Chapter 16
Kourtney
H ow is it possible Matthew’s wife Evie and Tiny’s aunt Evie are the same?
Why would this happen to me?
Just my luck. I’m sure Matthew has fed her nothing but lies about me. That’s the only explanation for the vile things she’s said.
When I was dating Ben, I actually got along with Evelyn, or Evie, as Tiny and his mom called her.
The look on Tiny’s face when Evie accused me of sleeping with her husband and ruining her marriage is stuck like a screensaver inside my head. I left because I panicked and felt cornered. No matter what I could’ve said, there’s no way they would believe that I never slept with him. In their eyes, I’m sure I’m the woman who ruined Evie’s marriage.
Does Tiny believe that I could do that?
By the look on his face, yes, he could. I would say he does.
As distraught as I am, there’s only one place I can think to go.
Not home, but to the only person aside from my parents that feels like home to me.
Reggie’s.
My phone died on my way to the disaster of a dinner at Tiny’s, so I can’t even call to give Reggie a head’s up about the dumpster fire headed his way. Pulling up to the gate outside of his neighborhood, I hit the call request button. After tapping their address on the screen, I wait for what feels like an eternity for one of them to answer.
“Hello?” Owen’s voice cracks through the speaker box.
“It’s me, Owen,” my own voice cracks in response.
“Kourt? What are you doing here?” he asks gently.
“Can I please come in?”
Not even five seconds later, the machine buzzes loudly, and the automatic arm raises to let me through the gate.
I hold the tears in until I see Owen waiting for me with the door wide open. By the time I make it up the driveway, Reggie is standing behind him with his arms open for me. As soon as I step into them, the tears start to fall, and it’s impossible to get them to stop.
I vaguely feel Owen put a gentle hand on my back and guide us into the living room. Reggie pulls me down on the couch next to him and wraps me in a tight embrace. “What happened, babe?”
“He’s done it again!” I sob. “As if forcing me to quit and leave Phoenix wasn’t enough, now I’m going to lose the only man I’ve ever given a shit about!”
“I’ll try not to take offense to the ‘only man you’ve ever given a shit about’ comment, but still, I ask, what happened?”
“Tiny is Matt’s wife’s nephew!”
Through my tears, Reggie’s blurry face turns concerned and a tad bit confused, so I do my best to explain the events of the evening that brought me here, crying and furious.
“Tiny came by the office today and told me he wanted me to meet his mom and aunt since they came into town. I grabbed a bottle of my favorite wine and went over there. I'll admit I was nervous as hell, but I wanted to go because we made our relationship official yesterday. He said something about me being an old lady,” I ramble and wave my hand before continuing. “Anyway, he told me how he was ready for me to meet his mom, so after a minor freak out, I agreed. Well, color me surprised when in walks his aunt, Matt’s wife. Evie, or Evelyn, or whatever.” Forcing myself to take a deep breath, I wipe the moisture from underneath my eyes and brush my fingers against my jeans. “She caught me in the dining room alone while Tiny was opening my wine, and I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have to do anything. She came at me swearing up a storm, calling me every name you can think of.”
“Damn,” Owen says from his spot behind the couch.
“He came in before I could even get a word out, and she quickly acted like nothing happened. All through dinner, it seemed fine, and I got along well with Emily, Tiny’s mom. But after his mom asked me why I became a lawyer, Evie snapped and told them all that I got fired for fucking Matt for a promotion.” I can’t help the fresh wave of tears that pour down my cheeks. Normally, I’m not such an emotional person. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with me.
“Well, hell,” Reggie exhales. “You just took off? Did Tiny try to stop you?”
“I don’t know. His face looked horrified. Like he believed her. I ran out of there like a bat out of hell. Even if he did run after me, I wouldn’t know.”
“Has he tried to call you?”
“My phone’s dead,” I say, staring at the home design magazine on their coffee table.
Owen rounds the couch and sits on the coffee table right in front of me. “He’s gotta know you’re not like that, right?”
I shrug. “We haven’t been seeing each other that long. I mean, hell, that’s his aunt. I wouldn’t blame him for believing her over me.”
“You need to talk to him. Explain yourself,” Reggie adds.
I spin towards him. “You think I want to go back there now? After I ran away like a little girl!”
Reggie chuckles at my obvious freakout. “No. And I don’t mean right now. Give it a day or two, then explain to him what happened.”
“Still, I don’t know that he’ll believe me over her.” I shake my head. The thought of explaining that lightning storm of a situation to him makes me want to vomit.
Owen reaches forward and grabs ahold of my hand. “You won't know unless you try, yeah?”
I nod gently and release a breath.
“Why don’t you go take a warm shower? I assume you came here since you don’t wanna go home?”
I nod again, forcing myself to give them both a small smile.
Thank God I bought that self-feeder, so Meatball should be okay for a night without me. He’s probably stretched out on my bed, snoozing away. I go to grab my phone to check on him through the app Tiny set up for me, but I remember my phone is dead.
“Can I borrow a charger? I just want to check on Meatball.”
“Of course, babe. I’ll grab you some clothes to sleep in and a charger while you’re in the shower.”
“Thank you guys for being the best,” I sniffle, pushing up from the couch.
Reggie walks me to the spare room and squeezes my arm one last time before I close myself in.
Stepping into the blissful steamy shower, I try not to picture Tiny’s face when Evie spouted her accusations. All these months, I’ve tried so hard to forget about why I left Phoenix, and in the span of one hour, it’s all been brought back to the surface. It makes me sick to my stomach.
I’m barely out of the shower when a wave of nausea passes over me. I drop to the floor, and my stomach unloads itself into the toilet.
Jesus.
What the hell?
Standing up on shaky legs, I rinse my mouth out under the faucet while simultaneously pulling the cabinet drawers open. Thanking my past self for leaving a toothbrush here, I use it to clean out the sour taste of vomit from my mouth.
Padding out to the bedroom, I see Owen or Reggie has left me a t-shirt and sweatpants along with a charger sitting atop my purse.
After drying off and pulling on the too-big-for-me clothes, I plug my phone in and wait for it to turn on. I turn on the TV and queue up Netflix for some background noise, and when my phone finally turns on, I open my home camera app.
Meatball is exactly where I imagined he would be, spread out at the foot of my bed, sleeping.
In a panic, I chuck my phone across the bed when it lights up with an incoming call from Tiny. Battling with myself about whether to answer it, I grab the phone and ignore the call while powering it back off.
This seems like a problem for later, Kourtney. Right now, present-Kourtney just wants to wallow in self-pity. I get up and plug the phone into the outlet in the far corner of the room, ridding myself of the anxiety of the imminent conversation I’ll have to have with Tiny.
What are the freaking odds? I swear, this would only happen to me.
What the hell am I supposed to say to convince him and his family that I didn’t do anything? I’m sure the entire company thinks I slept with Matt, so it shouldn’t surprise me that his wife thinks I did, too.
Emma is probably the only person in that entire office that believes me.
Emma!
My leg gets twisted in the blankets, and I jump out of bed to retrieve my phone, and I yelp as I land on my ass in the middle of the floor. “Fuck!” I curse, rubbing my sore ass.
Grabbing my phone and turning it on once again, I find Emma’s contact and press call.
“Lo?” Emma’s sleep-filled voice says into the speaker.
“Emma!”
Static noise comes through the phone on my end before, “Kourtney? Is everything okay? It’s midnight.”
I pull my phone away from my ear and look at the time. How is it already midnight? How long was I lying here staring at the ceiling?
“Shit! Sorry, Em.”
“No, no. It’s okay. What’s up?”
“So, long story short, I’ll save the details for later, but I need to know who all thinks I got fired for sleeping with Matt?”
“Holy crap, that’s why you’re calling at midnight?” More ruffling comes from her end, and it kind of sounds like she’s sitting up in her bed. “Well, I had lunch with Raya, you know, Stan’s assistant. She took me to lunch when I told her I was moving.” Emma clears her throat, and when she continues, her voice sounds much more awake. “The rumor is Matt was sleeping with two different interns and Robby’s new assistant, Charlotte, who used to work in marketing. The other rumor is Charlotte’s pregnant, and it’s Matt’s.”
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah. Anyway, Charlotte showed up in Matt’s office, not realizing he was on a call with the other partners. She was crying that she was pregnant and said he needed to finally leave his wife like he had promised her. You know, the usual mistress sob story.”
I’m struck speechless as Emma continues. “What Charlotte didn’t realize was that Raya was also in on the meeting because she was trying to finalize numbers or something like that. I don’t really know. Then Raya was talking to Lucy, who just so happens to be the other intern Matt was also sleeping with, who then freaked out and went to Matt’s wife. I don’t know how your name got put into it, but the rumors were there before you left, so that’s probably how you got caught up in it.”
“Holy shit.”
“Is that all you can say?” Emma giggles.
I take a deep breath. “Emma,” my voice cracks.
“What is it? I don’t like that sound.”
“Remember the man who was on FaceTime with me when I went to look at your apartment?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, I’ve kinda been seeing him. And I like him a lot. Honestly, I might venture to say more than a lot.”
“What about him, Kourt?” Emma asks gently.
“Matt’s wife is his aunt.”
“Oh no.”
“Yeah.”
“And he thinks you broke up their marriage?”
“I honestly don't know what he thinks. I ran out of his house and haven’t talked to him since.”
“Ok, what do you need from me?”
This is why Emma is the best. I value her friendship even more than I think I value her as an assistant, which is why it’s killing me to wait for her to finally get her butt here. She doesn’t feed you with bullshit lines about ‘stuff being okay,’ she asks how she can help, what I need from her. She is the absolute best.
“Nothing right now, Em. But can you please get here faster? I may need your backup if it comes to it.”
“The moving truck is actually coming tomorrow, so I’ll be there before you know it. But I’m just a phone call away. My trainer says I have a mean right hook. So I can help with that, too.”
That pulls a giggle out of me. Picturing Emma punching anyone, let alone Tiny, is comical.
“Calm down, killer. Put your guns away. I don’t need to fight anyone yet,” I add with a smile.
Hanging up with Emma, I look down to see I have thirteen missed calls and ten voicemails.
I turn my phone back off, not wanting to hear what Tiny has to say just yet. I can’t fathom the thought that they could be voice messages of him yelling at me for being a homewrecker or anything of that sort, so I ignore them for now.
I fall asleep to a trashy episode of Love is Blind that I’ve already seen. Thankfully, it’s a dreamless sleep.