Chapter 13
THIRTEEN
Surrounded by a ton of baby blue balloons and decorations and the hum of excited conversations, I stand amidst the cheerful chaos of Tally and Tim’s baby shower that’s in full swing at the restaurant. I glance at Tally, her radiant smile lighting up the room as she opens a gift.
We planned how to do this yesterday during our shift after Nash left since there weren’t many customers.
Today, we spent all day with preparations and decorations, and when I say we, I mean Tim and I did, while Tally told us what to do.
I gave them my present early, and they loved the pictures of them painting the nursery.
They promised to frame some of them and hang them up in the new house, and Tally hugged me so fiercely that she choked me.
It’s more than fun, and it seems like the whole freaking town is here to celebrate with these two again.
We just finished playing a few games, everyone’s laughter filling the air as we competed in a diaper-changing race where Tim beat me by a devastating amount.
I’ve been helping out where I can, feeling grateful to be a part of this.
But now I’m standing a little off, leaning against a wall next to Shannon, whose eyes are only on her daughter, her smile as radiant as Tally’s.
I’m tired from another sleepless night, trying hard to suppress a yawn when I feel the familiar tingling tug at my heart, and I close my eyes with a smile.
“That’s a lot of blue,” comes from my left.
“That’s because it’ll be a boy, dummy,” I whisper when I open my eyes to look at Saylor. Save from Shannon, there is no one nearby, so I give him a quick smile before turning back to look at Tally, who is laughing, hands on her belly.
“Saylor?” Shannon asks from my right.
“The one and only.” Saylor nods. “Long time no see, Shan.”
“Why are you so… see-through?” She furrows her brows.
“Why aren’t you?” he asks right back. “It’s what the cool kids do nowadays.”
I roll my eyes at Saylor’s antics, but Shannon’s gaze finds mine, “Is that—”
“Shh,” I hush her when Tim steps forward, holding a glass of something that’s definitely alcohol-free, tapping it gently with a fork to get everyone’s attention before he sets it down on the table with the presents.
The room falls silent, and all eyes turn toward him. “Hey, everyone. Thank you all for being here,” Tim begins, his voice filled with affection. “I just wanted to take a moment to say something about my beautiful wife and the mother of my son, who will make me a daddy soon.”
“I bet she’s already calling you daddy!” one of the fishermen in the crowd hollers, and everyone starts to laugh and snicker when Tally holds up her middle finger in his direction.
I glance at Shannon, who’s put her hand over her mouth, hiding her smile.
Tim half-smirks before he continues, “Ten years ago, Tally and I told you guys that we wanted to marry at the age of twenty. I’ll never forget the looks on your faces, especially Shannon’s.
” He chuckles, looking at the ceiling. “I bet that was the only thing you were ever wrong about, Shan.” He smiles.
“At least it’s the only thing I will ever admit to being wrong about,” Shannon whispers beside me.
“Just about every person I told lectured me I was getting married too young because what I really needed to do was go out there and live it up a little, mix it up with other people before I settled down. And maybe that’s because they look at marriage as the end of the adventure rather than the beginning of it.
I think this is pretty stupid because when you find someone you truly love, respect, and are passionate about, and they feel the same way about you, why would you not want to go through life with that person?
Why would you not want to share those experiences? ”
Tim reaches out to take Tally’s hand, looking at her lovingly.
“Because life’s gonna throw you a lot of curveballs.
You’re gonna have peaks and valleys, and believe me, there will be times when it’s you and her against the world.
And when you come out the other side, you will have a whole new appreciation for what it means to have someone you truly care about with you through everything.
So I’ll tell you what. If you find that person, keep them, no matter what. ”
My fingers prickle, and I look down to find Saylor’s hand touching mine. My gaze comes up to his, and he smiles at me, his eyes soft. I smile right back.
“But even though we had critics and were told we shouldn’t do it, here we are…” Tim continues, his gaze fixed on Tally, “… ten years later, and I’m still so in love with you.”
“Disgustingly so!” Nash’s voice carries from the other side of the restaurant, and my gaze finds him immediately, next to North and Hunter, who must have just arrived.
Fucking perfect.
“Breathe,” Saylor commands softly, stroking the back of my hand when I turn to face him. “You just forgot to breathe there for a moment.”
Laughter erupts again, and Tim’s voice grows more serious as he looks back at Tally.
“I love you disgustingly,” he repeats Nash’s words, his voice softening.
“And I wouldn’t change a thing about my life with you.
I loved every second of the last ten years we’ve been married and the three we were together before that because I had the honor of spending them with you.
” Tears glisten in Tally’s eyes as she reaches for Tim’s other hand, her love for him evident in her gaze.
“This is our next adventure, our next chapter, and since the last one started out so good with this song, I think we should try it again.”
A beautiful cover version of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” starts to play, and Tim extends his hand toward Tally with a tender smile. “May I have this dance?”
“It’s their wedding song,” Saylor whispers softly in my ear.
Shannon is sniffing beside me. “It was the most beautiful wedding ever.”
Tally nods, her eyes shining with happiness, and takes Tim’s hand. They step into the center of the room, surrounded by their friends and family. As they sway to the music, their connection is palpable, love practically radiating from them.
I watch them, feeling a surge of joy for them and, at the same time, longing.
It’s the best feeling.
It’s the worst feeling.
Someone steps in front of me, and I startle when green eyes find mine.
“Sloan,” Adam’s confident smile doesn’t falter as he steps even closer. “What are you doing over here all by yourself?” he purrs, his eyes roaming my body before locking onto mine.
I offer a polite but distant smile. “Just taking a break. I’ll be back in the middle of it shortly.”
But Adam isn’t deterred. He leans in closer, his words dripping with flirtation. “I missed you at work, you know. And I’ve really been craving another round of poker.”
Saylor chimes in, voice dripping with disapproval, “I bet you are, dickhead. He’s trouble, Slo. Don’t talk to him.”
I’m a little annoyed that his overprotectiveness is coming out to play again, but I understand where he’s coming from, so I step back, creating some distance between us, just as Adam reaches out to tug a strand of my hair behind my ear.
His gaze remains intense. “How about we go out for a drink, just you and me?” he suggests, his fingers lingering on my hair.
Before I can respond and push off his hand, a tattooed forearm comes into my line of sight, gripping Adam’s wrist and pulling his hand away from me.
I turn to find a furious Nash, a glaring Hunter, and, at his back, a fuming North.
Oh, hell no.
“Back the fuck up,” Nash growls. “She doesn’t want to go out with you.”
I can’t help but feel a pang of irritation.
Who does he think he is?
I mean, I don’t want to, but Nash doesn’t get to call the shots for me.
He has no say in anything that concerns me anymore.
“You don’t know that,” I retort, giving Adam a small, reluctant smile. “I’d like to get a drink with you.”
“Boo, what the fuck?” I ignore Saylor’s disapproving glare just as much as the scowls on the other guys’ faces.
Adam seizes the opportunity. “Rusty Ripper, tomorrow evening,” he declares, a smirk playing on his lips, seemingly unfazed by the intervention.
I glance at Tally, who’s still dancing. “I’ll be working at the restaurant until midnight tomorrow,” I inform Adam, hoping to have found a way out of this.
“No problem,” Adam says with a wink. “We’ll have an after-work drink then.”
As Adam leaves with a triumphant smirk directed at the guys, Nash, North, and Hunter turn their attention to me. They pounce on me simultaneously, with Saylor chiming in with some curses himself.
“Blue, are you out of your mind? That guy is bad news. You can’t seriously be considering going out with him.”
“He’s a sleazy fucker, I don’t like him, Shortcake.”
“He fucks anything that moves and has a pulse,” Nash exclaims.
“Good thing I don’t have a pulse anymore,” Saylor mutters, making me sputter a laugh.
“You think that’s fucking funny?” Nash takes a step closer, getting even more agitated.
“It is, considering you basically described yourself,” I say flatly, turning to leave, but Nash grabs my shoulder, spinning me around again.
“Don’t do that,” he pleads, his eyes earnest.
“Do what? Call you out?” I ask, my tone cold.
“Hang out with him just to get back at me or us,” Nash explains, his eyes searching mine as if to find a weakness he can pull on.
“I don’t like to say it, but he’s right. Don’t do it,” Saylor pleads.
Hunter adds, “We were just trying to protect you, Sloan. Adam isn’t the kind of guy you should be getting involved with.”
I cross my arms defensively and glare at each of them in turn. “I do nothing because of you. You’re not that important. And I can go out with whomever I want to go out with. Better get used to the fact it’s none of you. You had your chances.”
North’s frustration is palpable as he runs a hand through his hair. “I couldn’t believe you. How could I have?”
“Oh, Thundercunt.” Saylor shakes his head.
A surge of anger hits me, and I form my hands into fists.
“You could have just chosen to trust me. Shocker, I know, but I would hear people who mean something to me out and give them the benefit of the doubt. You knew me enough to finger fuck me against a fucking glass wall but not enough to believe me, to listen to me when I begged you to.” Angry tears well up in my eyes, and I hate myself for them.
Both Nash and Hunter’s heads turn to look at North, disbelief in their eyes.
Well, it seems that was news to them.
“I… fuck.” North’s eyes search mine before he lowers his gaze to the floor.
“Come on, let’s just walk away,” Saylor urges when he sees how much this affects me.
I’m struggling hard to keep from crying.
“You have to see. How could we have believed this just like that? With what you said? We couldn’t—” Hunter starts, but I cut him off.
“You had a choice. There’s always a choice to trust somebody, and you chose wrong.” I’m trembling now, hugging myself and trying hard to keep my chin up.
“Girl, Mac needs you in the kitchen, please,” Tally’s voice comes from behind me, and I turn to look at her, finally letting a tear fall.
“Thank you,” I whisper as I step around the corner, not looking back so they don’t see me cry, but as soon as I’m out of sight, I stop in my tracks, needing a second to breathe, tears running down my cheeks, my hand on my chest.
I’m only a few steps away from them, so I can still hear Tally say, “You guys are the worst. You’re banned! Remember?”
“We were also invited to your party,” Hunter replies.
“That was before you broke my best friend’s heart. Lio can stay and continue to play with the other kids. I’m gonna text you when it’s over, but you three… leave. Please.”
“We just want to make things right, Tallulah,” North tells her softly, ripping my heart apart.
“Unbelievable! You guys share one brain cell, and none of you use it! Give her fucking time to feel hurt! Because you hurt her. You said sorry so quickly that you didn’t even give her a chance to express how much she’s been hurt.
Or take time to think about what you’re even sorry for.
And now you make her look like the asshole for expressing that hurt after you guys said you’re sorry.
Don’t make all the empty promises you know you can’t keep, and don’t think materialistic things will make up for how gigantic assholes you were.
Listen to what she’s fucking saying! She doesn’t want you in her life anymore.
Maybe she isn’t interested in dealing with you apologizing and making her feel like she needs to forgive you.
Her telling you guys to fuck off doesn’t automatically mean you have to apologize harder or more sincerely.
Maybe it just means she wants you to leave her the fuck alone. Give her some fucking space!”
I could kiss her on the mouth for that lecture.
There is a beat of silence before North mutters, “Over my dead fucking body.”