Chapter 9 #2
He was downstairs.
Downstairs meant mere steps from her apartment. From Will. She couldn’t let that happen. She couldn’t let Will find out about Simon this way. She had to stop him.
She hadn’t seen Simon in years. But her fear of seeing him was microscopic in comparison to her fear of the scene he could make in front of Will.
She stood up, only then realizing that her cheeks were soaked in tears. She swiped at her face and then took the deepest breath she could manage before walking out of her room. Will was at the bar with Riley, pouring an entire bottle of Prosecco into a large glass bowl.
She snuck out as quietly as possible, keeping her head down to avoid catching anyone’s eye. As she slowly closed the door behind her, she noticed Mrs. Pachenkis looking out from her apartment.
“Keep it down in there,” Mrs. Pachenkis ordered.
Naomi gave her a tight smile and waved.
The normally short ride down the elevator stretched like a walk to the gallows. She didn’t know what he was going to say. Or do. But she knew that she had to do whatever it took to get him out of there as quickly as possible.
The elevator doors opened to the apartment lobby. Outside the lobby doors, illuminated by the courtyard lights, she could see Simon leaning up against the glass window.
With a slow, deliberate exhale, she attempted—and failed—to calm her nerves.
Walking across the lobby, she pressed the doors open.
In the dusky light, she could still make out his handsome features that hadn’t changed even after all this time.
A few inches taller than her, with a sharply defined face that was softened by chestnut brown hair and forest green eyes, Simon had taken her breath away the first time she met him and, fight it as she might, he still did every time she saw him, even today.
His mouth broke out into a broad smile when he saw her.
He was wearing a pair of simple, brown chinos and a navy peacoat, both of which clung to his well-maintained frame as he pushed away from the window.
“Kiwi! Wow, I’ve missed you.” He reached out to brush her cheek with his hand.
She turned her face from him, and he jerked his hand away.
“Sorry, I forget I’m not supposed to do that anymore. ”
She crossed her arms and squeezed herself tightly, feeling like her seams were about to burst and she was barely holding herself together. “Not supposed to—Simon, you’re not supposed to be within one hundred yards of me!”
The smile on his face disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. “You want to start things off like that?”
“I’m not starting—” She cut herself off. Trying to win an argument with Simon would never work. “This isn’t a good time, Simon. You need to leave.”
“I know all your friends, all our friends, are up there.” His eyes flicked up at her apartment window, then back down.
“But they can wait. We are more important than a party. More than anything. I’ve realized that.
I’m back in anger management classes, Naomi.
I’m seeing my therapist again. I stopped drinking.
I came here to tell you I did all this for you.
I know our marriage is over, and that’s my fault.
But I want to be someone who deserves a place in your life, even if it’s only as friends. ”
She had heard variations of this speech dozens of times, but it still sent fresh ripples of pain through a part of her. The part that wanted so badly to believe that this time it was true and he had finally, really changed. “What if you called me next week? After the holidays?”
“No!” he said. He rubbed his hands against his face as if trying to wipe away a rage that was starting to brew. “You can’t even give me five minutes?”
In that instant, she knew nothing had changed at all. The anger in his voice made her heart slam in her chest like a jackhammer, and she took a step back. “Simon, this isn’t a good idea …” she said, her voice hoarse as she started to fight back tears.
“Don’t say that,” he tried to say softly, but there was a sharpness to his words she knew too well.
“Don’t say that, love. You know that we were always meant to be together.
And I know that any problems we’ve had were because of me.
But I promise you, I’m different now. This …
this is the new me. All I want is a chance to show you I’ve changed.
Won’t you at least give me that chance?” He reached out and put his hands on her arms.
His grip on her felt like a noose tightening around her neck, choking the air out of her lungs, and she lowered her eyes, hoping to hide the unwanted tears that were starting to fall.
“The hell?” a voice asked.
They both followed the sound to find Abigail standing a few feet from them on the sidewalk.
The bag of ice she had from the store was at her feet, and ice cubes were scattered around her like an impressionist painting.
Relief washed over Naomi. Followed by shame.
Abby would do what she had always done, what Naomi could never do for herself. Abby would protect her.
“Abigail,” Simon said with a smile, as if greeting an old friend. He released Naomi’s arms and smiled.
Abby didn’t smile back. Instead, she thundered towards them, her body seeming to grow in size and ferocity with each step. She situated herself squarely between Naomi and Simon, bringing her face directly in front of Simon. “Leave.”
The friendly facade vanished, and his eyes sparked defiantly. “Stay out of this, Abigail.”
“Simon,” Naomi spoke calmly, afraid that the situation might escalate. “Please, just go.”
Simon looked back at Naomi with a snarl. “You still letting this woman run your life?” He turned back to Abby. “Stop getting involved in other people’s business. Let her decide what she wants.”
“She did decide what she wants, Simon,” Abby said, her voice firm. “When she had a restraining order put against you. Now leave.”
“You don’t get to—”
Abby pointed towards the street and said loudly, “Go. Now.”
They stood in silence, waiting, until after an eternity, Simon took a step back. And then another.
“I won’t give up,” he said before, thankfully, turning and walking away.
They stood together, not speaking, as he made his way down the street. When at last he turned the corner, Abby pulled Naomi into a tight hug.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
Naomi nodded into her friend’s shoulder. “Thank you,” she said.
Abby released her. “What happened? Why was he here? Why were you here?”
Naomi wished she could skip over this part. “It’s nothing,” she said. “He texted he was here, and I came down to tell him to leave.”
“I can’t believe he’d do that to you. I want to be more upset but I’m too happy that he screwed himself so royally.
He was probably counting on getting you alone so it would be a he said, she said situation.
He didn’t expect me to show up and be a witness to his restraining order violation.
Thank you, Riley, for your ice disaster.
Naomi, this means we can finally report him to the police! We have proof this time!”
That thought hadn’t crossed her mind, but as it did, her body tightened, forcing out a single, intense, “No.”
Abby's eyebrows lifted, a look of consternation etched between her brows. “What?”
I’d run away …
“It’s not that simple.”
“What do you mean? It’s incredibly simple. We call the police. Simon goes to jail. End of story.”
She shook her head, wishing Abby would let it go.
“You know it’s never like that. There’ll be reports and court dates, and even then, who knows if he’ll actually go to jail?
All it’s going to do is make him angrier and more dangerous.
And …” Naomi stabbed her tongue between her teeth and bit down as hard as she could.
She wasn’t ready to have this conversation.
But Abby wasn’t fooled. “I see what you’re doing. Nice try,” she gave a single shake of her head. “What are you not telling me?”
Naomi released her tongue and let out a sigh. “Will,” she said slowly, each word dragging like it weighed a thousand pounds. “He doesn’t know.”
“Doesn’t know,” Abby repeated. “Doesn’t know what? That you have a restraining order against Simon?”
“He doesn’t know anything about Simon,” she answered, her voice as beaten down as she felt. “He doesn’t know I was married before.”
“You haven’t told him yet?” Abby asked, her volume rising with incredulity.
A rush of frustration coursed through Naomi, and she found herself matching Abby’s volume. “If I tell him, then he’s involved!”
“He’s already involved!” Abby exclaimed.
She blew out a measured breath and then said in a softer voice, “He was involved the moment you let him buy you dinner. I know we all told you to take your time, but we meant like a few dates, not a few months. Simon is a big part of your life. You can’t leave him off the books like he’s an accounting error. And Will deserves to know the truth.”
“You make it seem like I haven’t given this any thought!
" she said, her words pouring out of her like acid, each one laced with raw emotion. "But I have. I think about it all the time, and this, what happened, only proves to me that I’ve made the right choice in all this. Right now, Will is upstairs, hopefully having a wonderful time at his girlfriend’s party.
But if I call the police, then it’s over. ”
“I don’t think he’ll care if the party is over.”
“Not the party, Abby! Everything we have is over; it will never be the same. Once Will knows, then … then he’s a part of it.
He’s part of the mess I made. I don’t want him to have to live like me and be scared every time my phone rings or there’s fast footsteps behind me.
He didn’t sign up for that when he picked me, and he doesn’t deserve it. ”
“But—”