Pieces of Us

by Hannah Downing

  “Hey,” she said with a smile.

  This was a new experience for us. We’d been best friends for as long as we could remember and neither of us had had a serious boyfriend before. I knew Lucy was jealous of the time I’d been spending with Cameron, but I hoped now we could all hang out together.

  “Hi, Lucy,” Cameron said, pulling me close to him in the booth and picking up a menu. “What do you want to drink, babe?”

  “I’ll have a vanilla Coke,” I said, smiling at him.

  I looked over at Lucy and raised my eyebrows, questioning what she thought of him. She nodded and licked her lips, our code that she thought he was hot. I giggled.

  “So, Cameron, is Charlotte your first-ever girlfriend? You look like a guy who’s had a bit of experience.”

  My eyes narrowed. What she was trying to do?

  Cameron shifted awkwardly and cleared his throat. “No, Charlotte isn’t my first girlfriend. But I wouldn’t say I’ve had a lot of experience. I dated a few girls in high school — nothing serious.”

  “It’s okay. You don’t have to explain yourself,” I said, giving Lucy a firm stare.

  “I’m just looking out for you, Char. I want to make sure you’re with a good guy,” Lucy said, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “I need to go to the bathroom, excuse me,” I said to Cameron as I stood up. “Join me, Lucy?”

  She made a big drama about getting up before following me through the diner to the bathroom.

  “What are you doing?” I asked as soon as we were through the door.

  “Nothing. I just don’t think he’s good for you. He looks like a player. He’s probably just going to cheat on you — or dump you because he gets bored.”

  I stared at her for a moment, but then I understood. “You’re jealous!”

  “Am not!”

  “Yes, you are! You think he’s attractive, and you don’t know what he’s doing with me,” I elaborated. I knew Lucy always thought of herself as prettier than me, and we’d had a similar argument when Ethan asked me to the prom.

  She gave me a smug look. “You’ll see, and I’m the one who’ll have to pick up the pieces when he breaks your heart, just like I did with Ethan.”

  Maybe she was looking out for me. My anger quickly dissipated. “I need you to like him. I love him, and he loves me, and he’s going to be in my life.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Okay, I’ll be nicer,” she promised, giving me a hug.

  We walked back through the diner, and I smiled when I saw Cameron waiting for us to return. I could tell he was nervous because his leg was bouncing and he tapped his fingertips on the table. I wished I could run my hands through his thick black hair and calm him down.

  “He is fucking hot!” Lucy said as we returned to the table…

  “I don’t know about this.” Suddenly the idea of seeing Lucy was making me ill.

  “What do you mean? Don’t you want to get back at her?” Bonnie asked. “Ooh, I know — you should walk into the office, pretend you don’t recognize her, and say you need to see David because you’re pregnant with his son’s child!”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yes, and that information wouldn’t fly around town at the speed of light and give Owen a heart attack when he heard it from a stranger at the gas station.”

  “Oh, right,” Bonnie replied, looking disappointed.

  We rode up the elevator to the second floor and got out. The sign on the door said D. Harper, Chiropractor, and Ellen strolled in as if she owned the place. We all followed. I kept my head down so Lucy wouldn’t see me right away.

  “Hello, Mrs. Harper. David is in with a patient, but he’ll be free to see you in a few minutes,” Lucy said pleasantly.

  When I heard her voice I felt bile rise up in my throat. How could Cameron have ever cared about her?

  “Actually, Lucy, we’re here to see you,” Bonnie said.

  Lucy looked curiously at Bonnie and Sarah, and her eyes almost popped out of her head when she saw me standing behind them.

  “Ch-Charlotte?” she asked.

  I opened my mouth to say something, but I couldn’t get any words out.

  “Don’t you speak to her,” Bonnie threatened.

  “I’ll say whatever I like to her. Charlotte and I were friends long before she ever met you!”

  “Yeah, well, you aren’t friends anymore! And neither are we! I can’t believe you could do this to Charlotte…to all of us! You destroyed our family,” Bonnie said. I could hear in her voice that she was close to tears.

  “You can’t come in here and talk to me like this!” Lucy said, standing behind her desk.

  “How could you hide this from us all these years?” Sarah asked, stepping forward to face Lucy.

  I watched their interactions silently. They’d remained friends with Lucy all this time, and she’d lied to them every day.

  “Are you going to let them talk to me like this?” Lucy asked Ellen in desperation.

  “Yes. You deserve this and much more. If I could think of a work-related reason to dismiss you from this position, I would. Just count yourself lucky that you’re good at your job.”

  “Do you have anything to add?” Lucy asked, turning toward me.

  If I was ever going to confront Lucy, I knew this was the time. But I was shocked to find I didn’t have anything to say to her. The only reason to talk it out would be to mend our relationship, and that was the last thing I wanted to do. I just shook my head and turned away.

  “I’m not just going to stand here and take this — tell David I wasn’t feeling well,” she said, grabbing her purse.

  “Coward,” Bonnie said under her breath.

  Lucy shot her a warning glare. “At least I can satisfy a man in the bedroom,” she snarled at me as she walked past.

  An image of her and Cameron entangled invaded my mind, and I bit my tongue, turning so she wouldn’t see me cry. I wished I was strong enough to say something, but I knew I’d just start blubbering. She didn’t deserve the satisfaction of seeing my pain.

  Just before she walked out, Lucy turned and looked at me. “You know, Charlotte, it’s a shame we couldn’t stay friends. After all the things Cameron told me about you, I really feel like I know you better than anyone,” she said with a smirk.

  Rage clouded my judgment, and before I knew what I was doing, I’d slapped her hard across the face. “Shut up!” I yelled before clamping my hand over my mouth in shock.

  Lucy stumbled back, clutching her cheek.

  “Go, Charlotte!” Bonnie cheered as Lucy ran out the door.

  Ellen’s arms were around me before I could really comprehend what had happened. “Are you okay?”

  I nodded and took a moment to calm myself. The office phone rang and we all looked at each other. Ellen released me and walked over to the desk.

  “David Harper’s office,” she said politely into the phone as she sat down in the chair.

  “Let me just check for you…Yes, I have your appointment for three o’clock…Okay, see you then, Mr. Carter…Goodbye.”

  I sat down in one of the waiting area seats and replayed what had happened. I felt like I floated out of my body and watched myself slapping Lucy. Did I really do that?

  “Lucy, can you please make a return appointment for Mr. Gr — Ellen? What’s going on?” David asked, coming out of his office, a man trailing behind him.

  “Hello, dear,” Ellen said, smiling from behind the desk. “I have everything under control.”

  “Hello, Daddy,” Bonnie said with a wave.

  David looked around his waiting room in shock as he registered that every woman in his family was there, plus me.

  “Charlotte, what’s wrong?” he asked.

  I shook my head, unable to put into words what had just happened.

  “We talked with Lucy, and she walked out,” Bonnie said.

  David sighed, and his jaw tensed as he turned back to Ellen, who was scheduling a return appointment for the patient.

&nb
sp; “Thank you. See you next week,” Ellen said pleasantly as the man left the office.

  “Okay, now let’s do Cam!” Bonnie said, clapping her hands and jumping like a child about to get ice cream.

  “I have my hands full here,” Ellen said as she tapped on the keyboard.

  “Do what to Cam?” David asked.

  “Don’t worry, Dad. I’m just going to talk to him.”

  “I think I’ll stay here. This is all too much excitement for me,” Sarah laughed, picking up a magazine. “Stop back and pick me up when you’re ready to go.”

  “Come on, Charlotte,” Bonnie said, pulling me out the door and into the elevator.

  The metal doors closed, then opened, and we exited into a hallway identical to the one outside David’s office. A similar plaque adorned the wall: Dr. C. Harper, D.D.S

  Chapter Nine

  The Last Honest Smile

  Cameron’s secretary looked up and smiled as we entered his office.

  “Hello, Bonnie” she said. “Good to see you again.”

  “Hey, Connie. Is Cam ready for me?”

  “Sure, just go through to the waiting room, and he’ll will be with you shortly,” she said before looking back at her computer screen.

  Bonnie and I walked through another door and entered a small, sterile room with chairs along the walls and a table covered in magazines.

  “Your sister has no right to talk to me like that! What did you say to her about me?” Lucy’s voice screamed, seemingly from behind one of the exam room doors.

  Bonnie and I looked at each other curiously as the voice continued. “And that bitch ex-wife of yours — ”

  “Don’t you ever talk about Charlotte like that!” Cameron’s voice roared, cutting her off.

  Bonnie’s lips set in a hard line, and she marched up to open the door where the screaming was coming from. She stepped inside and closed it behind her.

  Bonnie’s voice joined the ruckus as I sunk down into one of the chairs and closed my eyes, trying to block out my name being yelled over and over again. I felt sick to my stomach and — more than anything — I just wanted to go home and pretend this day had never happened.

  First Lucy would scream something about how I’d never really loved Cameron and he was better off without me, then Cameron and Bonnie would yell at her in a jumble of cursing. Periodically Bonnie would switch gears to yell at Cameron for being a moron and letting me go.

  “Just go, Lucy, and don’t ever come back!” Cameron finally said, loud enough for me to make out clearly. The door opened, and I stiffened in my seat as Lucy appeared in the waiting room. It seemed to take her a second to realize it was me, but when she did, an evil grin appeared on her face. She sat in the chair next to mine and leaned in close.

  “I’m going to tell you this because we were friends once. You can’t trust Cameron. Whatever he’s telling you, don’t believe it. He’s been chasing me the whole time you were gone. I know all about your problems — how you wouldn’t fuck him and you ignored him and basically treated him like shit. All I’m saying is you’re better off without him because instead of trying to get you back, he kept running to me for comfort. That’s not what someone who loves you does.”

  I sat in silence as her words sunk in, my nausea intensifying. Cameron was chasing her? Why did he tell me he didn’t talk to her at all? I jolted in my seat as the exam room door flew open again.

  “Charlotte’s here? Now?” Cameron asked as he stepped into the waiting room, his face softening when he saw me. The expression was short-lived, however. It turned to ice when he saw Lucy sitting next to me.

  “I told you to get the fuck out! Now!”

  Lucy stood and wiggled her hips a little as she walked over to him. I watched with disgust as she trailed a finger down his chest.

  “Ooh, you know I love the dirty talk, baby,” she cooed.

  “Now!” He pushed her hand from his chest and walked over to me.

  Bonnie held the door open for Lucy to leave. I watched her disappear and looked at the magazines on the table so I wouldn’t have to see Cameron’s face.

  “Charlotte,” he said, sitting in the chair Lucy had just vacated.

  I tried to hold it all in and be strong, but all this was too much for me. My hands began to shake.

  “What did she say, Charlotte?”

  I shook my head and closed my eyes, trying to block him out. I felt a small hand on my back and looked up to see Bonnie standing next to me. She rubbed comforting circles on my shoulder blade, but I could tell she was agitated because her foot tapped furiously on the floor.

  “Just leave her alone, Cam,” she hissed.

  “Bonnie, can you wait outside, please?” Cameron asked. He was trying to be calm, but I could hear the tension in his voice.

  “No way!”

  “It’s okay, Bonnie. I’d like to talk to him,” I said, speaking for the first time since I entered the room. I had to ask him about what Lucy said. I wouldn’t be able to think about anything else until it was explained.

  I stood up and walked into the room the others had just come out of, with Cameron following close behind.

  “I’ll be right here if you need me,” Bonnie sang out before Cameron closed the door.

  “What did she say to you?” he asked again as I took a seat and looked around the room.

  What I’d thought was an exam room was actually Cameron’s office. He had a large mahogany desk with models of teeth lined up in front of his computer. The shelves behind the desk held rows of books, his framed diploma, and some family photographs.

  I smiled when I saw the happy faces of the Harpers, but then I noticed several other frames around the room. My breath caught when I saw on his desk, only a few feet away from me, a picture of Cameron and me at the harbor. It was only half-turned toward me, but I’d know that photo anywhere: it was our wedding day. We were barefoot, and the wind blew our hair around. The sun set behind us over the water, creating beautiful colors in the ripples as we embraced. Love radiated from Cameron’s eyes, and the smile on my face wasn’t forced or fake. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d smiled that honestly. Well, actually I could…

  …“I present to you, for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Cameron Harper,” the minister had announced as I watched all of our friends and family cheer and smile at us.

  Cameron’s arm wrapped tightly around my waist, and his nose rubbed against my cheek as he pressed a soft kiss just below my ear. He exhaled slowly and my skin tingled as his warm breath flowed over it.

  “You’re mine. Forever,” he whispered, and my heart swelled at his words. There was nothing more in the whole world that I wanted than to be his.

  Cameron guided me slowly down the aisle past our loved ones. As the large double doors of the church closed behind us, we found ourselves alone for the first time since being named husband and wife, and my whole future swam before my eyes: Cameron and me with our own home, with our children, traveling the world, with our grandchildren… Every possible event in my future life was tied to Cameron.

  I smiled up at him and pressed my lips softly to his. “I love you,” I whispered.

  “I will love you for the rest of my life,” he vowed…

  I looked at our faces in the picture and wondered if I’d have gone through with that day, had I known the eventual outcome. I honestly couldn’t say.

  “Charlotte?” Cameron called, pulling my attention away from the photo. “Please tell me what she said.”

  I used all of my resolve to look at his face and into his eyes. I suspected Lucy was lying, so I needed to see his reaction. I believed I knew him well enough to tell if he was lying…although I hadn’t done so well in the past.

  “Lucy said you’re still chasing her,” I said flatly, studying his face as he stood on the other side of his desk.

  His eyes opened in shock, then narrowed to slits. He looked very angry. I could see his chest heaving, and he closed his eyes and scrubbed his hands over his face. His
reaction seemed genuine, and I wanted to believe it was, but I couldn’t be sure.

  I watched him sit in his large leather chair. He leaned forward, placing his arms on the desk.

  “Charlotte, I know you don’t have any reason to trust me — in fact you have every reason not to trust me, but I promise you with everything I am, I have not been in contact with Lucy since I ended things with her five years ago.”

  He looked me directly in the eye as he spoke, and I couldn’t help but believe him. I released the breath I’d been holding and nodded.

  He sighed loudly and leaned back in his chair, looking as relieved as I felt. We sat in silence: Cameron watching my face and me trying my hardest not to look at our wedding picture again.

  Finally, Cameron leaned forward and cleared his throat. “Have you thought at all about our conversation?”

  I shook my head and Cameron frowned.

  “It’s a lot to think about. I’m going to need some time.” My throat felt hoarse, dry, and a little sore. I was sure I looked as bad as I felt.

  “I understand,” he said, walking around his desk to lean on the mahogany surface in front of me. “But, I have been thinking about it — about one thing in particular, actually — and I have a question.”

  I looked up at him. “What is it?” I cleared my throat and swallowed, trying to coach my voice back to normal.

  “You said something, something I’d like some clarification on,” he said, crouching down in front of me, only inches away.

  Looking into his eyes was like coming home — and it unsettled me. I shifted in my chair and broke eye contact, looking down into my lap.

  “What?” I whispered.

  “You said you never stopped loving me…what…I mean, ugh.” He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair.

  I knew what he was about to ask me, and my foot tapped nervously on the floor as I waited for him to finish. I looked over his shoulder, trying to focus on something else, but my eyes focused again on our wedding photo.

  “What I mean to say is…do you still love me?” he asked, his voice dropping to a whisper.

  My eyes were glued on my happy face. I missed that girl — how carefree she was, how happy she’d been. She was happy because of Cameron. I looked at the Cameron in the photo and saw the expression of love on his face. I chanced a glance at the Cameron in front of me now and was startled to see that same love in his eyes. His expression was sad, but the love was still there.