25. Twenty-Five
TWENTY-FIVE
Going to lunch with Mick made me nervous, although I had no idea why.
I was an adult, and he was never the villain I made him out to be. Okay, he was never the villain of my story. He was likely the villain of my mother’s story, which gave me pause.
She would not look kindly on us having lunch together. In fact, she would see it as disloyal to the nth degree. That was the thought that gave me pause outside Sunday Sunday, an adorable diner that Wylie and I had found a few weeks before. They had an eclectic menu and comfortable booths.
Mick’s hand landed on my back, reminding me that I’d stopped moving. “I know what you’re thinking,” he said in a low voice.
“That my mother is going to look at this as the most disloyal thing I’ve ever done?” I challenged.
“Yes.” He managed a flat smile. “I’ll take the blame for it and say I forced you into it, should it become an issue. We really need to talk, though.”
My first instinct was to argue. We didn’t need to talk. He’d left my life a long time ago. When I pictured Wylie’s face as I told her I could never see her mother and stepfather again, though, it made my stomach threaten a revolt.
“Okay.” I walked into the diner and waited for the hostess to send us to a table. Once we were seated, I made a big show of looking at the menu. “The Raspberry French Toast is great,” I blurted when the silence had stretched too long.
He arched an eyebrow. “That sounds like something that would make Wylie happy.”
“She loves pancakes and French toast,” I agreed.
“You’ve always preferred eggs.”
That gave me pause. How could he remember that? “Um …”
“Take a breath, Huxley,” he ordered. “I get that you’re worked up. I don’t blame you. This isn’t going to be nearly as bad as you think it’s going to be, though.”
I had my doubts, but I didn’t argue. “Okay.”
The server picked that moment to take our orders.
“I’ll have the Savoy Sunrise,” I said. “Eggs over-medium. I’ll have the London Fog as well, hot, and an orange juice.”
The server nodded and turned to Mick.
“I’ll have the shrimp and grits and a black coffee, please,” he said, smiling as he handed over the menu.
The server took it before bouncing off, leaving me nothing to do but stare at him.
“Where do you want to start?” Mick asked.
It felt like a trick question. “I thought you had something you wanted to tell me,” I pressed.
“I do, but there are some things I want to say to you, too. About Wylie.”
My blood ran cold. “I’m not letting you break us up.” If he thought he was going to bully me into saying goodbye to the best thing that had ever happened to me, he was sadly mistaken.
“I have no interest in breaking you up,” Mick replied. “I think you’re actually a good pair. I thought you were a good pair back then, too, although your mother had a good point about that when I was going to press the issue.”
I was so very confused. “What are you talking about?”
“We had bets on when you guys were going to get together.”
“You did not. I was a total jerk to Wylie.”
“Yes, but we knew why you were a total jerk.”
I had no idea what I was supposed to say. “Um …” I stared at my hands on top of the table. I was still staring at them even after the server delivered our drinks.
“Did you really think we didn’t notice that you had feelings for her?” Mick finally asked.
“I didn’t know that I had feelings for her until recently,” I replied. “I didn’t see it. I just thought she irritated me.”
“I’m sure she did irritate you.” Mick grinned. “The best ones always do.”
His smile irritated me. “Are you talking about Mom or Aggie?”
He sighed. “Okay, we’ll talk about Wylie after we get through this.” He seemed resigned. “All I ask is that you listen to me, everything I have to say. Then if you want to throw your breakfast at me, or even throw a punch, I’ll take it. You’ve earned the right to stand up for your mother.”
We both knew I was likely to do neither of those things. I had a sharp tongue, but my mother had taught me at an early age that it was never a good idea to cause a scene. As for throwing a punch, it was just something I didn’t do. “Fine.” I nodded. “Say what you have to say.”
That seemed to be enough acquiescence for him because he immediately started speaking. “Two years before I married your mother, I was in love with Aggie,” he announced.
My mouth fell open. “W-what?”
He nodded. “We met when I was working as an organizer for one of the conferences. It was in New York City. She was one of the speakers for the event, and we got to talking, and I fell head over heels for her.”
“But … I never knew you dated Aggie.” I searched my memory hard and came up with nothing. “How could I not know that?”
“Because your mother didn’t want you to know, and Aggie didn’t want Wylie to know.”
“But … I don’t understand.” I just couldn’t wrap my head around it.
“I’m trying to explain.” He sipped his coffee, then continued.
“At the time, Aggie was on her own. Lucy was a baby, and Wylie was about 10 or so. I knew even then she was going to be a firecracker.” He smiled when looking back.
“She had the most amazing imagination. She would tell me these stories about being abducted by aliens, and they were ridiculous, but she was so sincere I almost believed them.”
A smile crossed my lips, unbidden. “I bet she was adorable. That was before I knew her.”
“Actually, that was right around the time you were meeting her,” he clarified, his smile disappearing. “I know that it’s hard to imagine love at first sight being possible, but that’s how I felt about Aggie.”
I thought back to the first time I’d seen Wylie again, at the dinner that had ended poorly. I’d been rude and obnoxious, and only now did I realize why I’d done it. Because I was falling for her in a single glance, too.
I rubbed my forehead. “I get it.”
He smirked but didn’t give me a hard time about it. “I don’t know if you’re familiar with the situation with Lucy’s father,” he started.
I racked my memory. “All I know is that Lucy and Wylie have different fathers. Wylie’s father took off and didn’t pay child support. I think Lucy’s father did pay child support if I’m remembering correctly.”
“That’s the gist of it,” he confirmed. “Michael — that was Lucy’s father — left right around the time Lucy was born. He wasn’t there for her birth. He left right before, so Aggie was feeling vulnerable when we met. She was full of hormones and didn’t think she could trust her feelings.”
I could see where this was going. At least I thought I could. “You fell in love with her, but she didn’t love you back.”
“She did love me back, but she didn’t want to love me, if that makes sense.”
I nodded. “Okay, that still doesn’t explain how you ended up with my mother.” Or how he’d left my mother for Aggie.
“I was determined to make Aggie believe me when I said I loved her,” he continued. “I was going to be patient and give her whatever she needed. We dated for months, and it was going well … and then Michael came back.”
My heart sank. “I don’t remember that.”
“You were a child. Your mother and Aggie were just getting their writing partnership off the ground. It’s not as if your mother would have told you about it.”
He took a deep breath. “Michael wanted his family back, and Aggie was torn,” he explained.
“She didn’t trust Michael — she was having trouble trusting anybody — but she thought Lucy deserved a chance to have her father in her life.
She said she felt guilty because Wylie never had a father, and she thought that had been to Wylie’s detriment because …
well, because Wylie was so out there with her stories and the things she was interested in. ”
“There’s nothing wrong with Wylie,” I insisted.
Mick, recognizing my tone, held up his hands to placate me. “I didn’t say there was. I said that Aggie believed that Wylie was somehow given the short end of the stick because she didn’t have a father. I didn’t want to make Aggie choose, so I took a step back.”
He ran his tongue over his lips, and I could tell that the next part would be the most difficult part.
“Your mother and I started hanging out — just as friends — in the aftermath of Aggie going back to Michael. We weren’t dating.
I planned to wait out Michael, knowing he would leave again, and then your mother asked me out. ”
I just blinked.
“I should have said no, but I was feeling particularly vulnerable that night,” he explained. “I told her it was just as friends and she agreed. We got drunk, though, and one thing led to another.” His grimace matched mine.
“You’re not blaming my mother for this, are you?” I practically growled.
“Not entirely, no. We both made huge mistakes. You promised to hear me out.”
I folded my arms over my chest and glared at him.
He took that as his sign to keep going. “Your mother decided that since we’d slept together, we were going to be a couple.
I told her no, but there was no sign of Michael and Aggie breaking up, at least that I saw.
Your mother kept guilting me about using her, and finally, I gave in. I agreed to date her.”
He rubbed his forehead, and I could tell this was difficult for him. I didn’t care. My mother was the one who had ended up most hurt in this arrangement.
“Your mother suggested marriage about a month after we’d started dating,” he supplied. “I wasn’t prepared to get married, but she said it would make things easier for Aggie. If Aggie saw us together, she would allow herself to be happy with Michael.
“You have to understand that from all outward appearances, Michael and Aggie looked happy,” he continued. “They seemed to be making it work. I didn’t want to steal Aggie’s family from her. I didn’t want to supplant Michael, and I did want Lucy to have a father.”
“So, you agreed to marry my mother even though you didn’t love her,” I guessed.