Love Me Like I Love You

by Willow Winters

  “I’m sending him to pick up my parents on Monday,” I announce.

  “No, I’ll pick them up,” he offers. “I think it’d be best for your Mom if I fly them.”

  I’m about to complain when Martina saunters toward us, “Here you are, loverboy. Do you know she’s a New Yorker like us?”

  Loverboy? I mouth and grin because he hates pet names.

  “He does,” I state, in case he wants to deny my existence.

  Pierce, who is close by, takes a step further and says, “Small town, huh?”

  Leyla rolls her eyes.

  I recognize that they are doing the same thing we used to do over the weekends, but Martina has taken my place. Leyla reaches to me and squeezes my hand. “Can I stay? I’m done walking around.”

  “Sure,” I agree, grateful for her company.

  “You should come with us tonight. One of the brothers is playing at the bar,” Martina invites me.

  “I’ll be there,” I respond, not because she’s inviting me but because Beacon likes when we go to support him. I tilt my head toward the people waiting behind them. “Not to be rude, but there are people wanting some information.”

  “Oops,” she apologizes and walks away, dragging Henry with her.

  “I’m okay,” I whisper, after I give instructions to a tourist on how to get to Happy Springs.

  “She’s trying harder to get Henry’s attention,” Leyla says, rolling her eyes. “Are you sure you’re going to the bar?”

  “Yeah. Camden, the new owner, invited me.”

  “You’re getting along with the new guy?” Leyla asks curiously.

  “He’s okay, and I can use a distraction from Martina and her boyfriend.”

  “Don’t be jealous. It’s only temporary,” she says.

  “You’re trying to get a divorce, and every time a woman talks to Pierce, you’re about to pull her hair and poke her eyes,” I remind her.

  “I think he’s seeing someone,” she says. “If I can find out who she is, I’d be able to get my animals and leave him behind.”

  So, it’s the animals? I want to ask about it, but I go for, “Why do you think he’s cheating?”

  “Last Monday, he said he had a conference call with you and Henry,” she explains. “On Tuesday, he says he has to go to Portland with Henry to see the offices. The same day, I spot Henry at The Lodge. Hayes arrives during dinner time, claiming he had some emergency and that there was some legal issue, and since Pierce was down in Portland, he was staying the night to help him.”

  “What kind of legal issue?”

  “He didn’t say, but Pierce didn’t come home until yesterday,” she concludes. “Now the weird part is that all the cars were in the garage when that happened, and Vance was down in Portland with Mills. Henry was with you. Where did he come from?”

  I stare at her and say, “When is your practice opening? You need to go back to work and stop thinking about your husband.”

  “Yes, it sounds like a made-up tale, but I swear he appeared from nowhere. I confronted him, and he just said he had been busy fixing a business deal,” she concludes. “He was hiding in someone’s house. He has a lover.”

  “If he does?”

  “I get the kids after the divorce,” she states, but I can see the sadness in her eyes.

  “Maybe instead of watching Beacon tonight, we can go to my house and drink all the wine,” I propose.

  “We’re a sad pair, aren’t we?” she sighs.

  “No, just confused and in love,” I conclude while handing over the brochures.

  It’s been a long week. It’s Thursday, and I’ve been spending most of my days at the factory. On my way to the house, I send a message to Dad alerting him that I’m not going to visit with him tonight. Julian drops me off and leaves almost immediately. His wife and children arrived on Monday too, and they are just settling down into his new house.

  I had no idea that Henry had moved the entire family. I thought Julian was only visiting for a few days. There’s a lot he’s doing that I don’t know or understand. There are things we don’t discuss anymore because I spend less time on Merkel and more on Aldry’s. It feels strange. I miss my time with him. We used to make decisions together, now…now I feel like our lives are going separate ways.

  When I enter my place, I notice the light in Henry’s office is on. He’s sitting at his desk, staring at his computer screen.

  “Do you know that being an overachiever might be the cause of experiencing emotional abuse as a child?” Henry asks when I step into his office.

  “It’s a way to prove we’re good enough. First, I obsess about doing a task to perfection,” he explains, talking fast, and yet slurring his words lightly. He’s not even blinking. “As if that’s not enough, then, I obsess about how I could do it better. It might seem as if I don’t give a shit about anyone. However, I worry about everyone’s opinion all the time.”

  “You suffered from childhood emotional abuse?”

  He looks at me and sighs. “I didn’t think so. Not until Martina began to yell at Arden. It was horrible. I wanted to take him into my arms and hide away with him. She reminded me of my mother,” he explains. “Apparently, it wasn’t the first time she’s yelled at my nephew. She’s done it before. So while we were at one of those couple counseling appointments, I cracked.”

  Any other day, I’d remind him that I don’t particularly enjoy listening about his relationship with Martina and the progress they’ve made within the past few weeks. However, he looks lost. In need of a friend and, though his relationship with his brothers is a lot better than it was before, I can see why he’s discussing this particular subject with me.

  “Cracked?” I repeat the word.

  “Yes. I heard something go crack inside my head. It sounds insane, but it happened. It was when the therapist asked us if we did something nice for each other, the one thing we learned about the other, and what bothered us during the time we spent together. When it was my turn I said, ‘It irked me the way she spoke to my nephew.’ I went on and on, on how Arden accidentally tripped and spilled water on her, and she exploded. Just like she had done at home, she defended herself and how her attitude toward him was normal. ‘He just needs to learn how to behave,’ she repeated.

  “That’s when it hit me. Those were my mother’s words, my nanny’s, my grandfather’s… Don’t run, don’t play, don’t talk back. Learn how to behave. I was never a kid. So, I told Martina that she can stay here for as long as she wants, but she has to stay away from me and my family because her toxic attitude is the last thing I needed to have in my town.”

  “But maybe that’s something she suffered too,” I say what he might not see. “Children imitate what they learn. As adults we do as we were taught.”

  “Probably,” he agrees.

  He takes a swig of the single malt bottle that’s on top of his desk. I haven’t seen him drink like this since…well, since he learned his father died. His childhood, his past, and his future are the three things that fuck him enough to make him want to lose control.

  “A part of me feels bad, but the other part of me needs her the fuck away from my family,” he admits. “And how am I supposed to have a healthy relationship and be a good parent when my upbringing was so fucked up? So maybe you should be running away from me too.”

  “You’re drunk,” I state.

  He looks at me, his eyes a little lost and sad, “Maybe.”

  “This is what we’re going to do,” I say, pulling out my phone and texting the family.

  Sophia: Henry is at my house and needs a ride home.

  Hayes: On my way. Do I need help?

  Sophia: Maybe bring Pierce, and you should head to my parents. He needs his buddies.

  Hayes: Got it!

  “You’re going to hire a specialist to help you with your own traumas. Maybe Martina’s relationship is a way to help you find a way to relate to other people,” I state. “This thing that you think cracked might’ve been the
imaginary box inside your head where you put all the bad things that you want to forget. They are out in the open, and it’s time to deal with them.”

  “You’re beautiful,” he says. “I love your heart, your brain, and your body.”

  “My brain?”

  “Yes. You’re the smartest person I know,” he declares. “You’re so smart, you’re going to find a way to leave me. It’s okay, I understand. Maybe I deserve someone like Martina. I’ve fucked up a lot. I fucked your life, and you don’t even know it. How can you forgive me?”

  Hayes and Vance enter the house. I notice through the window that Mills, Pierce, and Beacon wait outside.

  I kiss his cheek. “Tomorrow will be a better day. You deserve more than your mother, your grandfather, or anyone who poorly raised you told you. You’ll find love and a family. All the good things that life has to offer, and soon you’re going to realize that there’s no such thing as an Aldridge curse.”

  “Do you still love me?”

  I nod. “Always.”

  “You okay?” Hayes asks.

  “Yeah.”

  “Blaire is coming with Leyla and Arden. We don’t want you to be alone,” he mentions before he leaves with his brothers.

  The next morning, I decide to stay in town, just in case I have to do Henry’s job. I go to the coffee shop and then to the bakery where I find Martina sitting in front of a croissant, staring at it.

  “Need some company?” I ask.

  She nods and barely smiles.

  “What’s happening?”

  “I was Martina Edelstein. Everyone in New York respects me. Here…I’m no one. Henry’s brother is always making fun of me just because I thought his friend was the help. That girl dresses like a hobo.”

  “Who, Grace?” I ask. “You insulted Grace?”

  She shrugs, and I want to tell her who she insulted because I bet this woman is one of those music snobs who idolizes Gracie, the music prodigy, but can’t see past the ripped jeans, tattoos, and colorful hair. She can only picture her with the long black dress and her wig she wears while playing her cello. Well, no one knows that the fancy bun she wears is in fact, just a wig.

  “It’s hard to comprehend how they are raising that little boy. He has zero structure. I’m trying my best to please him, but nothing I do pleases Henry Aldridge. He’s not even mean about it. He’s all understanding. Not that it matters, he doesn’t care about me. You know what he told me during our counseling session?”

  She doesn’t let me answer and continues with her rampage. I really can’t handle her after having to listen to Henry last night. Yet, it seems like I’m in the middle of their relationship.

  “That he’d never want to have a child with me. That his children would have a loving, understanding mother, someone that is nothing like his mother,” she complains. “It hurts because he’s a sweet man, and you know what’s sad, I can see myself married to a guy like him. Or maybe it’s because no one has ever been nice like he has in my life. He’s not going to marry me, and then what am I supposed to do with the rest of my life?”

  “There’s always an option. You can go back to school, find your passion, build something from the ground up. A husband is never the answer,” I explain.

  “Henry is a lot better than my father was with my mother or any of his ex-wives or the women in turn. I…we’ve been going to a marriage counselor, and when we leave the session I think to myself, what am I doing here?”

  Then she repeats, “What am I really doing here? This guy doesn’t want anything to do with me. If I take away his company, he’d be fine living with his brothers and managing this town.”

  “He would,” I agree. Old Henry couldn’t wait to get out of here, but now he’s ready to settle down and make this the greatest town in the world. Not only for the tourists, but for his family and all future Aldridges. “How do you convince a man that you’re the right woman for him?” she asks out loud.

  “I’m from a different world, Martina. If a guy doesn’t want to be with me, I move on and keep going with my life. There has to be something different for you. Have you ever thought about what you want to do for yourself? Being a wife, a daughter, a mother, a sister…they are important, but what about your identity?”

  “I…I wanted—I don’t remember. If I go back home and tell my dad to pay for college because I had a change of heart, he’s going to remind me that this was my last chance. He’s cutting me off from his company which belongs to my brothers once he’s dead.”

  My head snaps and I look at her with a smile. “How about if he dies before you’re married?”

  “I’m not part of his will,” she mentions. “He did the same with my sister. The guy she married is going out with some model. She refuses to divorce him because the longer she stays in the marriage, the more she gets in alimony once they split.”

  Sadly, I know this is something that happens every day, not only in New York, but in many places. Women depending on men because they made us feel like we can’t be anything without them. Martina has a lot of flaws, and she needs to work on herself, but she’s going to take charge of her life.

  “No,” I declare. “You’re going to decide your future. You’ll show your misogynistic father that he underestimated you.”

  “What are you talking about?” she asks, confused.

  “Let’s go to my house. We have a lot to plan.”

  Henry

  It’s Friday night, and we’re hanging out at Beacon's place. Yes, my baby brother has an underground home. This asshole is a genius. He had contractors from other states coming in to work on it so no one would know.

  This guy could work for the CIA. He’d be a perfect spy. He even has a tunnel that takes him from the studio to the garage, and he’s having one built toward the house.

  The best part about coming to his lair is that we can spend the night playing poker, pool, or throwing darts without being under the microscope of the town.

  It sounds bad, but the townies don’t trust us yet. We do our best to blend and be a part of their community, but they don’t miss a chance to publish our pictures and either wonder about our lives or just trash us because we’re Aldridges and our ancestors always treated them as if they were inferior.

  “What’s happening with Martina?” Pierce asks while we’re playing pool. “I’ve barely seen her in the past couple of days.”

  I glance at him, then at the table looking at all the angles.

  “It’s not chess. It’s fucking pool,” Vance grunts. “Why did you invite them, Beac?”

  “They discovered the place. I can’t just make up shit anymore,” he answers with annoyance, then gives Pierce, Hayes, and me a warning glare. “I adore your women, but if they start hanging out down here I’m moving back to Seattle. I need some alone time. You people are overwhelming which is why I have this place. Not for you to spend your Friday nights hanging out.”

  “He has a temper,” I mock him then look at Pierce and shrug. “Apparently she’s friends with Sophia. She’s been going with her to Aldry’s all week.”

  “That’s…” Pierce narrows his gaze, giving me a suspicious look. “Have you asked Sophia what’s happening?”

  “No, I haven’t seen her either,” I state. “She’s out of her house by the time I arrive at the office and doesn’t come back until late at night. Julian is the one who keeps me updated.”

  “The bodyguard who pretends to be your driver,” Vance states.

  “You know?”

  He nods. “Of course, I do. The guy looks like special forces. He told me you hired him to protect Sophia almost three years ago.” Vance crosses his arms. “Quite interesting if you ask me. Why bring him back when I could provide her with someone as capable to be her security detail? Unless you want her to keep thinking he’s just a spare driver.”

  Pierce takes out his wallet, takes a few hundred dollar bills out of it, and places them on the table. “Five hundred says that she’s going to rip him a new one when s
he figures out that Julian’s been babying her since she became his assistant.”

  “Will she leave him?” Beacon asks.

  “Like a whole production where she storms out of the office and he has to beg her for forgiveness?” Hayes asks, pulling out his wallet. “No, I think she’s going to lash out at him, but she’s too mature to be dramatic. She might even find it endearing.”

  “So what are we betting on?” Beacon asks. “I’m confused.”

  “She’s going to leave him,” Pierce says, tapping the money.

  “Technically, we’re not together,” I remind him.

  “Nah, she’s going to give him shit but love him more,” Hayes insists, setting a pile of money beside Pierce’s.

  Beacon looks at them and shakes his head. “I have money. There’s no point in betting that. I say she leaves his ass and quits Merkel and Aldry’s. If I win, you get to do my chores for a month.”

  “Now he’s talking,” Mills grins. “I’m with him and Pierce.”

  “You know, Sophia would come in handy right now. She’s the one who knows how to set up boards and shit,” Vance states. “I’m with Hayes though.”

  “What about you?” Hayes asks me.

  “I’ll just be praying that those three assholes are wrong.”

  “But if we’re right, it’s a month free of chores,” Beacon states happily.

  I’m not concerned about what's going to happen when she finds out or if she ever finds out. Maybe how I did things wasn’t the best way, but she needed it. My only worry is if she’s ever going to come back to me.

  Going to a marriage counselor has become eye-opening. As Sophia suggested when she found me at my office drunk, I hired a therapist to help me with my underlying issues too. I need a way to handle all those childhood traumas that are coming to the surface because my life is changing radically.

  Who knew that every time my mother and grandfather called me a mistake I was being abused? Who knew emotional abuse existed? According to Google, a lot of adults would rather not mention they suffered from it. Mental illnesses are such a stigma. I should look into creating a program that helps people who, like me, can’t seem to understand why they are so angry at the world.