Chapter 48
ELLIOTT
Chaos
Weirdo.
Please call me back
I’m so sorry
I don’t even have the stomach to watch Loren drive away. Today was going so well, and then this happened. I stalk down the hill to where Mom and Dad are whispering, no doubt conspiring with each other over this.
They must hear me coming, because both of them look up at the same time, matching frowns on their faces.
“What the hell, Mom?”
Dad stands up taller, stepping between us with his eyes narrowed. “Language, son.”
My language should be the least of their worries, right now. “Why the hell did you invite Alice?” Because I know in my gut that this is her fault. Mom never got over our choice to separate, and she’s been trying to get us back together ever since.
“It’s not your mother’s fault, Elliott,” a woman says from behind me, her smooth, silken tone making the hair at the back of my neck stand on end. “I asked her if it would be all right to come.”
Of course, my ex-wife would be right behind me.
Just when I thought this day couldn’t possibly get any worse. I turn to face the woman I loved for so long. She’s still as beautiful as ever, but when I look at her, all I feel is disappointment. In myself for not being what she needed, but also in her, for being so quick to give us up.
We were supposed to spend our whole lives together, and now, I don’t even know where she lives.
My mother offers her former daughter-in-law a tight smile. “You’ve always been part of our family, Alice. You are welcome any time.”
The thing is, Alice isn’t part of our family, not anymore. She gave up on them the same day she gave up on me.
I blow out a breath, but it doesn’t do shit for the anger spreading through my chest. “I would’ve appreciated a heads-up.”
And then what? Would I have told Loren the whole truth? I really don’t know. I definitely wouldn’t have come here today, that’s for damn sure.
Mom’s eyes soften. “You never told me you were dating someone.”
“Can you blame me?” Who in their right mind would want to be subjected to this shit?
“Elliott…” My father’s tone holds a warning.
This is bullshit.
I never should have let Loren leave without me. Now she has my truck, and I’m stuck here until someone decides to leave.
You know what? No.
I’m not stuck. I’ll walk home if I have to. Whatever it takes to put distance between me and these traitors who are supposed to have my back. To take my side.
Instead, they’ve been colluding with her.
I’m done
So fucking done.
I leave the three of them without another word, searching for August among the sea of faces swimming in front of me. When I catch a glimpse of him near the grill, that’s where I go. He sees me coming and meets me in the middle of the lawn.
“Did you know?”
His chin jerks back as if I just decked him. If he had anything to do with this, I might.
“I know I’m an asshole most of the time, but if I’d known your ex-wife was going to show up to our family reunion, I would’ve one hundred percent told you. That’s fucked up.”
He may be an asshole, but at least he is an honest one.
Unlike me.
I hope Loren can find it in her heart to forgive me, even though I don’t deserve it.
I’m no better than Josh. Yeah, I didn’t cheat on her, but I sure as hell lied by omission. I wouldn’t blame her for wanting nothing to do with me anymore.
Shit. I’ve gotta get home to make things right before it’s too late. She’s probably packing up her things right now.
“I need you to take me home.”
“Why can’t you take yourself?”
“She took my truck.”
August sets down his plate of potato salad and drags out his keys. “No problem, man. But my Jeep’s blocked in, so it’ll take me a few minutes to get it out.”
Of course it is. The only thing that could make this worse is if—
“Elliott, can we go somewhere to talk?”
That. That’s what could make this worse. Apparently, my ex-wife didn’t get the hint when I walked away. “I have nothing to say to you.”
Alice still bites her lip the way she always used to when she was nervous. I hate that I remember that about her. I hate that I remember anything.
“I know you don’t owe me anything after what I did, but I owe you. Please. Hear me out and then you’ll never have to see me again.”
That’s not really true because her mom and dad still live next door to my parents. But pointing that out doesn’t feel very helpful right now.
Nothing she says can make this any better, and now the only woman I want to speak to is gone. But since August has disappeared to free his car, it’s either be a complete asshole or hear her out.
“Fine.”
Her shoulders rise and fall with the soft breath that pushes through her rosy lips. “I’m sorry. I know I said that before, but I am sorrier than you’ll ever know. I shouldn’t have run away. I should’ve stuck it out. You deserved better than that.”
All those things are true, but I’m not sure what she thinks saying them now is going to do.
Her lips lift into a soft smile as she spins the wedding ring I gave her around her ring finger.
What the fuck is she doing still wearing it?
“I had this idea in my head that I was missing out on so much,” she goes on, still spinning, spinning, spinning.
“Every time I went online, I saw all my friends going out to clubs, dating a different guy every other weekend, living life to its fullest.” Her hands fall, and her eyes lift, glittering.
“What I didn’t realize was that they were all searching for something I’d already found with you. ”
I told her that, didn’t I? So did everyone else.
She didn’t listen.
“So, what? All it took was a dickhead or two treating you like shit for you to realize I wasn’t such a mistake after all?”
A single, solitary tear trails down her perfectly sculpted cheek. “I never said you were a mistake.”
No, she didn’t. She just made me feel like one. That feeling of inadequacy lived in my bones until the day Loren Piper moved into my apartment and into my heart.
“What do you want from me, Alice?”
Her soft, hopeful smile makes me want to turn and run in the opposite direction. “I came here hoping for a second chance.”
How long did I wait by the phone, hoping and praying to hear those words?
Too damn long.
Now that she’s said them, I feel nothing but sadness. Because as much as I loved this woman, she has become a stranger to me.
“But when I arrived, I saw you with someone else. You looked so happy.” Her words tremble, and more tears fall.
I am happy. Or, at least, I was until all of this went to shit.
Alice smiles, revealing the dimple in her right cheek. “Your girlfriend is a very lucky woman.”
I don’t know about that, but hearing her say it, seeing the sincerity in her tear-filled eyes makes me feel like it might just be true. If only I hadn’t fucked it up by lying. “I’m the lucky one.” Loren brought me back to life.
August beeps from the driveway, waving a hand at me.
“I’m sorry, Alice. I have to go.” If she says anything else, I don’t hear her. I’m already running toward my future.
But then my cousin Kelly steps out of the house with a neon sun hat and a whistle and shouts, “Your turn to guard the fort, Elliott!”
Shit.
I completely forgot about signing up to play lifeguard. August leaps out of his Jeep and jogs down the hill to snag the whistle. “I’ll take his shift.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, man. Go get your girl.”
I take off running toward his running vehicle.
I only hope Loren is still there when I get back home.