Pea Green
Max
I barely stop my fist from reaching across the table and smashing into Canyon’s face. He’s touching Fiona with a smile on his face. That smile is going to be toothless and bloody in two seconds.
How dare he touch my woman?
Wait, did he say, ‘hey, beautiful’?
Is this some kind of game with them? I don’t care if they’ve been friends for over a decade. It’s going to stop right away.
Even if I have to break his arm to do it…
The arm that’s currently on my woman as she’s cringing away.
“Hey, Canyon.” Fiona smiles up at him as her body relaxes.
“I’m looking forward to our date.”
WHAT DID HE JUST SAY?
NO.
NO.
NO.
Nonna said Fiona wasn’t dating anyone. That…that she was waiting for me just as much as I was waiting for her.
“Me too.” She turns and smiles up at Canyon.
A vortex pulls my heart in, crushing my soul like a can in a vacuum.
“Max, have you met my boyfriend, Canyon?”
Fiona expects me to speak when the lump of rage and pain filling my throat only keeps growing. “I’ve known Canyon for years.” And feel a totally unreasonable wish to have killed him accidentally one of the times we sparred together. “Have you two been dating a long time?”
Canyon looks at Fiona with a raised eyebrow.
“It’s…um...We just recently started dating.” She turns back to look at me. “You know how it is with new relationships, right?”
No. No, I obviously don’t, because I completely missed the fact that you were dating someone while I was badly trying to woo you.
Ten minutes ago, I was picturing us married, adopting Dash.
Now, I’m realizing what a fool I am.
Nonna. I should totally blame her for all of this.
How did she not know?
“Let me grab you that cupcake. Max, do you want something while I’m at it?”
The last thing on earth I want right now is to eat. “No, I’m good.”
If that isn’t the biggest lie I’ve ever told, I don’t know what is.
Fiona walks away, leaving me with the one person in the world I hate the most, but shouldn’t. None of this is Canyon’s fault.
I want to kill him, anyway.
Canyon leans back and relaxes in the chair. “How is Everett? We heard he moved in with your family.”
The urge to snap back at him that my family is none of his business is hard to ignore. “My brother is doing just fine. The family is welcoming him with open arms.”
“Your brother? That sounds like one crazy story. Though when it comes to Everett, I’d expect nothing less, especially after the way he introduced himself here. Has he stolen anything from you yet?”
Why does everyone keep warning me about Everett stealing? “No.”
Canyon glances around the restaurant quickly and then turns back to me. “You’ve been hanging out at the bakery a lot lately, right?”
Does Canyon know I was pursuing Fiona? “Yes. Hope got a job here.”
He glances around again and leans in. “Have you seen anyone bothering Fea lately?”
WHAT? Did she tell him that I was bothering her? She seemed kind of oblivious to me. “No. Why?”
“No reason. I just get this feeling that there’s something off about her. You know how Fea is. She holds her cards close to her chest and lets no one in, yet gives everything to the people around here.”
So it’s not just me she was being standoffish with. Has anyone even spoken rudely to her? “Not that I know of. But I’ll keep an eye out.”
“Thanks, man.”
Fiona walks over, and Canyon gets quiet. “Here’s your cupcake…dear.”
She calls him ‘dear’? A better name would be ‘dead’, but dear sounds like something a grandma would say.
“Thanks, Fea.” He grabs the cupcake off the plate. “Gotta go. See you later, baby.” Canyon walks out of the restaurant.
Baby? Fiona shouldn’t be called baby. It’s demeaning. She’s more of a babe anyway.
Or a sweetheart.
Love.
Maybe Canyon doesn’t love her. He could just be playing a game with the hottest woman around.
My hands ball into fists.
“Max?” Fiona slides back into the seat across from me. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
If you want to ask if Canyon is right for you, the answer is no. Dump him and start dating me. “Sure.”
Her eyes move down to the table, and she starts clenching her fingers together.
“It’s okay, Fiona. You can talk to me about anything.” It tears me up seeing her upset.
“About the other day…” If she rings her fingers any harder, she’s going to dislocate one of them.
Now’s the time for me to apologize.
“I just wanted to say I’m sorry.”
What?
“It was wrong of me to assault you like that. Every day, I remind the kids to respect other people’s personal space and not to touch them without their consent. And then what do I do? Assault you when you’re going through a hard point in your life.”
Assault me? What in the world is she talking about? Did Canyon give her drugs to make her start dating him? Her eyes don’t look weird like a user, but that doesn’t mean anything.
“Me saying I’m sorry doesn’t excuse my actions, but I do want you to know that I’m genuinely sorry and completely understand if you choose not to forgive me. I talked to my therapist about it, and I’m going to do whatever work is necessary to ensure that it never happens again.”
Fiona is seeing a therapist? Why? And why is she talking about me to her therapist and not her stupid boyfriend?
Now I sound like a whiny teenage boy.
The only thing I do know is that she’s not making any sense at all.
“I won’t pressure you to forgive me, but if you can think of anything I might be able to do to make things right, I would appreciate you telling me.”
My life has entered an alternate reality where nothing makes sense, and the woman I love is dating an idiot like Canyon.
She just sits there quietly, staring at me, waiting for a response.
There is no good response to that insanity that she just spewed out. “Fea, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Her eyes get watery.
Is she going to cry? My kryptonite is a woman’s tears. Don’t you cry, woman.
“I’m talking about the other day. When I reached out to touch you, you pulled away and yelled at me. Which was a completely valid reaction. I’m not complaining about your response.” Her shoulders hunch, and a tear slips out.
Why? Why do they cry at the worst possible moments? I’m the one that needs to be apologizing.
“Is everything all right?” Hope appears at the table.
Fiona furtively brushes away the tear.
My nosy, meddling daughter kind of saved the day. “Everything is just fine. Fiona was just telling me about her new boyfriend.” Those two words taste foul on my lips.
Hope’s jaw drops open. “Fiona’s what?”
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Fiona smile that large.
“My boyfriend, Canyon. Have you met him yet since you started working here? He comes in all the time for my cupcakes.”
***
Walking home with Hope, all I can think about is one thing.
Fiona has a boyfriend.
How could I have been so blind?
“Can you believe it, Dad? I can’t. Fiona never talked about Canyon before. Not once. You talk about people who you’re dating. That’s what girls do. We talk about them to excess and then talk about them some more just in case anyone missed that we’re in love. It makes no sense.”
Tell me about it.
Not literally, because if I hear any more about Canyon and Fiona, I’m going to lose my mind.
“They don’t even look right together. He’s too short for her.”
Short? “Canyon is taller than her.”
“Barely. How is she going to wear heels next to him and not look lopsided? They’re all wrong for each other. And the babies they’d have together will have wonky features.” Hope shakes her head. “Doesn’t she care that she won’t have pretty babies?”
I’d laugh at Hope’s wild ideas if thinking about Fiona’s babies didn’t kill me.
The dreams I had of our children go up in a ball of flames, searing my heart. “You can’t know that they’ll have ugly babies.”
“Yes, I can.” She folds her arms across her chest and pouts.
My almost adult daughter is cute when she acts five.
“Bisnonna would agree with me.”
Nonna probably would. I open the front door and am assailed by the scent of food, which turns my stomach.
“We have to tell Nonna and Nonno.”
Do we really? Yet I find myself following her into the kitchen.
“Perfect timing. Dinner’s almost done.” Mom lifts the cupcake she’s icing.
It’s like a gut punch I didn’t need. “I’m not hungry. If someone needs me, I’ll be in the gym.” Punching the bag while pretending it’s Canyon’s face.