CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE #3
Guests from somewhere in the house could be heard calling his name, and he stood up.
“I want to talk to you about all of that, but tonight’s not the best night.
Those are yours, though. Let me get you a bag so you can take them home with you.
” He went and rummaged around in a neat closet and found a gift bag.
“Tim Summers. Are you one of those monsters that keeps all your old gift bags?”
“Hey—gift bags are unnecessarily expensive. There’s no reason not to reuse them.”
I curled my lips inward to keep from laughing.
He laughed and shook his head. “Hell, what can I say? Mom taught me well.”
He put the four nice journals in the bag and handed it to me. “But what are they?”
He looked uncomfortable. “You know how you didn’t want to be in contact with me because of what I did?”
“I vaguely remember that,” I said sarcastically. I was trying to be playful, but I was afraid it hadn’t come of like that. Either that, or he was thinking so hard about what he needed to say that he didn’t respond to me.
“My therapist said I should keep a journal of everything I wanted to tell you while we were apart. So, I did,” he gestured to the notebooks. “They’re basically diaries of everything I would’ve told you if we’d been in touch for the past… what, like eighteen months?”
“And you want me to have them?”
He nodded, not quite meeting my eyes. “I poured my heart into them, though, so please be gentle.”
“Of course.” I started to walk to him and hug him, but Alexis burst into the room.
“Tim, you have to come. There are weird people none of us know and they’re insisting they’re invited.”
Tim looked back to me as if for permission.
“Go,” I said. I followed him out of the room, intent on taking my gift bag full of Tim’s journals to the car.
When I stepped out into the main room, I noticed several guys and pretty women that used to come to Tim’s parties. No one looked very happy to see them.
I almost dropped the bag when I saw him in the corner with Cora, the girl I’d seen him having sex with the week after we’d gotten together.
They looked to be having a quiet, animated conversation, and she kept touching him.
She ran her hands on his arms and his chest, but he barely seemed to notice.
Were they together? Had they hooked up regularly over the past year and a half? Everyone had led me to believe that Tim had changed; that he no longer hooked up with random women all the time. Were they lying? Was Tim lying?
Ugh. The old insecurities came rushing back. I needed fresh air. I left and walked along his packed driveway until I reached my car. I put the gift bag in the passenger seat and seriously considered leaving.
“Natalie? You’re not leaving, are you?” I turned to Sadie standing behind me.
“Um… I’m not really a big fan of the people that just got there.”
“Nobody is. Even Tim. He’s working on getting them to leave peacefully. Apparently, they’re pissed he didn’t invite them because they’re part of his old condo party crowd.”
That reminded me of a question I wanted answered. “When did Tim leave his condo anyway?”
She didn’t have to pause to think about it.
“Right after you left for Baltimore. He bought this place,” she gestured to the nice three-bedroom craftsman-style home with a big yard, “and quit having parties. He really changed so much after you left for Baltimore, Nat.” She looked at me intently.
“He doesn’t want those people here. Please give him a chance to explain,” she pleaded.
I slowly nodded. “Okay.” And as I was walking back in with her, the group of his old friends came stomping out, obviously not in the best mood.
Sadie and I just moved to let them go by.
It wasn’t worth any sort of confrontation—even though there was part of me that would love to grab Cora by the hair and yank on it.
I was pretty sure some of that very full blonde hair was extensions.
Then I was shocked I’d even had such a thought. It was very unlike me.
Tim came barreling out of the door. He saw Sadie first. “Where’s Nat? Oh my God, did she leave? Tell me she didn’t…”
“I’m right here,” I stepped up, and his face completely relaxed then spread into a grin.
“Good. Come with me.” He dragged me along behind him and plied me with food, drinks, and good conversation for the next hour or so.
Then the countdown started. He had one of the shows in Times Square on the TV, and Auld Lang Syne playing softly in the background.
Everyone had champagne in their hand and someone to kiss nearby as we started counting down to the new year.
“Five…”
“I have to tell you something, Nat.” Tim’s face was serious as he held onto me by the waist.
“Four…”
“I love you.”
I gasped.
“Three…”
“I think I’ve always loved you.”
“Two…”
“I never want to be without you.”
“One…”
“I’m just so fucking in love with you.”
“Happy New Year!!”
And then we were kissing, and he was dipping me so far backwards my hair was brushing the floor, and then he was holding me. “Happy New Year, Natalie.”
“Happy New Year.”