Finding Eva (Highland Creek Series)

by Marie Garner

  “I’m good, Marcia, trying to figure out why you are calling me when I told you that we have nothing else to say to each other.” He told her last week he didn’t want to represent her as a client anymore, but she clearly didn’t get the message. He didn’t know why he was surprised she was calling today; she never got the hint before.

  She barreled on, as was her habit throughout their whole relationship. “I know what you said, but I need to discuss the ticket with you.”

  “I thought I told you to get your new lawyer to handle that.”

  She sighed heavily into the phone, causing him to roll his eyes at her dramatic flair. “I know, but I am a little worried because it’s coming up soon, and I don’t want to have to deal with a new lawyer.”

  “Marcia, it is a simple traffic violation. This is something that a paralegal can handle; I don’t know why you can’t just tell the new one.”

  “There are things that I have to tell you that pertain to the ticket. I don’t want to have to worry about a new lawyer trying to handle it; you would be doing me a big favor by taking care of it.”

  He stared at the ceiling, knowing he was going to hate himself for helping her, but he couldn’t help it. Not only was he not going to leave her high and dry, but he was interested in knowing what the hell she was talking about.

  “Ok, Marcia, I need you to listen and listen very carefully. I am going to meet you at the café for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, I am hungry and that is where I was headed. Second, you are going to tell me what the hell is so crazy about this ticket that you feel like another lawyer can’t handle it, and then I will decide whether or not I will take it.”

  “But—”

  “There is no but,” he cut her off, “those are the terms. I don’t know why you insist on having me, but you are not going to continue to play me when I have told you to seek new counsel. You get one meeting and one meeting only. Don’t complain or I will not meet with you at all.” He was done with her crazy-ass antics, and he didn’t want to pretend to play nice when he was still hurting over Eva.

  “Fine,” she answered sullenly, and he hung up feeling like he would regret this.

  I should have listened to my instincts, he thought as he left lunch with Marcia. She had added very little, and he knew it was just a ploy to see him again. He was done with her, having already been through the wringer with one woman in the past couple of days, and planned on telling her so in the sidewalk. Aaron turned to tell her to stop calling and the bat shit crazy woman kissed him on the mouth. This was not a gentle kiss, but one meant to seduce. He felt nothing, and she just made him feel sad for her. How pathetic to continue to chase after a man who made it clear he didn’t want you. He set her aside when he heard a voice he didn’t think he would hear again.

  “I thought you said we had something going.” He inwardly cringed before he turned to Eva, whose eyes were shooting fire. He knew if looks could kill, he would definitely be dead.

  “It’s not what it looks like,” he tried to explain, even as he felt a hand creep up his arm. He stared down at Marcia, who smirked at him before she turned to look at Eva. He shook his arm free from her as he glared down and looked up to see Eva walking away.

  “You can’t pretend like you care now! You’re leaving me, remember!” he shouted, frustrated at both her unwillingness to have a legitimate conversation with him and the situation with Marcia.

  “Damn right. Best decision I’ve made in a while!” She stuck up her middle finger at him before getting in the car he saw was packed. She drove off in a squeal of tires, clearly bent on getting the hell out of Highland Creek.

  “Darling.”

  He prayed for patience, forgetting that Marcia was still standing there. “What the hell was that about?” He couldn’t be nice, not when that crazy bitch continued to try to seduce him despite telling her no. Repeatedly.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said with wide-eyed innocence. She had that look down pat, and she loved to play that card throughout their relationship.

  “You know what the hell I am talking about. You need to leave me alone. I want nothing to do with you. I fired you as a client. Find another lawyer and lose my number.” He stormed off toward his office wondering how in the hell his life went so wrong in the past forty-eight hours.

  Eva collapsed on the floor as soon as she shut the front door, crying uncontrollably. She called Gwen, who knew a little bit about what was going on from their earlier conversation with her. She had told Gwen what she had seen and heard that the party, but she hadn’t told Gwen she was leaving. Gwen thought Eva should talk to Aaron, something she was not going to do. Why would she talk to him? He was the one who said he didn’t want her. The last thing she wanted was for her to say that he only thought of her as a summer fling, something he made very clear judging by the conversation he had with his sister.

  “Gwen … I did it.” She sobbed in the phone.

  “Did what? Why are you crying? What did he say?”

  “Nothing!” she screamed, all her emotions running over uncontrollably. “I told him I was leaving and he asked me if ‘he was just the local boy I fucked.’”

  Gwen said nothing, and Eva didn’t want to think about the fact that she hadn’t been completely honest with her. It was just details, and Gwen was currently on a need to know basis. Plus, Gwen kept telling her she should talk to him, and she wasn’t willing to put herself out there like that. Not if she knew there was a very good chance at rejection.

  “Oh, Eva,” she said when she finally spoke. “I am sure he didn’t mean that. That boy is crazy about you; even Conner said he has never seen him this hung up over a girl. You must have misunderstood.”

  “I didn’t! And whose side are you on anyway.” Eva knew she was being defensive but she couldn’t help it. Her feelings were hurt and her friend doubted what she was saying.

  “You are my best friend, and I have always been on your side, but something is not adding up,” Gwen continued calmly, probably deciding Eva was upset enough for both of them.

  “Well, I don’t know what you want me to say. I started packing up my stuff the other day because I am going to sell the house. He came in during the middle of that and basically accused me of only trying to have sex with the local boy. Then he flipped out and told me he was done trying to convince me to stay.”

  “Ok look, I don’t know what is going on. I thought you guys were solid, and I am not getting anything out of you tonight because you are too upset. Do this: get your stuff together and come home tomorrow. Sleep it off tonight and then drive in the morning.”

  “I have to finish getting the stuff done with the house. I am selling this fucking thing; all it represents is heartache and the fact that I am not good enough. I wasn’t good enough for my mom, and clearly I am not good enough for Aaron.”

  “Eva, I really need to you to calm down. You are a little emotional right now and not thinking straight. You will have time to sort through the house later. Just come home. Don’t make any decisions about the house at this moment, and we will decide later on.”

  Eva thought she was doing just fine, but she didn’t feel like arguing with Gwen. She would drive up just to prove her point, and Eva just wanted to be alone.

  “Fine,” Eva said, basically hanging up the phone on her best friend. Gwen was wrong, it wasn’t that she was being irrational, it was that she felt like her heart was shattering into a million pieces and she didn’t know if she was strong enough to pick them up. She had tried to be strong, but what was she supposed to do when the person she felt was her forever viewed her as a summer fling? She had nothing to say to him and continuing to try to see him would only prolong the pain that she felt. He made it sound like he wanted to be with her forever, but she overheard him with his sister saying you don’t get serious with a summer fling. She would just have to move on the best she could, and one of the ways that was going to happen was by getting the hell out of here as soon as p
ossible.

  She didn’t know how she made it through the evening, but somehow she was able to compose herself enough to pack the next morning and get home. All she wanted to was go home and hide for the next two weeks when she had to be back at school. Her plan to get a quick lunch at the café was foiled when she saw one of her worst nightmares coming out from what appeared to be a cozy lunch. There was Aaron, looking just as good as he did yesterday, with Marcia on his arm.

  Clearly, it didn’t take him long to get over it since his lips were locked with Marcia’s. How dare he try to make it as though she was the one to blame for ending the relationship that had been blossoming between them? It just pissed her off, but she didn’t know where the snarky bitch came from when she said, “I thought you said we had something going.” She saw him flinch, but he shouldn’t have because it was his dumb-ass that told her they had something going on but was kissing his ex-girlfriend less than twenty-four hours after she ended it.

  “It’s not what it looks like,” he said as Eva saw Marcia creep her hand up his arm while he looked down at her lovingly. Disgusted, she turned to leave. How dare that fucking asshole expect her to stand there and watch him make kissy face with someone else? There was no way she was going to stand there and humiliate herself even more than she already had.

  “You can’t pretend like you care now! You’re leaving me, remember!” She heard him scream at her retreating back.

  “Damn right. Best decision I’ve made in a while!” She stuck her middle finger up at him before slamming her car door and peeling off.

  She called Gwen on the way home to tell her she was on the way and asked her to give her a day. Eva didn’t think she would be able to deal if Gwen came by tonight. She wanted twenty-four hours where she didn’t have to think or talk about Aaron Sawyer. She did stop by her parents, who were surprised to see her home this early. She smiled and made something up about needing to do something for school, but her heart wasn’t in the visit. Thankfully they didn’t question her, despite whatever doubts they seemed to have about her story.

  Eva knew her time was done the next afternoon when Gwen came by to see her. Eva was hoping for someone to commiserate with her, but of course Gwen had a different idea.

  “Tell me the whole story.” Gwen sat there in the living room with a margarita in her hand, waiting patiently for Eva to begin talking. Eva didn’t want to say anything, but once she started talking, she didn’t stop. She went through what she overheard at the party, most of which Gwen already knew, and the whole argument they had when he saw she was packing. Gwen was quiet throughout most of Eva’s story, pausing every once in a while to ask a question or get clarification, but she sat there while Eva purged her soul.

  “So I have a couple of things, but let me ask you a couple of questions. Are you sure they were talking about you?” Eva had thought about this during the long drive, when all the doubts about her decision kept running on repeat, so she wasn’t surprised Gwen brought it up as well.

  “Gwen, I thought about it, and there is really no other explanation. Who else would he be talking about? You have met his siblings; no one else is having a ‘summer fling.’ The only one who he could have been talking about was his youngest sister, but she has known the guy forever. Besides, why would he be talking about someone else like that?”

  “I don’t know,” Gwen answered honestly, “but I just think something isn’t adding up. I mean, you guys were doing so great, I was jealous given my own situation. But it was like an amazing relationship, and from what you said he talked about it like you were nothing.”

  “I know what I heard,” Eva said, getting defensive. Was Gwen trying to call her a liar?

  “I know that,” Gwen said placating, “but I am just saying that unless you ask him yourself, you may not know the whole story.”

  “Why would I ask him? We have nothing to say to each other anymore. Plus, you didn’t see him with Marcia today; she kissed him when they left the café.”

  “I have no explanation for that other than I know he has made it very clear he doesn’t want to be with her. All I know that he considers her a crazy stalker and had been complaining to Conner that all he wanted was for her to leave him alone.”

  “Well, he wasn’t exactly fighting her off with a stick.” Eva knew she was being whiny, and she hated whiny.

  This had been the worst summer of her life; she just wanted to hit rewind and never know about the shit that went down with her mother. She would still be living her boring existence, but at least she wouldn’t hurt like this. Whoever said it was better to have loved and lost had clearly never had their heart broken.

  “Oh, honey.” Gwen hugged her. “You have just been through it. Well look…” she changed gears “…you can’t change anything tonight. I still think you should talk to him, but I am going to leave it alone for right now. Sit here and drink your margaritas and let me commiserate with you. We can make decisions about houses and work and men some other time, because if we play our cards right, you will be too damn hung over to care tomorrow.”

  They drank and bashed men, something that they hadn’t done in a while. Gwen was true to her word, sticking through until the next day when she went home to do some lesson planning for the next school year. There was one thing Gwen lied about. Eva wasn’t too hung over to care the next day. She lay in her room with the shades drawn to keep the light out, and tried to formulate a plan that would help her get over him. The guy who she didn’t know three months ago had suddenly become too important to let go, and her life stretched out as this bleak existence.

  She worked hard over the next week to prepare for school, but thoughts of Aaron snuck in at the weirdest times. When she was cooking she would remember the fun times that they had eating together. When she was showering, she couldn’t help but remember the hot shower sex they had the night after they got together for the first time.

  And then there were the phone calls. If he wasn’t calling her, he was texting her, asking her to call him back so he could explain about Marcia. He had no clue that Marcia was the least of his worries; she wanted to know about the summer fling comment. Why work so hard to get back your fling, why couldn’t he just leave her the hell alone? But she was too scared to ask him, scared that she wouldn’t be enough for him, like she wasn’t enough for her mom. About a week after she was home, when the calls came less and less, she decided fuck him, and fuck Highland Creek; she had nothing but problems since she had been to that crazy ass town.

  Three Weeks Later

  The only thing Eva could figure was that she worked on auto pilot for the last three weeks. She had tried to move on after she came back, but she wasn’t eating or sleeping like she knew she should. She told herself it wasn’t a problem, but she couldn’t deny it any longer when she tried on her clothes for school and they were all too big. Damn, she thought as she looked in the mirror after trying on another skirt that looked like it was hanging off her, I got on Gwen for losing all that weight with Nick and now look at me.

  “Pot, meet kettle,” she muttered as she took the skirt off angrily. She threw it down on the ground, looking at the clothes that lay scattered around her room and looked like the mess that continued to be her life. Before the summer, she had it good. But all that came crashing down with a couple of hurtful words and misplaced loyalty. Eva didn’t know how to get back what she had before the summer, so she did the best thing she could do by shouldering through the pain. It would be really hard to work the first week of school, when the kids came back excited and ready to start a new year. She felt like the grim reaper at a preschool picnic, all moody bitch in the face of sunshine and roses. Oh well, she thought as she frantically searched for something to fit, putting clothes shopping on her list of things to do this weekend.

  Not that it should have mattered, but she knew the reason why she was more upset today was the phone call she received yesterday from Mary telling her all her funds were clear and should be deposited into her bank accou
nt within the next ten business days. She no longer viewed the money as a half-assed apology from her mother, but she couldn’t deny that after she had the money she would have no more reason to have anything to do with Aaron. Aaron, she thought, rubbing her chest above her heart as she had been prone to do when she thought of him, as though she could wish away the seemingly physical pain from her broken heart. After the first week he stopped calling and texting several times a day, and the last text she got from him was last night when he asked if she spoke to Mary. She ignored him, she always did, but she was feeling less righteous about her decision as time went on.

  Maybe she should have asked him about the conversation as Gwen suggested, but she didn’t want to open herself up to more heartache and rejection if he told her she was right. It was better to let sleeping dogs lie despite the pain that she felt through her pores. Every day was a struggle, and her only comfort was the fact that it couldn’t get any worse than it was now. So she found a dress, something she had stashed in the back of her closet from years past, pasted a smile on her face, and ventured out for her first day of the new school year.

  “… and make sure you read pages 1-15 tonight. You may get a quiz tomorrow,” Eva yelled above the bustle of movement as the kids left for the day. She smiled as she heard grumblings of “can you believe this,” and “I can’t believe we have homework on the first day” figuring her job was done for the day. She knew Gwen was going to be coming in any minute inviting her to dinner. It was a tradition that they always went out for drinks on the first day of school, and something that she wasn’t going to be able to back out of even if she didn’t feel like seeing people.

  “You coming?” Gwen popped her head in the door looking her over. She knew Gwen was worried about her, she had told her repeatedly over the last two weeks, and it was getting on her nerves. She tried to give Gwen space when she was going through all her stuff with Nick, was it too much to ask for the same consideration?