Chapter Twenty-Seven
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
WELCOME TO THE DARK SIDE
PRESENT
“ I love coming here, working with my best friend,” Miley gushes as we step outside of the office. It’s a hot day, leading to more casual attire from the both of us. Miley’s in linen shorts and I’m in a floral sundress, both of us looking like we’re headed to a picnic, rather than leaving work.
“You love long lunches and quitting early,” I remind her, chuckling as we walk out of the building together.
“Yes, yes. That too.” She places her sunglasses over her eyes and I’m looking for my keys in my purse when I hear her gasp. “What’s he doing here?”
I swear I know exactly who it is before I look up. And sure enough, there Abraham stands, uncertain, his arms at his sides as he waits for some sort of direction from me. His eyes are wide as he regards me with a shrug.
“Um—” I start before he cuts me off.
“I—thought we had a meeting?” he asks and it’s the lamest attempt at a cover up that I’ve ever heard. I close my eyes before turning to face Miley.
“Give me a second?” I ask, holding my hands out before I walk toward him. “What are you doing here?” My voice is a whisper, and he glances at Miley before looking at me.
“I wanted to see you.” The sentence is simple, to the point, and it warms me. But I can’t pretend that just because we kissed, we can pick back up like nothing ever happened. It would never be that easy.
“You can’t just show up here,” I start. “What if I had the girls? What if Peter were here?”
“You are divorcing him, no?” he asks, his eyes glistening like black diamonds. “Why do you care what he thinks?”
“I share children with him,” I cry out, frustrated that I even have to explain this to him. “I want a peaceful divorce. You being here does not help with that.”
Abraham nods once, his jaw set. I want to make sure he understands, make sure the truth hasn’t upset him. But I can’t afford to coddle this man. I have too much at stake.
“Please,” I start, “if you care, you’ll finally do things my way.”
He stares down at me, opening his mouth to speak. And, as if he’s lost his words, he closes it, his eyes flitting to Miley once more before settling back on me. I get another nod from him before he walks away.
I watch him get into his car as Miley walks up beside me.
“It seems like you’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do, Lucy,” she says, pulling her sunglasses down a fraction to look me in my eyes.
I sigh, resigned.
I guess it’s time to spill my secrets.
“You get the wine,” I instruct her. “Meet me at my place.”
Miley adjusts her sunglasses and pushes her lips out before saying, “I expect all of the dirty details, my dear.”
She heads to her car and when I get in mine, I immediately roll down the windows. It’s stuffy, but I already feel like I’m being smothered by the fact that I now have to explain everything I purposely never told one of my dearest friends .
I just hope she doesn’t hate that I’ve kept this secret from her for over a decade.
“What in the actual fuck , Sabrina,” Miley says, her mouth still open after the words have been uttered. She sets her wine glass down and continues to stare at me, trying to figure out how I could’ve kept this from her. It’s something I’ve grappled with for a very long time myself.
“I know,” I tell her before taking a hefty gulp of my wine. I grit my teeth before I speak again. “I’m sorry.”
“Oh, don’t be sorry,” she says with a chuckle, leaning toward me and tucking her hair behind her ear. “I’m just glad you had a ho phase before you married Peter. I was worried for a while, you know.”
“Bitch,” I start, setting my own glass down. “I wasn’t a ho. Well, I—no I wasn’t a ho.”
“He turned your ass out, didn’t he?” She leans in. “I just know it was filthy .”
I can’t help my loud laughter at her words. She reaches for the bottle of wine and tops both of our glasses off.
“I don’t know why I didn’t tell you,” I say after a moment while Miley sips her wine.
“Yes, you do.” Another soft chuckle as she gestures toward me with her wine. “You’re so used to being the responsible one, you didn’t want to be the bad girl. But welcome to the dark side. Doesn’t it feel good to be bad?”
And it may well be partly that. But I know that it’s also the fact that if I told someone, it would’ve hurt more when we ended. And maybe I knew from the beginning that it would end catastrophically.
“Okay, so bring me up to speed. You guys haven’t seen each other since college. What’s he doing here now?”
And now comes the hardest part—the darkest part of our story.
“That…wasn’t the last time I saw him, Miley.”