite that reckless. Was I?
My mind was reeling, but I figured it was a pretty easy choice when I saw a dive bar with a blinking neon sign in the distance when my phone rang. I glanced down at the dashboard. Oliver. Pulling into the bar’s parking lot, I angrily pushed the button on my now-beaten up steering wheel. “What?” I barked.
“I just talked to the girls,” he said, ignoring my tone.
“And?”
“And… Katie’s pretty upset.”
“Obviously,” I yelled into the speaker. “She threw me out. Did she tell you that?”
“Yeah. She also told me you never broke it off with Nicole, and she thinks you were using her to get, quote, ‘a little piece of action on the side.’”
“She said that?” I was more hurt than angry now.
“Yeah. She did,” he confirmed. “Can you blame her? I tried to tell her you weren’t that type of guy, but she wouldn’t listen.”
I sighed. “I thought she knew.”
“You thought she knew? Seriously? Come on, man! Does Katie seem like the type of girl who would knowingly fool around with a guy in a committed relationship?” Oliver asked.
I hated him for being so reasonable. “No. She doesn’t.” I heaved a sigh. “I told her the first day we met, though, and she made out with me anyway.”
“Drunk,” Oliver reminded me. “Or at least a bit buzzed, and also playing a game… at a party… where she probably thought she’d never see you again.”
“True.” I said, resentful that I had to admit it.
Still keeping Oliver on the phone, I slid my truck out of the bar’s parking lot, going a bit more smoothly and quietly than I had let Katie’s. “I’m on my way home,” I told him. “I’m breaking it off with Nicole.”
“Tonight?” his voice hiccupped.
“Yeah. Tonight. I don’t care that it’s one in the morning. It’s midnight where she is. She’ll still be up.”
“Don’t do it, man,” Oliver pleaded.
“Why the fuck not?” I barked. “I’m done with this so-called relationship. She should have let me end it before, and she cut me off every single time.”
“Why not?” he repeated. “Because you’re angry right now. Because you’re not thinking straight. And because, much as I dislike your girlfriend, it’s not Nicole’s fault.”
“She wouldn’t let me—”
“Yeah,” Oliver interrupted. “Okay. I get it. Nicole wouldn’t let you break up with her, or at least, she wouldn’t let you talk. Regardless, either one of two things happened. One, Nicole didn’t know what you were going to say, so she didn’t take time to really talk with you. Or two, she might have guessed what you were going to say and couldn’t handle it right then.”
“Either way—” I started.
He interrupted me again. “Either way, it’s not Nicole’s fault you fell in love with someone else.”
I nearly went off the road. I grabbed the steering wheel and swerved back between the lines. “I’m not—”
“Oh, you’re not?” Oliver asked. “My bad. I guess you were just going to bang Katie tonight and leave her, then? One-night stand type of thing?”
“No!” I protested.
“Oh,” he said, voice dripping with sarcasm, “then, you were just going to bang her, never tell Nicole anything, and just have sex with both of them whenever you felt like it?”
“Come on,” I retorted. “You know that’s not—”
“That’s not you,” Oliver said. “Yeah. You’re right. It’s not like you to cheat, and it’s not like you to have a one-night stand. It’s also not like you to agree to go to an art class, when you hate art. And it’s not like you to talk about a girl twenty-four-seven. Not even Nicole. Not even in the good days when you were first starting out.”
I breathed deeply, looking out at the dark road open before me. At last, I said, “I like Katie. I’m not... Damn. I’m not sure whether I can say… that. I will say that I’m intrigued.”
“You’re more than intrigued,” he argued, “but save it for another time. My point is, you met someone. She changed how you looked at your relationship. She made you realize you needed a change. None of that is Nicole’s fault. And she deserves more than a text or a midnight rant.”
I slowed the car, turned around, and headed for home. “You’re right,” I finally admitted. “I’ll wait. I’ll text her. Tell her to set aside time tomorrow. An hour at least.”
“And then, make it up to Katie?” Oliver wondered.
“And then, make it up to Katie, if I can,” I said. “If I can’t… well, either way, it’s over with Nicole. I was thinking about waiting to do it in person, but I don’t want to keep her on the hook, and…”
“And you want it to be done,” Oliver finished the thought.
“I want it done.” I sighed again. I was tired. Too tired to talk anymore. Too tired to think.
<
br /> By the time I got home, I couldn’t have talked to Nicole even if I wanted to. I flopped into bed, exhausted. Before pulling the covers up over my head, I took out my phone and texted Katie. “I’m sorry,” I wrote.
There was a lot more to say, but I couldn’t say it over a text message. And she probably wouldn’t want to hear it even if I tried.
Katie
I apologized to Emma for calling her over when the alarm went off at 5:30 the next morning. I groaned and slapped it off. I had forgotten about the early faculty meeting before school. And now, I was not only going to have to handle a crowd of five and six-year-olds all day, I was also going to have to make myself look presentable in front of the principal, the vice principal, and the superintendent.
Emma poked her head in my door and wiped the bleariness from her eyes. “You going to skip today?”
“No,” my voice creaked. “I only have two personal days left, and I have to travel at Christmas.”
“You could take a sick day,” she suggested.
I dragged myself to a sitting position. “I don’t want to do that. I’m tired of lies and cheating and deception. I’m already a cheater… apparently. I don’t want to be a liar, too.”
“Katie,” Emma started, her voice soft and pleading.
“I know. I know,” I said, shuffling off the covers. “It’s not really my fault. I’m not a cheater. I’m not the one who lied.” I waved a hand in the air. “Except he told me he had a girlfriend the first night I met him. And I didn’t care. Especially after the thing with Ben and Amber. I didn’t care.”
Emma quirked her mouth, but didn’t argue. “Let’s just go,” she said. “I’m too tired to talk anymore.”
I immediately felt bad and jumped out of bed. “You’re right,” I said. “Let’s go. If we hurry, we can grab some Starbucks on the way.”
Unfortunately, after I threw on clothes, drove Emma to her apartment so she could change, and then drove to the school, there wasn’t enough time to stop for coffee or anything else.
When we walked into the faculty room, Amber was the only one there. She seemed forlorn and small, and I realized I hadn’t really looked at her since the night I caught her with Ben. She glanced up at Emma and I, looking as if she was going to cry. “The others are on their way,” Amber said, immediately turned her eyes back the floor.
So, I couldn’t help thinking, I guess not everything’s perfect now that Ben’s moved in. I wonder if they’re fighting, or maybe she’s discovered that he had more than one late-night dance partner.
Looking at Amber, I noticed the shine seemed to have gone from her hair. There was a piece of egg stuck to her sweater, presumably from breakfast, and her heels were all scraped up. She also wasn’t wearing any makeup, and I didn’t think I’d ever seen her without her full “face” perfectly arranged. Something must be seriously wrong with her, I thought. The Amber of a few weeks ago would never have come to work looking like this.
I must have been gaping because Emma nudged me with her elbow, and we both took our seats. We sat in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes until the others came in, laughing and chattering.
“Well, looks like we’re all here,” Vice Principal Lopez said. “I just wanted to run down the plan for Open House next Friday. I know that having Open House the week before Thanksgiving isn’t ideal, and I know no one wants to come in on a Friday night, but that’s the date the PTA voted on, so that’s where we are.”
I nearly slapped my forehead. We had so many of these meetings at short notice, I’d completely forgotten. Open House—the night when the parents swarmed the school to judge how well we were teaching their children. A time when teachers began trying to prove themselves for promotion, tenure, and the unofficial title of “Most Creative.”
When I first started at Fairview Elementary, I thought Open House would be fun. The truth was, I had an even harder time than most. Since I taught the youngest students, half the parents I spoke with had never been to an Open House before, had no idea what to expect, and had lots of questions. Lots. Especially those with younger children who would also soon be coming to our school.
As a result, it was somewhat fun, but even more exhausting. And I was going to have to stay after every night until the event, getting things ready—choosing artwork, redoing all our classroom bulletin boards, planning activities, and getting the students ready to talk about what we did every day. I wanted to curl up into bed just thinking about it.
As the meeting came to a close, I got another text from Liam. I looked down, annoyed. His last message had woken me up the night before, just as I had finally cried myself to sleep.
“I really am sorry,” it read. “I am breaking up with Nicole tonight. Tried to before, but it’s long distance and we’re on different schedules. I hope you’re willing to give me another shot.”
I took a deep breath. Was I? Could I trust him? I wasn’t sure. “No,” I replied, maybe a bit too quickly. “I knew you were taken. I shouldn’t have done what I did either, and I’m sorry for my part in it. But it’s just not good timing. It’s not meant to be.”
I waited for a response, half-hoping one would come, but my phone stayed silent. I turned it off and walked back to my classroom, feeling heartbroken all over again.
Liam
I texted Katie again that morning before heading to work. I had a fully-packed day and knew there was no way I could call her, and no way she’d pick up the phone even if I tried. Hopefully, there wouldn’t be too many days more like this—stuck behind a desk at a boring IT job until three, and then rushing over to the fire station to run drills from late afternoon until nearly nine at night. It was exhausting. And I remembered Captain Willis telling me it would be and assuring him, “I know a lot of the other guys gave up their day jobs, but I’ll be fine.” Now, the work and all the emotional stuff was starting to take a toll.
Before heading into the SeeTech office complex, I sat in my truck a few minutes, trying to decide what to say. I wanted to try one last time, so I texted Katie, asking for another chance. Her reply buzzed in almost immediately. I saw the word “No” first, and didn’t bother to read the rest. Instead, I swiped the screen over to message Nicole. Like I had said to Oliver. It didn’t matter whether Katie rejected me. I still had to cut ties. Nicole didn’t deserve to be just my second choice.
“Hey,” I typed to Nicole. “I need an hour with you. Doesn’t matter when. Just pick the day and time.”
“Tomorrow,” she answered back. “8 my time. 9 your time. One hour. I have exams coming up.”
I wasn’t dreading it anymore. It was just an inevitability, so I put it out of my mind, slogged through work at SeeTech and headed over to the Academy.
As soon as all the trainees were lined up, Captain Willis’s voice boomed out, “Alright, gentlemen and lady. What we have today is our final training for the Candidate Physical Ability Test, otherwise known as CPAT, which we will be giving you this Friday. After today, we’ll focus on the academic test, which will be on Thursday. That’ll give your bodies a chance to rest and your brains a chance to catch up. I know at least half of you have been slacking on the studying, and believe me, it’s just as important to pass the written exam as it is the physical one.”
I groaned inwardly. I wasn’t worried about the physical exam, but I was worried about the academic one. I hadn’t taken time to study for it in days. Without realizing it, I’d somehow thought it was the Thursday after our CPAT test, not before. Cursing myself, I now recognized the following Thursday was Thanksgiving. Of course, we wouldn’t have a test on a holiday. It was my own damn fault for getting it confused. Captain Willis was right. My head really was up my ass.
The Captain continued, “Now, as you know, the CPAT test consists of eight separate events on a closed course: stair climb, hose drag, equipment carry, ladder raise, forcible entry, search ceiling breach, and rescue drag. You’ve had your orientation sessions, so now we’re going to do some practice runs. Normally, we test
you wearing a helmet, gloves, 50-pound weighted vests, and for the stair climb, an extra 25-pound weight to simulate carrying a hose.”
His cragged face broke into a grin that I did not care for, and I knew I was right as soon as he continued, “Today, we’re gonna double that weight. And we’re gonna send you through the course three times to see what you can do. A break in between each round, of course. I’m not a complete animal.”
There was some grumbling and he waved a hand at us, indicating the group should quiet down. “Come on, come on. This is what you signed up for, after all. And you never know what might happen. When we had that five-alarmer a few weeks ago, it was relentless, and I know for a fact that Josh Miller and Jake Miller and Kip O’Shaughnessy had to go up and down the ladder at least three times each, so I don’t want to just know whether you can complete the exam Friday. I want to know whether you have the strength and the stamina to do it in a real-life situation where your life, the life of your team, and the life of everyone in the building is on the line.”
The assistant trainer, Chief Lawson stepped in. “Okay, guys, come get your vests and your extra weights. We’re going to line up and I’m going to run you through the course one at a time. When you see the person in front of you reach the halfway point—the forcible entry test, that’s when you’ll start the course.”
I was grateful for the exercise. Unlike the written tests and lectures where my mind was likely to wander, the physical drills drove every thought from my mind. And for the next few hours, I didn’t have to think about Nicole or Katie or whoever else I might meet now that Katie had rejected me.
Captain Willis slapped me on the shoulder after my last run. “Eleven minutes,” he barked. “But not bad for your third time through plus the extra weight. You look like shit, Bryant, but it seems at least you got everything else straightened out. Pass the written exams, and I think you’ll be joining our crew.”
Hot & Heavy Halloween (Hot Holidays Book 1) Page 14
