The Confrontation
Tyler exhaled slow, rhythmic breaths as his feet pounded against the damp pavement.
Nothing cleared his mind like a hard, long run through David Rodgers Park.
The temperature was dropping as November drew to a close and more often than not, it rained.
It was barely a drizzle now, but the sky was still gray, the ground was still wet.
He ran down the curvy path heading back towards the entrance of the park. He was due to meet Jordan in half an hour, but he needed to have a shower first before he went to her place.
He past the swing sets, taking note of the little girls stomping in puddles. As he rounded the last curve, he spotted her. And he stopped. Just stopped.
“Trisha?” he said, huffing heavily as he tried to get his breath back. “What are you doing here?”
“I went by your place and Walt told me you were out for a run. I want to talk to you.”
He ran a hard hand over his jaw, wondering if he should even entertain this conversation. “There’s nothing to talk about,” he clipped curtly, walking past her and towards the entrance of the park.
This relationship had been dead to him for months now. They’d both moved on and there was no point in rehashing the past when it would in no way affect his future.
She followed behind him, taking hasty steps as she struggled to keep up with him in her designer heels. “Let’s just go someplace. Let’s go get a coffee and—”
“No.” He pulled on his hoodie and lengthened his strides.
“Tyler, please.”
The gap between them was getting bigger and he was glad because he was becoming exceedingly more irritated. “I said no.”
“We never spoke about what happened.”
That made him stop dead in his tracks and when he turned to face her, all he felt was raw hostility rising up inside him.
“It’s eight months later and you want to talk about this now?
” He closed the gap between them, towering above her small frame.
“I’ll tell you what happened. I came home one day and you were gone.
No clothes in your closet, no toiletries in the bathroom.
Everything gone. You don’t take my calls.
You refused to see me. No explanations. Not one conversation to let me know you were unhappy. ”
“I wasn’t unhappy,” she whispered, slowly shaking her head. “I was never unhappy. Emotionally, I just wanted more than you were willing to give.”
“So you leave?” The word tasted so vile in his mouth, he had to swallow to get rid of the bitterness. “You knew what my mom did…you knew…and then you go and do the same thing to me.”
Just saying these things to her had his breath hitching, had his fingertips stinging with anger. He could have gone along just fine never having this conversation. For months he’d wanted to talk to her, find out why she did it and now he simply didn’t care. It didn’t matter what her reasons were.
“I’m sorry I hurt you.”
He stuffed his hands in his pockets and shrugged. “I’m not hurt.”
“Are you angry?”
“This doesn’t matter to me anymore, so generally, I’m not angry…
but right now I’m pissed. You come back after all this time and I don’t know what you’re expecting from me.
After what you did, you should have zero expectations.
When you left, it got me so twisted. I couldn’t believe it.
I couldn’t believe you would actually do that to me.
Despite what Matt kept saying, I was willing to look past it.
I thought maybe you were just confused, maybe you just needed some time and eventually you’d come back.
But then three months later, I find out you’re getting married to someone else.
” He sneered, tasting more bitterness in his mouth but this time it was much harder to swallow.
“And that gets me more twisted, because I don’t know why you left in the first place.
So I’m driving myself insane, thinking of a way to get you back.
And then I get one. I had it all planned out.
Use Jordan to make you jealous, take her to all the places you like, ’cause I thought maybe if you saw us together, you’d realize what you lost.”
Her big green eyes met his and she looked expectant, hopeful. “So your relationship with Jordan was all fake? You were just using her?”
That question had rage gushing through him like a burst water main and he had to take a few seconds to calm down before he spoke again.
“My relationship with Jordan is not your concern. You gave up your right to know anything about my personal life the day you up and left me.” He turned and headed down the path again.
“That’s why I left,” she said shakily from behind him.
He stopped but didn’t turn around. “This is the first time you’ve ever really opened up to me about how you feel and as soon I start asking questions, you close up again.
That’s what it was like being with you for three years, Tyler.
I give all of me and you give parts of you. It’s a strain on the heart.”
He could tell from her trembling voice that she was crying and he turned around again.
“Please, Tyler. I just want to talk. Please.”
Tears and begging. He caved almost immediately. “Okay.”
* * * * *
Well, that was a colossal waste of time.
He’d spent half an hour having coffee with Trisha and she just kept on telling him the same thing.
She’d felt that he was emotionally detached from their relationship.
And while he could acknowledge that it was a trait of his that wasn’t easy to deal with, he still felt like she could have handled the situation better.
It was a running loop of excuses as to why she left without a word.
There were other things she wanted to discuss, but he didn’t want to waste any more time on the matter.
Also the entire situation was uncomfortable.
He was having coffee with his ex-girlfriend while his current girlfriend was waiting for him at home.
It was all kinds of wrong and no amount of tears would have made him entertain it for a second longer.
After half an hour, he stood up, paid the bill and walked out.
He went to his penthouse, had a shower, and then drove over to Jordan’s place. He knocked on the door and his mood lifted the second she opened it. “Hi,” he said with a broad smile.
One eyebrow cocked up. “Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for you for over an hour.”
He debated whether or not he should tell her about Trisha, but he really wasn’t in the mood to rehash everything that had happened.
Maybe he’d tell her in a couple days, but right now he just wanted a weightless conversation about something mundane and meaningless.
He just wanted to sit on the couch and watch that stupid Soap Opera and argue about Abby’s baby-daddy.
In other words, he just wanted to be with Jordan. “Sorry. I had some errands to run.”
She stepped aside and allowed him to enter.
“What did you do today?” he asked, walking over to the sofa.
“I had an early dinner with Gemma and Neil and then she went over to Matt’s place and Neil started chatting up the waiter.” She giggled and shook her head. “So I came home, took Roscoe for a walk and then I just watched TV while I waited for you.” She sat down beside him. “How about you?”
He shrugged. “Didn’t do much. Saw my dad after work, went for a run.”
“You want something to drink?” she asked, standing up and walking to the kitchen.
“No, I’m good. Thanks.”
She must have picked up something was wrong.
This conversation didn’t seem normal. It felt stilted and he needed to make an active effort to not dwell on the heated discussion he’d had with Trisha.
He followed her into the kitchen and leaned against the fridge as he watched her make a cup of coffee.
“So I was thinking,” Jordan said, switching on the kettle. “We should have a picnic. Not today obviously, ’cause it’s raining, but there’s this beautiful spot at the park with this big tree and…you know that big tree, right?”
He smiled. “There’s a lot of big trees in the park, Jordan.”
“I know, but there’s that one…um…it’s near the entrance…quite close to the swings.”
He shook his head. “Still not narrowing it down.”
“Oh, c’mon. You must know it…that big tree…
right near the entrance…” The oddest expression came over her face, so odd he started feeling like everything was unravelling.
“You know that one…where you were telling Trisha that you were just using me to get her back?” A cold stare pinned him to the spot. “Yeah…that tree.”
His heart skipped a few beats before it dropped straight into his stomach. He couldn’t even find the words to say to her. His mind was a complete blank.
“You were just using me, Tyler?” Her voice was low, tremulous. “All this time, you were just using me to get her back?”
“I didn’t use you,” he said quickly.
Blue-gray eyes met his, filled with so much disappointment, he couldn’t hold her gaze. “You didn’t use me? Why did you take me to Giovanni’s? Why did you take me to the dance festival?”
“Jordan—”
“Those were the places she liked, right?”
Panic was eating him inside and he was fumbling to find the right words to explain his actions. “That’s how it started out. But it was two dates and that’s it.”
“That’s it?” she asked with disdain. “You sure, Tyler?”
“Yes.”
“So you’re telling me that when I stayed over at your place and Trisha conveniently came over the next day, that wasn’t part of the plan?”
He shut his eyes. This was snowballing. Fast. He couldn’t get a hold of the situation, couldn’t say one thing in his defense. “I had nothing to do with that.”
Her breath caught and tears filled her eyes. Him denying it in that way was him actually confirming that it had been part of the plan. “But Matt did. You and your buddy just thought: Hey, let’s make a fool out of Jordan.”
“That’s not what happened,” he said, feeling completely out of his depths, out of control.
“Jordan, we’ve been together for a few months now.
And while this may have started off on a pretense…
this…us…it’s real. Don’t ignore everything else because of a few insignificant events.
As soon as we went to that conference, things changed and you know it. ”
“The conference was in July. Trisha came to your house in August. A month later and you were still using me. You’ve been lying to me this whole time!”
He gritted his teeth. This was becoming so frustrating. “I didn’t lie to you.”
“Really?” It was a scathing tone that was shaky enough to sound vulnerable. “What did you tell me when I asked what your hidden agenda was? I asked you twice and you lied to me both times.”
“That was months ago,” he fired back. “It was a stupid lie for this stupid plan. I’m talking about now.”
“Hmm? Okay. Now?” She tapped her finger against her lips and pretended to think about it. “What did you tell me when I asked you where you were?”
His throat tightened. He couldn’t respond. This is not looking good. At all.
“Where were you, Tyler?” she whispered. “While I was here waiting, where were you?”
Never…never in his life had he ever felt so ashamed.
He wanted the ground to open up beneath him and just swallow him whole.
“I was with Trisha,” he admitted. “I wasn’t trying to hide it from you.
I just didn’t want to talk about it. It was just coffee, Jordan, I swear.
” And even though he’d done nothing wrong, it felt wrong.
Him doing it, him saying it, it all felt wrong.
With eyes so sad, she gave him a helpless shrug. “How do you expect me to believe you?”
The first tear that rolled down her cheek destroyed something inside him. This woman. This insensitive woman, who hid behind silliness and sarcasm. This woman who rarely showed vulnerability. This woman who never wore her heart on her sleeve. This woman was crying because of him.
“I’m sorry. I never wanted to hurt you. I only—”
“What did you and Trisha talk about?” Her voice sounded constricted, strangled with all that hurt. “Were you talking about getting back together? Maybe just string me along for a few more days before you cut it off?”
“Jordan—”
“You know what? I don’t wanna know.” She walked to the front door and opened it. “I want you to leave now, Tyler. I’m done playing these games.”
He walked to the door and crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re really gonna end this over something so stupid?”
“The only thing stupid in this equation…is me.”
He lifted his hand to her face and used his thumb to wipe away her tears. “You’re angry now…and hurt. I take full responsibility for that.”
She tilted her head away from his hand and took a step back. He took the hint.
“I’m gonna leave,” he said, stepping outside, “give you some time to think about everything that has happened in the last six months…and then we’re gonna talk.”
“We’ve talked enough.”
He took a deep breath, hating the fact that he had done this to her. At that moment he would have done anything to take away the pain he saw in her eyes. He’d make it right. He’d reverse all that doubt, but it wasn’t going to happen tonight. “I won’t lose you, Jordan.”
“You already have.”
And then the door slammed shut in front of him.