The People We Meet Along The Way

by Beth Rinyu

  “Sure.” She smiled, eagerly following behind Theo.

  Roger slid in the now empty seat next to me, reeking of alcohol. “I’m glad to see one of my friends thinks of me.” He raised an eyebrow at Jo and slammed the rest of his drink down.

  “Oh, piss off, Roger. I’m not your friend, so I don’t think of you at all,” Jo replied sharply.

  “Why don’t you go home and sleep it off, mate. You’re drunk as a skunk and have no business being here,” David coaxed.

  “Why would I do that, when there’s a beautiful woman sitting beside me.” He placed his hand on my thigh and I shoved him so hard, he nearly fell out of the booth.

  “If you’ll excuse me, I need to use the ladies’ room.”

  Jo nodded, and Roger stood up, allowing me to get out, holding his hands up in defense. I shot him a dagger and made my way to the restroom. I washed my hands and stood at the sink for some time, not wanting to go back out and be subjected to Roger once again. I wondered if Theo was back or if he left with Phoebe. Even if he wasn’t, I was planning on leaving. I knew my way back to Kate’s house on my own. It had been a fun night until Phoebe had shown up and then Roger. I looked in the mirror and fluffed out my hair for about the tenth time and sighed. It was time to finally face the music and go back out there. Just as I was mustering up the courage to do so, Jo entered the ladies’ room.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  “Yeah. I’m good. I just needed a little break from Mr. Obnoxious out there.”

  “I’m so sorry about that. He’s an egotistical prat when he’s not drinking. Add alcohol to the mix and he becomes Don Juan on steroids.”

  I managed a chuckle.

  “Thee just put him in his place good, though, so I don’t think he’ll be bothering you anymore.”

  “Oh, Theo is back?” I asked nonchalantly.

  “Yes, minus Phoebe, thank God. I feel so badly because I’m the reason she and Thee even know one another. I was out one night for drinks with a bunch of coworkers and Thee showed up. Phoebe latched on to him and instantly became my new best friend, after four years of working with her and maybe saying two words to her the whole time. Can you believe that?” She shook her head. “I guess she thought I was stupid, not seeing what she was after. I tried warning Thee about her, but her pretty face and perfect body won out. Now he’s regretting it.”

  “Well, that’s a guy for you. I…umm. I think I’m gonna head back to Kate’s. It was truly so nice to meet you and David, I really did have a great time, before…well, you know.”

  “So did I, and I really hope we can get together again.”

  “I’d like that.” I smiled.

  “Jillian,” Jo called just as I was about to open the restroom door to exit.

  “Yeah?” I turned around to face her.

  “Please don’t break his heart.” Her eyes clouded over with emotion.

  I shook my head, not comprehending who she meant. Was she really worried about Roger’s feelings after she basically told me what an asshole he was? “I’m sorry, but whose heart are we talking about?”

  “Thee’s.”

  I creased my eyebrows and she must’ve sensed the confusion that was written all over my face.

  “As you know, I’ve known him for a long time, and I could see he cares about you a lot. The man doesn’t have a jealous or violent bone in his body. Roger made a rather inappropriate remark about you when Thee came back to the table and David had to hold him back from knocking Roger’s lights out.”

  Maybe I didn’t know Theo as well as Jo did, but in the short time I did, I knew he was noble. I’m sure it wasn’t anything he wouldn’t have done for any other woman in that circumstance. “I don’t think it has anything to do with being jealous or violent. I think he’s just a gentleman.”

  Jo shook her head. “I saw the way he was looking at you all night long, and it’s different than any other woman he’s been with. He may not be admitting it to you or anyone else, but it’s evident.”

  I looked down at the tiled floor, trying to register this newfound information. There was no way this could be true. Theo and I were buddies. I thought back to the way his beautiful green eyes fixated on me earlier in the night at Kate’s house and the way my heart leapt with excitement over it. Could Jo be right? If she was, I couldn’t let that happen. I wouldn’t. Yes, I found him very attractive, and I cared about him a lot, but Theo was too good of a friend to me. I finally found the courage to look at Jo once again. She was gazing at me with a warm, sympathetic smile as if she could read my thoughts completely. “I promise you—I would never, ever do anything to break that man’s heart.” My voice faltered with just the mere thought of ever hurting Theo.

  CHAPTER 18

  “I’M REALLY SORRY Phoebe pulled that stunt tonight,” Theo said as we walked back to Kate’s.

  “It wasn’t a big deal. Jo and David are great.” I deflected, not wanting to even give Phoebe or Roger a second thought.

  “Yeah. They are,” he agreed. “I took your advice and I told Phoebe it’s over. It was wrong of me to keep stringing her along all this time.”

  “Oh…and how did that go?”

  “As expected. She called me every name imaginable. Said she wished she’d never met me. Wished me a slow, torturous death. You know the usual stuff when one gets dumped.”

  “Yikes.” I cringed. I’m sorry.”

  “For what?”

  “I don’t know. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to say after someone has a breakup?” I grinned.

  “I wouldn’t even say it was a breakup. It wasn’t like she was my girlfriend or anything…more like a stalker.”

  “A stalker with benefits,” I added, causing us both to roar with laughter.

  I was happy to see that we were joking around like normal, erasing any thoughts that Jo had put in my head about Theo having feelings for me beyond friendship. When we arrived back at Kate’s, Anna was sitting on the couch looking frazzled. “Everything okay?” Theo asked.

  Anna sighed heavily. “Kate was in a lot of pain earlier. I gave her some of her meds and it helped. She’s finally sleeping now.” Her voice was laced in distress. “She refused to let me call you. She wanted you and Jillian to have a nice night out.” Anna shook her head. “She made me promise I wouldn’t.”

  Theo immediately went upstairs to check on Kate while Anna gathered her things. As I walked her to the door, she still seemed rattled, so I gave her a hug to reassure her.

  “Everything is going to be fine,” I whispered.

  “I wish I hadn’t listened to her, but she begged me not to call him.” Her eyes were welling with tears.

  “It’s okay. She’s sleeping now. Please don’t feel bad.”

  She nodded and took my hands in hers. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Jillian,” she replied, seeming a little calmer.

  Theo came down the steps just as I closed the door after watching Anna drive away.

  “Is she okay?” I asked.

  “I guess. She’s sleeping, and I don’t want to wake her up to see.” He shook his head. “What the hell is wrong with Kate?” he shouted. “She can be so damn stubborn. I should have checked in with Anna to see how everything was going.”

  “Oh, Theo. Don’t blame yourself for this. There’s nothing more you could’ve done if you were here. Anna gave her the medication she needed and now she’s resting. Don’t beat yourself up over this.” All the stress and worry the last few hours had alleviated from him was now back in full force. His face was sunken in. His swollen eyes were encompassed in dark circles and his complexion paler than normal. “Go upstairs and sleep in the guest room. I’ll take the couch. You’ve had way too much to drink to be driving anywhere tonight.”

  He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts and part of me wondered if he had even heard what I just said. “No...I’ll sleep down here. You go on upstairs to bed,” he finally replied.

  “Theo, I really think—”

  He held up his hand
to stop me, and I didn’t protest any longer. I knew he didn’t have the energy for it. I walked over to where he was standing and stood on my tippy-toes, placing a gentle kiss on his razor-stubbled face.

  “It’s been a very long, emotional day for you. Please get some sleep.”

  He nodded and whispered, “Good night, Jillian.” His raspy voice was so beaten, causing my heart to break a little at the sound of it.

  After checking on Thomas, I got into my pajamas, then slipped into bed with a million thoughts running rampant through my mind. Everything from tonight at the pub, Jo’s little talk with me in the ladies’ room, and the terrified look on Theo’s face as I headed up the stairs just a short time ago. I fluffed the pillow, turning from one side to the other, trying to find a comfortable position before finally falling into a fitful sleep.

  I lifted my head from the pillow when I was awoken to a strange noise coming from the hallway. Grabbing my phone from the nightstand to find that it was after 3:00 a.m., I jolted out of bed to see what was going on. I treaded across the hardwood floor, opening the bedroom door to find Theo sitting on the floor by Kate’s room with his back against the wall and his hands covering his face.

  “Theo?” I whispered, rushing over to him and bending down beside him. “Why aren’t you asleep?” When he removed his hands from his face, I wished he hadn’t. He looked even more defeated than he had earlier downstairs. His swollen eyes were rimmed in red, and I wondered how long he’d been sitting there crying. I stood up and reached for his hand, pulling him up to his feet. “You have to get some sleep. She’s going to need you tomorrow, and you can’t keep doing this with no rest.”

  I was leaving in a few days, so what little help I had been to him would be gone, and unfortunately, I was fairly certain it was only going to get worse. As hard as it was going to be, he needed to pull it together, for Kate’s sake, for Thomas’ sake, and for his own. I led him into the guest room.

  “I want you to sleep in here tonight. I’ll sleep on the couch. You need to get a good night’s rest. You can’t keep going on like this or you’re going to get sick and where will that leave Kate?”

  I reached down on the bed to grab a pillow to take downstairs to the couch, when he took me off guard, grabbing my arm and pulling me into his broad chest. His lips crashed down on mine, engulfing my mouth with his. I struggled for air for a quick second before my breathing returned to a normal pace, matching his.

  We fell to the bed, and as much as everything inside of me was telling me it was wrong, it was equally telling me that it was right. My body was awakening from an endless slumber, by someone I trusted more than anyone. His gentle hands moved under my shirt, caressing the curve of my breast as his lips trailed down my neck. I wanted to protest. I wanted to end it before it began, knowing this would change who we were to each other forever, but I was paralyzed to do so. My body molded into him, allowing whatever was going to happen to happen until Theo backed away abruptly.

  Working through his labored breaths, he took my face in his hands and whispered, “I’m so sorry, Jillian.”

  I shook my head with tears burning my eyes as a gamut of emotions began to rush through me. Guilt for feeling the same intense emotional connection to another man that I had for Evan and fear of losing Theo as a friend because of it. I couldn’t hold my feelings back anymore as the tears spilled onto his chest.

  “Don’t cry. Please don’t cry,” he begged.

  “I’m sorry, it’s just—”

  He placed his finger over my lip to stop me from talking. “Don’t say you’re sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for. I was the one who took advantage of the situation because the truth is everything inside of me is wanting you right now, but I know it’s wrong. You won’t know if I’m doing this because I’m feeling sadder than I ever had in my life and just need someone, and I won’t know if you’re doing it just because you’re taking pity on me. I can’t lose you too, Jillian. You’ve become too good of a friend to me to risk that. You have a huge piece of my heart, but for right now, I have to keep my head about me.”

  Leave it to Theo to sum up exactly how I was feeling without having to render the words myself. As good as it felt to have that closeness with him in that way, it wasn’t worth what we were jeopardizing in doing so. I didn’t want us to end up regretting it after and then resenting each other because of it.

  “Thank you for entrusting me with that piece of your heart. I promise I’ll always take good care of it.” I raised my head and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. “Good night, Theo.” I sat up and grabbed my pillow, continuing with my original plan of sleeping on the couch.

  “Can you…can I just hold you all night?”

  I gazed down at his long lashes and the somber expression on his face accentuated by the light of the full moon outside the bedroom window, and I couldn’t say no. I put the pillow back in its place and lay back down beside him. He pulled me closer, and I rested my head on his chest with his heartbeat providing a soothing lullaby. I felt so safe and at ease with his strong, muscular arms wrapped around me, that it wasn’t too long before I was lulled into a deep and peaceful sleep.

  The rain was beating against the window when I sat up in bed, wondering if last night was a dream. Once I had awoken a little more, I realized it wasn’t. Theo was no longer lying beside me as I grabbed the pillow where his head had been and squeezed it tightly. I closed my eyes, replaying what it felt like to have his hands wandering my body and his lips pressed against mine. I was angry at myself for allowing it to happen, and even angrier because I had enjoyed it. I would have let it go even further if Theo hadn’t put the brakes on it.

  Everything I told myself I wasn’t going let to happen, I did. I only hoped Theo wasn’t beating himself up over it as well. The last thing he needed was to worry about me when he had a million other things rattling around in his mind. Was there a chance that he wouldn’t even remember? He had a lot to drink. He was an emotional wreck. It was quite possible. Just like it was quite possible that what he said was true, it was his state of mind that took over last night and not any deep-seated feelings he had for me. But I knew my response to him wasn’t pity. I was feeling something in that moment that I hadn’t felt in a long time. I raked my hand through my hair, part of me wanting to hide away in this bedroom, but I couldn’t. The sooner we faced each other, the better, then we could put it behind us and get back to normal.

  After brushing my teeth and throwing some cold water on my face, I headed downstairs. Thomas was sitting in front of the television with his sippy cup, watching one of his train videos that he was enthralled with. I squatted beside him and placed a kiss on top of his head. He looked up at me and then pointed to the TV excitedly, bouncing up and down, and saying, “Choo choo.”

  “That’s a big choo choo, I know!” I smiled over his enthusiasm.

  I stood up and took a deep breath, not knowing what awaited me in the kitchen. I heard the clanging of dishes and Anna’s voice, but I wasn’t sure who she was talking to. I took the few steps in and was both surprised and delighted to find Kate sitting at the table with a cup of tea and toast. “Well, morning, sleepyhead,” Anna greeted. She and Kate exchanged smiles as if they had some special secret between them.

  Had some miracle happened overnight? Kate looked and seemed in better spirits than she had since I had arrived here, and Anna was so much more relaxed than she’d been when she left last night.

  “Good morning.” I countered their smiles. Then it finally dawned on me what the secret joke was between them. They must’ve known Theo and I had slept together last night. I was about to explain the situation and let them know that sleeping was the only thing that had happened, but instead I decided to play it cool and say nothing. Why open that can of worms if they really didn’t know and it was just my paranoia setting in? I warily took a seat next to Kate, feeling as if all eyes were on me. Even though I wanted to know where Theo was, I didn’t dare ask. I didn’t want to draw any more atten
tion to the situation. Anna placed a cup of tea in front of me just as Thomas came toddling into the kitchen, taking a seat on Kate’s lap.

  “Even Theo overslept. He scared the daylights out of us. We didn’t know he was here until he came into the kitchen. Kate and I nearly jumped out of our skin. I didn’t even realize his car was parked out front when I came in this morning. Goes to show you how out of it I was!” Anna remarked, and she and Kate both laughed, each with a playful grin plastered across their faces.

  This was my cue. Time to come clean. “Nothing happened. I swear to you guys. He was upset and…” I nervously raked my hand through my hair and Kate placed her hand over my other one.

  “Jillian. It’s fine. You and Theo are both adults.”

  I feverishly shook my head. “No, but it’s not like that between us. We’re just good friends, I swear.” I realized that my desperate plea to Kate and Anna was more for my own benefit than theirs because even though Theo and I hadn’t taken that next step of our relationship physically, we had emotionally, and there was no turning back from that.

  CHAPTER 19

  KATE INFORMED ME that Theo had gotten called into an emergency meeting at work. I had been beating myself up all morning long over what had transpired between Theo and me the night prior, hoping it didn’t change things between us, until I received a text from him putting my mind at ease.

  Theo: Thanks for being there for me last night. I’m sorry for letting things get out of control. You’re a great friend to me. Can I take you to dinner tonight as a thank-you?

  There I had it, a great friend. My hours of obsessing over it had come down to three little words. I was happy now that we could put this past us and continue like normal. I typed out a reply, erased it, thought of something better to say, and typed that out. I shook my head after reading it, erasing that as well. This was so ridiculous. Since when did I have to analyze every word I was sending to Theo? I was the one who was changing things between us by behaving this way. I took a deep breath, pulled it together, and typed out exactly what I was feeling.