Chapter Fifteen
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
NOW
THE NEXT WEEK AND a half goes by too quickly. I feel like I blinked, and it’s already the tenth of December. I’ve been holed up in my office most of this week, preparing for my departure tomorrow morning. I’m supposed to meet Elizabeth at her house before we drive down to Palm Valley to spend the long weekend with her college friends. The one saving grace is my old college friend, Elijah, will be there with Selena, along with Lola’s boyfriend, Jeremy. Her friend Georgie’s husband, Noah, is nice enough, but sometimes I just wish he’d shut up about his job.
There’s a knock on my office door, and when I look away from my email, I see none other than my cousin standing there.
“A mid-week visit from the Nick Davis. To what do I owe the honor?” I ask, leaning back in my chair.
Though he’s not one to boast, Nick has become one of the best architects in this part of the country. Since taking over the architecture side of things for Villa Inc. last year, he’s been even busier, traveling a lot more and taking on a much wider load. But, like his wife, he handles it with the kind of grace only certain people possess: natural-born leaders. However, I don’t think he enjoys it as much as Nina does.
“Shut up.” He falls into the chair across from my desk with an exaggerated eye roll. “I had a meeting downtown, so I figured I’d pop in.”
“Nick, you don’t just ‘pop in.’ What are you really doing here?”
My cousin sighs and leans forward, elbows resting on his thighs. “I just wanted to give you a heads up.”
Interesting. Okay, I’ll bite.
“About?”
“Dee was talking to Elizabeth last night. I think things with that guy are getting serious with Elizabeth’s boyfriend. The one you met down in Jupiter,” Nick explains.
My stomach sinks at his words, and I do my best not to react, not to reach for my phone and see if she sent a text canceling our weekend trip.
“I overheard Nina giving her a once over about it. Guess Elizabeth is going on some trip this weekend with her college friends—that annual trip you guys used to do. She said she was taking someone with her. Taking him there must mean they’re pretty serious, right?”
“Did she say she was taking him ?”
“I don’t know, but who else would it be?”
“Me.”
The word hangs between us, and after a moment, Nick starts laughing. His face falls when I don’t join him. “Wait, you’re serious? Josh, what the fuck?”
“She asked me to go with her right after Thanksgiving.”
“You’re getting a divorce —or did you forget that?”
“Well, unless she sent me a message canceling…” I finally pull my phone out of the desk drawer to find no message. “…I’m still the one going.”
“You realize how fucked that is, right?”
“I don’t have a choice.”
“What do you mean you don’t have a choice? Of course you have a choice!”
“Contractually, I have to go. She invoked the Last Hoorah Clause .” I watch as his mouth falls open, and he looks at me like I have three heads. “Don’t worry about it, okay?”
“Josh…this isn’t normal.”
You can say that again.
Nick continues, “None of this is normal . How am I not supposed to worry? I’m extremely worried!”
“Because you and Nina are so much better?”
“My marriage, my love for her, wasn’t because of a fucking piece of paper!”
Basically. What else do you call pretending to be someone’s boyfriend for money? The only difference is they didn’t have a piece of paper detailing everything for their trip to Haven six years ago, and we didn’t get paid to be with each other. Well, technically, I guess she did, but that’s beside the point.
“You can be such a judgmental asshole sometimes, y’know that?” I roll my eyes.
“Do you love her?” Nick asks, and I scoff. “I’m serious, Josh. Do you love her? Because I’m not convinced this whole thing was just for show between the two of you. You can’t be with someone that long and not develop some kind of feelings for them.”
“I don’t—”
“Because if you do…why aren’t you fighting harder for her?”
“She doesn’t want me, Nick.” I sigh.
“Sure about that?”
“She’s moved on.”
“If she’s moved on, why isn’t he going this weekend?”
The rest of my rebuttal gets stuck in my throat. That’s a good point. What was it she said at Millers? They’re “not exactly speaking right now,” whatever that means.
“Wanna know what I think?” Nick asks.
No, but he’s going to tell me anyway.
“I think she wants you to fight for her.”
“She’s the one who ended things, not me.”
“I hear it was 25-75, you.”
What does that mean?
Nick gently raps his knuckles on my desk and stands up. “Well, I’m gonna go. I think I’ve caused enough trouble.” Before he goes, he pauses at the door and points at me. “Just think about it, hmm?”
I don’t reply, only nod absentmindedly because I’m too busy doing exactly what he said.
It’s unseasonably cold for the Charleston area, even more so because her house sits on the coast, only a few blocks from the beach. The drive to Palm Valley is only about an hour from here, situated perfectly between Jupiter and Savannah, but I have a feeling it’s going to feel more like ten.
Walking up to the front door, I can’t help but think about what Nick said yesterday in my office.
I think she wants you to fight for her .
Is he right? Surely, he can’t be. Elizabeth is the one who left. She’s the one who admitted this was how things were always going to end. While she might be the one who pulled the trigger, I can’t deny that I probably pushed her closer to the edge with my trip to Wichita last year. I was just preparing myself for the inevitable and seeing if something else was out there waiting for me…
Before I can knock, the door swings open, and a blur of black and tan charges me.
“Bear!” Elizabeth shouts from inside.
The blur is a dog, a German Shepherd to be exact. The dog sizes me up, a soft growl deep in its chest, sniffing the air in my direction. I hold my ground, slowly raising the back of my hand toward it, and after a few more sniffs, its tail begins to wag, and it licks my hand.
“That’s…odd,” she huffs, standing in the doorway with confusion written all over her face. “He normally doesn’t like men.”
I scratch behind the dog’s ear, and then he falls to the ground with a loud plop, offering me his belly.
“He hates Ryan.”
I bite my tongue, probably not the best time to comment on how dogs can usually tell the difference between a good guy and a douchebag. “When did you get him?”
“My birthday.”
I don’t remember seeing a dog when I was here last time, and that was…almost five weeks ago, the week after Halloween. Then again, Nina didn’t invite me in for a look around, either.
“C’mon, Bear, I gotta go,” she calls him, and his ears perk up at the g-word. “No, not you. I have to go.” Elizabeth rubs his ear affectionately when he deflates, and leads him back inside.
Her bags sit on the bottom stairs, and I take the first step into the house. Despite my curiosity, I grab her suitcase and duffle bag and walk back outside.
“Is he going to be okay?” I ask when she follows behind a moment later.
“I have someone stopping by a few times a day…He’ll be fine.” Elizabeth locks the door and saunters down the steps to my waiting Bronco. Tossing her bags in the back with mine, I wonder who is stopping by a few times a day. Is it Ryan? Surely not, she just said Bear doesn’t even like him. And if things had improved to that point, I wouldn’t be the one going with her this weekend…Right?