Homecoming - Chapter 18 #2
“No way. I’m from Delaware!”
“Really? What are the odds?”
“I know. That’s insane. But it’s not the first time this has happened to me.
I’m having serious déjà vu right now. This sounds completely crazy, but almost all my male friends married girls from Delaware even though they’re all from New York.
I swear it’s fate. My husband and his friends basically all grew up together.
And I just think there’s something about people from Delaware that clicks with them. ”
That was so odd. Almost all of them married girls from Delaware? How did they even all meet girls from Delaware if they were here in the city?
“Did you go to the University of New Castle too?” Penny asked.
I shook my head.
“That’s actually where I met my husband.”
“And you were a student when you met him?”
“Yeah, but he’s not that much older than me.”
“Oh, I wasn’t judging you at all. My husband is actually quite a bit older than me.” Was . He was .
“And how did the two of you meet?”
He was my bodyguard. I fell in love with him in a cage. I tried desperately to push him away for a boy who’d forgotten I’d existed. But he waited for me. He’d waited. And our time was cut short. I missed him so much I could barely breathe. “It’s a really long story.”
“I have all afternoon,” she said with a smile.
I reached down and touched the metal bands on my ring finger. I felt the tear trail down my cheek a second too late.
“Are you okay?” Penny asked. She reached out and grabbed my hand.
And just that tiny touch of warmth was like a dam breaking in my chest. A heavy sob fell from my mouth.
And then she hugged me. Even though we were practically strangers. She hugged me and she didn’t care that my tears soaked her shirt. Or that I was probably a psychopath that she’d let into her home. She just hugged me. Like we were old friends.
Liam started to squirm. I could tell my sobbing was waking him up.
“I’m so sorry,” I said and finally pulled back from her hug.
There were tears in her eyes too even though she didn’t even know what was wrong.
“My husband passed away recently.”
It was like she could feel my pain. Like she knew what it was like to lose someone. “What happened? I’m so sorry, don’t answer that. We don’t have to talk about it at all if you don’t want to.”
“No, it’s okay. It was a…terrible accident.” But it wasn’t an accident. The only accident was that it wasn’t me behind the wheel of that car. And I still wasn’t sure I believed my father. Had it been a rival family? Or had it been him?
“I’m so sorry,” Penny said.
“Say something to distract me,” I said and forced a laugh.
“I almost lost my husband. And that seems so stupid to say because I didn’t and you…” her lips trembled. “I’m so sorry. This isn’t a very good distraction!”
“No, it’s okay. Tell me that story.” I said and wiped away my tears. This was probably the weirdest conversation ever had between two people that didn’t know each other. But she was making me feel better.
She wiped away her remaining tears too. “Well, my husband was married to a psychopath before he met me.”
I laughed. I’d had my fair share of psychos in my life. I was just glad Isabella was dead.
“She paid someone to shoot him on our wedding night.”
“No.”
“Three times. I didn’t think he was going to make it.”
God, I couldn’t even imagine that pain. To be robbed of happiness so soon. I’d gotten 15 years with Miller. And it wasn’t enough. But at least I’d had that. Fifteen years of happiness.
“And I found out I was pregnant with Scarlett while he was in a coma.”
I put my hand to my chest.
“And then his ex showed up at the hospital and tried to finish the job herself. If we didn’t have bodyguards, I don’t know if either of us would be alive right now. Or my daughter.” She looked down at Liam. “And I never would have gotten to have this little guy either.”
If I hadn’t had a bodyguard, I wouldn’t be alive either. Miller had fixed my heart. He’d given me Jacob. He’d given me the whole world. I blinked fast so I wouldn’t start crying again.
“If I hear the name Isabella, I still get all sweaty and panicky,” Penny said.
“The psycho’s name was Isabella?” I shook my head. “An Isabella ruined my life too.”
“What?”
“Yeah. She was insane. Back in high school, my Isabella…” I shook my head. “Poor wording. I never ever want to call her my Isabella.”
Penny laughed.
“But she tried to kill me. She had a whole plan and everything. She made it her sole purpose to ruin my life.”
“What the hell? In high school?”
I nodded. “Isabellas, man,” I said.
“The worst.”
I laughed.
“Wait. So we’re both from Delaware. We fell in love with older men. And were tortured by Isabellas.” Penny shook her head. “It’s like we’re the same person.”
I laughed. “I know, right?” It was good to be laughing again. And seriously…she was right. We were so similar.
“Penny, I’m home!” said a deep voice.
“In the kitchen!” Penny called back as she slid off her stool. She practically ran across the floor to greet her husband.
Just like I used to do when Miller came home.
He appeared in the doorway and I swear I stopped breathing.
He leaned down and kissed his wife, cradling her face in his hands. And then he leaned down farther to give his son a kiss on the forehead. He looked back up at his wife’s face with all the adoration in the world.
I recognized the look.
I was pretty sure he’d given it to me once.
“I have a friend over,” Penny said. “She’s the mother of the little boy Scarlett met at the zoo.” Penny turned around. “Oh, I’m so sorry, but I don’t think I ever caught your name. James this is…”
She was waiting for me to fill in the blank.
But James’ eyes met mine.
I’d still never met anyone that had stared as intensely as James Hunter.
My past collided with my present.
“Brooklyn,” James said, filling in my name for me. “You’re alive.” He said it like he didn’t truly believe the words coming out of his mouth.
“Brooklyn?” Penny asked. “Matt’s Brooklyn?”
James didn’t respond. He just walked over to me.
I was frozen.
“Brooklyn,” he whispered. He put his hands on the side of my face just like he’d done with his wife. But not in adoration. It was like he was taking me in. Like he couldn’t believe I was real. Like he had to touch me to know for sure. “You’re alive,” he said again.
“James.” My voice cracked. I stood up and I hugged him.
And suddenly everything made sense. Why Scarlett’s eyes looked familiar. The dark brown intense stare. Why Scarlett had someone in her life she called Uncle Matt. Why Penny’s Isabella sounded just as crazy as my Isabella.
I did know this family.
I buried my face in James’ chest.
Once upon a time, James had tortured me.
And for just a short while, I think maybe he had feelings for me.
I remembered him sitting with me in the shower as I cried.
I remembered that stupid kiss during homecoming.
I remembered him as a boy. All I’d known about his future was that he’d married Isabella.
I’d been worried about him. Furious at him. But most of all I just missed him.
“This isn’t real,” he whispered. “You’re dead. You died.”
I was sobbing all over again as I pulled back and looked up at him. I shook my head. “You went to Delaware.” I’d told him once that the people there were nicer. And he’d gone. Penny said most of the guys she knew married women from Delaware. Who was she referring to? Mason? Rob?
James took a step back from me. “Where the fuck have you been?”
His shock had turned to anger rather quickly. Just like the boy I used to know.
Well, I had questions too. “You married Isabella? How could you?” My voice cracked.
He lowered his eyebrows at me. “Because you died, Brooklyn.”
I shook my head. That wasn’t an answer. He didn’t do that because of me.
Penny walked back over to us. She put a hand on James’ shoulder.
He turned to her. “I don’t understand.”
“We ran into each other at the zoo,” Penny said. “I thought…I knew she looked familiar.” She turned back to me. “Matt showed me pictures of you. But I didn’t…I hadn’t caught her name. I just knew Scarlett liked her son and…”
“You have a kid?” James asked. He looked down at my hand. “You’re married? Does Matt know?”
I shook my head.
He pulled his cellphone out of his pocket.
“James, please don’t,” I said.
“He deserves to know.” He put his phone to his ear.
“I’m going to tell him. But not like this. Please, I have to do it myself.”
James didn’t put his phone down.
I looked over to Penny for help.
“James,” Penny said and stepped between us. “I think maybe you should talk to Brooklyn first. Hear her story. I don’t think anything is what you think it is.”
He kept the phone to his ear.
“Please just let her explain,” Penny said. “We’ll call Matt later, okay? Right after. Please. And she just said she’s going to talk to Matt. Right?” Penny asked and looked back over at me.
“Yes.” I was. Just…not like this.
James slowly lowered the phone. “Brooklyn…” he shook his head. “You ruined his life.”
I swallowed hard. “I don’t think you have the right story there.”
He stared at me.
“You have it all backwards. Matt broke my heart.”