30. The Talk
CHAPTER 30
THE TALK
R ealistically, the first chance they’d talk would be after the dancing started. The whole day had felt like an endurance test, and she just needed to make it to the end.
The servers cleared the main course during her speech, and now the stunning cake sat in a prominent position. Come on, let’s hurry this up.
The guests gathered around as Jake and Laura cut their cake and delicately fed each other a bite. After a round of photos, everyone moved to the edge of the dance floor to watch the ceremonial dances.
Laura and her dad, tears streaming down his face, laughed as they stumbled through their father-daughter dance. Laura had confided to Addison that they had taken multiple lessons with Jake and his parents, but her dad had “chronic two-left-feet syndrome.”
Addison imagined her father, Myrtle Beach Dan, dancing with her at her wedding. He’d probably insist on a Jimmy Buffett song. She smiled at the thought.
When the song ended, Laura and her father took a playful bow, lost in laughter. “Beat that,” she challenged Jake and his mom.
Addison had always liked Jake’s mom. She was the type of mom who had snacks ready to go when he and his brother arrived home from school. She was the perennial elementary school room mother, the make you a birthday cake from scratch kind of mom that every child craved. She was clearing busting with pride while dancing with her son. Fortunately, Jake and his mother fared far better than Laura and her father in the dancing.
When their song ended, Jake’s mom stood on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek. “Oh no!” she exclaimed, trying to clean her lipstick off of his face.
“Mo-om,” Jake groaned, but Laura saved the day with a wet napkin before he whisked her away for their first dance as a married couple.
Watching Jake and Laura dance was like witnessing an intimate, romantic moment. Laura closed her eyes, resting her head on Jake’s shoulder. Addison felt like an intruder, and that’s when she noticed Tim across the room. He shifted uncomfortably as the guests watched the couple. I can’t take another ceremonial moment with him staring at me.
When she looked back, Tim had disappeared.
“Hey,” he said from beside her.
Addison yelped, drawing the attention of the guests around her. “You surprised me.”
“We need to talk,” Tim said, his voice serious as he guided her inside.
They slipped into the secluded, wood-paneled library off the garden. The loud voices and music faded as Tim carefully closed the door behind them. The room felt off-limits, which only made Addison’s heart race faster.
“What if we get caught?” she whispered.
“Now you’re worried about doing something unorthodox?” Tim asked, incredulous.
Uh oh. My speech didn’t land like I hoped. He’s brought me here to tell me off.
“Uh,” she stammered.
Tim sighed deeply. “Addie,” he began, then paused, looking at her. “Addie, I never stopped loving you or wanting to be with you.”
Sounds like a ‘but’ is coming.
“But I couldn’t just jump back in after your text.”
Addison glanced at the door, her panic rising. Can I bolt now?
“Don’t you dare run away,” Tim warned.
“Me? Run away? That’s more your thing,” she snapped.
Tim winced. “I deserved that. I shouldn’t have left like that.”
“No, you shouldn’t have. You devastated me,” Addison said, her voice cracking.
“I made a bad decision. I panicked and ran. But I couldn’t figure out how to get past you lying to me. You had deceived Lexi so easily, and then you did it to me. I started doubting if I even knew the real you.”
“I…I can see that. But you know me. I’m not a liar,” she said with a tremor in her voice.
Tim raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, I’m not usually a liar.”
“You lie for a living.”
“Are you serious? Those aren’t lies. It’s persuasion. It’s advanced rhetoric. It’s — don’t you distract me,” she said, noticing his smile.
“You fell for the oldest bait in the lawyer’s friend book. Next, you’ll fall for a blonde joke.”
“Are you in a place to let me explain?” Addison asked.
“You’ve gone from lawyer-speak to therapist-speak. But, yes, I’m in a place to be receptive to your words,” he teased.
“When I put off telling Lexi about us, I was trying to be a good friend. I thought she was going to be upset and hurt that we were together. All I could think of was how much she regretted ending things with you, and I thought that we were going to get into a jealous, cat-fight kind of situation.”
“Neither one of you has ever been like that. Why would you think that would happen now?”
“To be fair, I was blinded by wanting so badly to be with you. I didn’t want there to be a reason why we couldn’t be together, even one that I might have made up. So, I made sure that the one person who could end us didn’t know.”
Tim sighed. “I get that. I guess I went the other direction and wanted to tell the world about you, including Jake and Lexi. I knew that even if they objected, they couldn’t possibly keep it up when they saw how happy we were together.”
“I wish I had been more willing to talk things through with you.”
“Me, too,” Tim said. His shoulders slumped and he said, “Now we need to talk about the actual problem: You lying to me.”
This whole time I was focused on Lexi. He’s right. I lied and that’s why he left, not because he didn’t understand my reasoning for keeping our relationship quiet for a while longer.
“I’m sorryIt was a stupid decision, and I can’t defend it. My only excuse is that I wanted us to have the perfect trip to Aspen. Clearly that backfired.”
“Yeah. I need to take some responsibility for that lie, too.”
You do? Why? Addison tilted her head and looked at him, confused.
Tim snorted. “You look like one of those little dogs tilting their heads when they’re trying to understand something.”
“How dare you!” she exclaimed, outraged by his cavalier attitude more than the comparison.
“Sorry. Back to me taking some responsibility,” Tim said soberly. He rubbed at the back of his head, which was his tell for when he was feeling sheepish. Addison took that as a positive sign. “I shouldn’t have felt so free to push you and to issue an ultimatum. I overstepped into your relationship. I wish I had just been honest with you and told you that it hurt my feelings that you wanted to hide me away. I am — was — so proud of having you as my girlfriend. I assumed that you not telling Lexi or wanting to be as public as possible meant that you weren’t proud of me.”
Addison felt like a mess, both inside and out. His comment that he thought she wasn’t proud of him was hard to hear. Her heart ached at the very idea that she had made him feel invaluable to her. Add that to her flop sweat from her speech earlier and the tears that now flowed freely, creating rivers of black mascara, she wasn’t the most appealing women at the event.
“Hey, hey,” Tim said softly, wiping her tears. “There’s no need to cry.”
“I’m sorry. This is so embarrassing.”
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Just talk to me.”
“Tim, I want you to know—I’ve always been proud to be with you. From the moment Jake introduced us, I felt like you were a kindred spirit. When we fell in love later, it felt inevitable, like it was meant to be from that first introduction. You’re my everything.”
“I didn’t realize you felt that way.”
“How could you not?” she asked, incredulous.
“Maybe it was the dates in obscure neighborhoods and different states.” he said with a sheepish smile. Are we clear now?”
“Mostly.”
Mostly? Addison pulled Tim’s face down to hers and kissed him passionately. “I want to do that in front of everyone—Jake’s grandparents, Great Aunt Sybil, the world. I’m yours. Show me off.”