34. Chapter Thirty-Four
That evening, I curled up on the couch, Ruby resting on my feet. A cooking show provided quiet background noise as I worked on a budget that would see me through the next several months of uncertainty. I was developing a plan to chase this new dream of mine, and while I wouldn’t be able to make a living initially, the excitement in my belly told me this was already a better life decision.
A knock on the door pulled me from my dreaming. Ruby jumped off the couch and wandered to the door, giving me an impatient look as I trailed behind her. Both Mallory and Chloe were out for the evening. Mallory was off with Ridge, and Chloe had said something about going to a movie with Derek, a guy who she’d friendzoned but who would very much like to change that.
The possibility of seeing Grey on the other side of the door had me opening it without looking through the peephole, even though I knew chances were slim. More likely it would be a neighbor asking to borrow something.
Pushing the door open, I froze when I saw who waited on the other side: Lyle.
He looked good, but something seemed a bit off. His thick, dark hair was trimmed, as always, though the top wasn’t slicked back into perfect lines. It was slightly mussed, as if he’d been running his fingers through the short strands. His green eyes were rimmed with faint circles, and while he smiled when I opened the door, it appeared forced and uncertain. His shirt was wrinkled, the top two buttons undone.
“What are you doing here?” The words popped out of my mouth, void of pleasantries.
“Hello to you too,” Lyle said.
Ruby took one look at our guest and returned to the couch, not interested. Now I stood alone, in front of the man I’d thought I loved, who had betrayed me more than anyone else in my life, and I felt nothing but mild surprise. Not hurt or anger or shock. All the emotions that I’d thought would come with a run-in with Lyle were absent. Here was the man I’d thought I would marry, and at the moment I wished he was someone else: a bearded man with sexy arms and an average body who had a tendency to talk too much but who also had a remarkable ability to help me be brave.
My fingers reached up, finding the now familiar necklace where it rested against my skin. I’d been touching it all day, as if doing so could connect me to the man who had given it to me.
“After everything you’ve put me through, I don’t think you deserve a hello,” I said, crossing my arms in front of my chest, channeling the same brave Audrey who had told Drew off.
“Can I at least come in? We have things to talk about, and I really—”
I held up a hand, the same strength that had convinced me to quit filling my voice now. “If I’m not going to tell you hello, why on earth would I invite you into my home? You’re lucky I haven’t slammed the door in your face.”
Lyle winced. “I guess I deserve that. It’s just…this isn’t exactly how I pictured this conversation going.”
I glanced around the breezeway, taking in the cement hallway broken up by maroon doors. “Funny, I have no idea what this conversation is, so I can’t tell you where I pictured it happening. Maybe you can start talking, and I’ll let you know if the venue lives up to expectations.”
If I had my way, I would never have another conversation with Lyle. Unfortunately, it was too late for that wish to come true.
Lyle paused for a moment, watching to see if I was serious. When I waved a hand, gesturing for him to continue, he spoke.
“Audrey, I wasn’t fair to you, and I recognize that. The way I treated you was unacceptable. This week has been”—he swallowed before continuing—“hard. I thought I was marrying the love of my life. But then Emily called off the wedding, and I was shattered. Everyone kept telling me I’d get through this. I’d figure it out. And that’s when I realized the one person I wanted by my side who could help me through, help me figure things out, wasn’t Emily. It was you.”
With his last words, Lyle looked me straight in the eye, earnestness filling his expression.
I waited, certain this had to be a cruel prank. There had to be a punch line because there was no way my ex, the man who shattered my heart and trust by cheating on me with my best friend, was begging me to come back. When Lyle didn’t so much as crack a smile, I had to bite down a bitter laugh.
“Excuse me? We haven’t talked to each other in over a year. I found you making out with my best friend! And you think you can just walk over here and feed me some line about how you ‘missed me’ and I’ll, what? Fall into your arms? Declare my undying love for you? Take you back?” I winced, realizing that not too long ago, I might have done exactly that. I had been waiting for life to reset, to go back to the safety and security I had felt as Lyle’s girlfriend. A security I’d been searching for since I was a kid with a dreamer for a mom. But my mom, with all her flighty tendency, had taken risks and found her safe place to land. It was my turn to do the same.
“No. I just thought that, maybe if I explained, we could—”
I held up a hand, cutting him off. Excitement burned in my chest at the realization that the life Lyle had offered was never the life for me. I was forging a new life, one I was actually meant for.
“Lyle, you are a jerk. You’re a manipulative pretty-boy who’s used to women falling at your feet if you just smile, and I’m done. There is no ‘we.’ There is no ‘us.’ There is no ‘Lyle and Audrey against the world.’ You broke my heart, and I’m better for it because now I see that I deserve more. I wish you luck. Actually, scratch that. I don’t wish you anything but the life you deserve. Now, get off my doorstep, and never come back.” I stepped inside the apartment and closed the door, satisfied at the look of complete and utter shock etched on Lyle’s face.
I leaned against the door, processing what had just happened. I expected to feel a small bit of loss, considering that I’d just slammed the door closed on ever getting my life with Lyle back, but instead I felt excitement. In one day, I’d quit my job and told Lyle off. What else was I brave enough to do? My fingers toyed with the necklace at my throat. I couldn’t wait to find out.