He put his glass down on the counter, and pulled his shirt away from his skin, but ultimately decided to just take it off. Once unbuttoned, he threw it on the counter. “It’s not a big deal. I’m just sorry the wine got wasted,” he said with a smile which put her at ease.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, don’t feel bad, but you know, if you wanted to get me out of my shirt all you had to do was ask.”
“Oh, well, I’ll have to remember that next time,” she said playfully.
He laughed, and grabbed a hand towel from a drawer and wiped his chest. She watched him as he did. The sight of his dark, rippling muscles sent jolts of electricity through her. Mindlessly, she reached out and touched his abs, feeling the muscles bulge under her touch. She looked up and met his eyes, her mouth salivating with desire. He wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and pulled her to him. They kissed hungrily, their tongues fiercely exploring each other’s mouths. He grabbed her by the hips and lifted her up, placing her on the island in front of him. For the next hour, they forgot all about dinner.
They lay on the kitchen floor, sweaty and wrapped in each other’s arms, both seeming lost in the moment.
“What do you think about moving to New York?” Eduardo finally asked.
Katie turned her head to look at his face to see if he were being serious or not. “Would I get more nights like tonight?” she asked playfully.
He kissed her forehead. “Of course, you could have all of me.” They lay silent for a few minutes. “So, what do you think?”
“Where would I live?”
“Here,” he said, matter of fact.
She quickly looked back up at him. “Are you serious? It’s so soon.”
He ran a hand up and down her arm, causing goose bumps to flare under his touch. “I am very serious. I told you before, I love you, and after this week I can’t imagine not seeing you every day.”
“I love you too,” Katie said and laid her head back down. She hugged him tight. “I think we need to talk.”
Chapter Twelve
“Marissa, are you awake?” Becca asked from her bed.
Marissa, who had been staring up at the ceiling in the darkened room, responded, “Yeah.”
“Are you anxious about going home tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I guess. Are you?”
“Yeah, it’s been fun, but I’m ready to be home. I miss my cat. And can you believe they don’t even have sweet tea here? I mean nowhere. Believe me, I looked.”
Marissa chuckled, remembering feeling the same way when she moved to Pennsylvania. “Sorry, I forgot to warn you. It’s a northern thing, I guess. Pennsylvania didn’t have any either. Unsweetened or raspberry is all you’ll find.”
“Psh, no sweet tea. How do people live like that? Hey, what do you think they’re doing?” Becca asked.
“Who?”
“Katie and Eduardo, duh.”
Marissa shrugged. “Probably the same thing any of us would be doing.”
“Hell yeah, Eduardo is freaking hot.”
“Yes he is, but he’s no Daniel.”
Becca propped herself up on her elbow and looked at Marissa. “How does that make you feel?”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t play dumb with me. I’ve always loved Katie and Jess, but you were the one I considered my best friend. You and I were the closest. That being said, I know you and I know that what she is doing is affecting you. Hell, it would me.”
Marissa propped herself up on an elbow too, and stared back at her. “Do I really have a say?”
“You’re damn right you do. You gave Katie everything and it nearly killed you. Somehow I’m the only one who ever seemed to notice that. Now here she is, married to Daniel. They have a seemingly perfect life together—the life which should have been yours, I might add—but now she is wanting out.”
“She has every right to be happy, Bec.”
“I completely agree. I am all for happiness. It’s how I live my own life, but you need to start thinking about your own happiness for once. Be selfish. Be offended. Be pissed. You gave her everything, and now she is just throwing it all away.”
Marissa stared off into the distance, thinking about the past. “When I broke up with Daniel, I just knew in my heart it was only going to be temporary. I wanted him to get it out of his system so we could move on and go back to being us again. But then a few months passed and their relationship didn’t end. I lost him, but she was still my best friend. I did what I thought was right, and I had to stand behind my decision.”
“That’s why you left, isn’t it?”
Marissa had never expected to tell anyone everything about her deciding to leave, but she knew she could trust Becca. “That was partially the reason. The other part was Randy.”
“Oh my God, I haven’t thought about him in ages. Have you seen him since you’ve been back?”
“Nope, and that’s probably a good thing.”
“What ever happened with you two? He was so freaking hot. Y’all were always together, then one day you just up and left. No goodbye or anything.”
Flashes of the graduation party slammed into Marissa’s mind. “He cheated on me at the graduation party.”
“Shut up, he did not,” Becca said, shocked.
“Yep. I caught him with Tara Watson in one of the bedrooms.”
“Wow, I’m shocked. Wasn’t she a friend of yours?”
“Yep, and that isn’t even the worst part. I was already wasted by that point. Once I saw them, I got really wasted and ended up hooking up with someone else as well.”
“You scuz, you never told me that!” Becca shouted and stared at Marissa wildly, loving the gossip. “Who was it?”
Marissa sat up in her bed and stared at Becca, shrugging. “No clue, and it doesn’t matter, but it motivated me to get the hell out of Dodge. That night, after I almost accidently killed myself, I confessed to my parents about the extent of my partying so they put me in a thirty-day treatment facility far away from home. Once that was complete, they let me stay in that area for college.”
Becca got up from her bed, and sat down beside Marissa, grabbing her hand. “Are you serious? You went to rehab?”
Marissa stared down at their intertwined hands and nodded, unable to speak.
“Wow, for what?”
“What substance?” Marissa asked.
Becca silently nodded.
“Well, at first it was just alcohol and pot, then came ecstasy and random pills. By the end I had myself a nice cocaine habit. It was awful.”
“Maris, I knew you started to party a lot, and I got worried about you a few times, but you always seemed to bounce back, so I let it go. I didn’t know it was that bad. I would have done something to help if I knew.”
“No one knew. Who could I talk to?”
“Me! You could have talked to me.”
“As crazy as it may sound, I didn’t know I had a problem until that night. Besides, I didn’t know if I could trust you to not say anything.” Marissa wiped away her tears, which had fallen at some point, and tried to laugh it off. “It doesn’t matter now. I got through it with little damage. It’s life, you know?”
“Yeah, but it doesn’t have to be. You know, if Katie chooses Eduardo, Daniel will be free for the picking.”
Marissa looked up at Becca. “He’s Katie’s husband and the father of their children. I could never do that.”
“Bullshit! You can, and you’d better. It may not have happened during the time you thought it would, but if you get your chance again you’d better take it. Like I said before, be selfish for once.”
Marissa looked away from her, wondering if it would ever be possible.
***
The following morning, while Marissa and Becca were packing up the rest of their stuff, they heard a knock on the door. They looked at each other, then both walked to the door to find Jess and Katie standing in the hallway.
“Hey, good morning. Come on in,�
�� Becca told them.
Marissa quietly studied Katie. She knew she’d stayed the night with Eduardo, but she looked like she got back to the hotel early this morning to shower and change clothes. She seemed quiet though, almost scared, and that concerned Marissa. “Is everything all right, Katie?”
Katie jumped at the sound of her name. “What? Oh yeah, great.”
“Are you sure?”
Katie looked up at Marissa, and tears formed in her eyes. She sat down on one of the beds and wept into her hands. All three girls looked at one another, each confused as to what was wrong. Jess sat on the bed beside her and rubbed her back.
“I don’t want to leave,” Katie blurted out between sobs. “He asked me to stay. Even after I told him everything.”
“Oh my God, what did he say?” Becca asked, her eyes lighting up.
“He was pretty mad, but we talked about it. He still wants me to stay.”
“What are you going to do?” Jess asked, still rubbing her back.
“I didn’t answer him. I don’t know what to do.”
“What do you want to do?”
“I want to stay, but God, what about Daniel and the kids? I can’t just leave my whole life behind. Can I?”
“Yes, actually, you can,” Becca said, speaking up. “You already said you’re unhappy, and you feel like it isn’t even your life. You’re right about that, by the way. It isn’t, and honestly it never was.”
Marissa looked at Becca, shocked. No one ever knew just how badly she felt all those years ago. If they did, they hadn’t said anything. Becca was the first person she had ever talked to about it, and it made her proud that someone was finally standing up for her.
“You’re right,” Katie said quietly.
Marissa looked back at Katie, and Katie stared right back at her.
“She’s right. It was never my life in the first place. You and I kind of switched places during our senior year of high school, and then life happened. Honestly, had I not gotten pregnant, I probably wouldn’t have married him or even stayed in the area.”
“Then why did you?” Marissa asked. She had never spoken about how she felt all those years ago. She didn’t think she had a right to, but damn it, Becca was right. She should be mad and offended. “You knew how I felt about him. I loved him more than anything.”
Katie looked her square in the eye, shocked by what she was hearing. “No one forced you to break up with him. You did it all on your own. I told you I wasn’t going to act on it, but you insisted. It’s not fair you have blamed me all this time for something you did.”
“You know what? You’re right! I didn’t have to do it,” Marissa shouted, anger for the past twenty-one years boiling to the surface. “I could have been selfish and stayed with him, regardless of knowing you two were developing feelings for each other. I could have been the shitty friend and not cared about your feelings and cut you out of my life for your betrayal. But that isn’t me. It never has been. Instead, I gave you two the chance you both so obviously desperately wanted so you two could find out if you guys could have a life together. I sure as hell didn’t expect it to last. Did either of you even give a shit about how I felt or what I wanted? No! And no one expected me to say anything or act any differently because we were all such great friends, and I didn’t. I put myself through hell for that decision, and kept everything bottled inside. It nearly killed me. And I promise, had I not moved away, it would have. So don’t sit here and tell me what’s fair!” Marissa stormed off and slammed the bathroom door.
“Well, that’s just great!” Katie yelled.
“Oh, shut up, Katie. She has every right to feel that way and you know it. She has been nothing but selfless through this whole thing,” Becca said. She went to stare out the window.
Katie had never really thought about it much. Daniel had been her first boyfriend. She didn’t know how to act a certain way. But they were both right. Katie was a terrible friend to Marissa, then and now. It just sucked it took so long for her to realize it. She took a deep breath, got up from the bed, and walked up to the closed bathroom door. “Marissa, can I come in?”
Silence.
“Come on, Marissa, I want to talk to you.”
“Come in then. It isn’t locked.”
Katie slowly opened the door and peeked inside the bathroom, half expecting Marissa to come barreling toward her to rub soap in her eyes, but instead she was sitting on the toilet, crying. She closed the door behind her, and sat down on the edge of the bath tub. She remained like that, silently thinking about what to say, but the only thing which came to mind was, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s too late for that now, isn’t it?”
Katie thought about that for a minute. “No, not really. If I’ve learned anything from this week, it’s that it’s is never too late for anything. You were right. You were selfless and a great friend for doing what you did, and I really appreciate that. I’m sorry we—I—hurt you. You didn’t deserve that. But we were young and honestly, as much like an excuse this might sound, I didn’t know any better. I’m also sorry this week has been so hard for you too. I didn’t realize it at the time. I know you feel like you made this huge sacrifice for me and now I’m just throwing it all away like it was nothing for some meaningless fling. But I’m not. I love Eduardo. I do. I’ve loved him for a long time, long before this week, but I was too afraid to admit it. I think you coming back has forced me to think about things I swept under the rug because they were too messy to deal with. Things like my lack of love for Daniel and the life we have.”
“Are you going to stay here?” Marissa whispered.
“With all my heart I want to.”
“What about Daniel and the kids?”
Katie shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, my kids are old enough now. Mattie will be leaving for college soon, and then it’ll just be me and Daniel.” Katie sat quietly for a minute before continuing. “Maybe this is finally your chance.”
Marissa wiped her wet face, and looked up into Katie’s eyes. “What are you talking about?”
Katie sighed and shrugged again. “Becca was right. He was never mine in the first place. I was just holding your spot for a while. I’m just sorry it has taken me so long to come to terms with that.”
“But, Katie, you are my friend, and he is your husband. On top of that, how am I supposed to talk him into choosing me when he is married and has children with you? We both know he’s never been the type to turn his back on such a commitment.”
Katie was quiet for another minute, but she smiled. “Do you remember what you told me when you broke up with him?”
Marissa took a moment to think, then shook her head. She was so angry that day, so long ago, she couldn’t remember much of anything.
“I had asked you what you just asked me, how I was supposed to make him choose me over you. You told me to tell him you loved us both very much, more than anything else in the world, but we needed this chance to figure out what we could have together. You told me not to screw up because he was special, and you would be waiting for your chance to come back around once all this nonsense was over.”
Marissa nodded and whispered, “I remember now.” Back then everything had happened so quickly, but when she heard the words now, the details of that day flooded back and constrict her heart.
“I told him what you said, word for word. So now, I’m telling you to do the same thing. Go up to him and tell him that it is your chance again. Tell him that I love y’all both very much, more than anything else in the world, but you need this chance to figure out what you could have together. It may take a minute, but he’ll get it, and if he refuses or feels guilty, tell him I said he has my blessing.” Tears began to swell in Katie’s eyes. “I love you, Maris, and I want us both to finally be happy. We deserve it. We only have this one life to live, you know, and it is up to us to live it and make our own selves happy. I’m ready for it. It took a long time to figure it out, but this is what I want, for both of us.�
�� With that, Katie got up and left Marissa in the bathroom with a million things running through her mind.
Chapter Thirteen
Once the girls got back home, minus Katie, life went back to normal—well, almost. Marissa spent the first few days back in her room at the B&B, or taking long walks around the Oriental waterfront enjoying the rest of her free time before work began. But really, she was hiding while trying to clear her mind. She had longed for the moment to be with Daniel again for so long. Now that there was a possibility the moment had finally come, she felt paralyzed with fear. The thought that he didn’t want her back was crippling, and she feared the downward spiral she’d experienced the last time he’d crushed her heart.
She had been sitting on a bench in front of the waterfront close to the B&B for what seemed like hours. People casually strolled by, but she was too caught up in her own thoughts to really pay them any attention. She just stared off at the glistening water as if in a trance.
“Marissa? Hey, Marissa?” someone asked, tapping her on the shoulder.
She jerked her head to the side to find Daniel staring down at her, looking confused.
“Daniel? Hey, what’s going on?”
“I called your name a few times. Didn’t you hear me?”
“I’m sorry. I have a lot on my mind.”
“I guess so. Is that why you’re here?” he asked, nodding toward the water.
“How did you know?” she asked, confused.
“Ah, well, I just know you. This was always your thinking spot. Can I sit? Maybe it’ll help me too.”
“Please do,” she said, sliding over to give him space, but it wasn’t nearly enough. As he settled in, his shoulder brushed against hers and remained there, causing her heart to pound uncontrollably.
“So, what’s going on? Why so deep in thought?” he asked.
Marissa thought about it for a minute, but decided not to mention anything, not yet. “Just stuff. Mostly remembering the good ol’ days. This place holds a lot of memories. It’s hard not to get lost in the past.”
Hometown Girls: Reunion Page 8