The Ex's Confession

by L. C. Davenport

  “Which I didn’t,” Elliot added. “Much to her chagrin.”

  “–Elliot disappeared for a few weeks,” Locke continued as though he hadn’t been interrupted, “and I tried to convince her that Elliot was a useless case. She didn’t care for that very much.”

  “Wait a minute,” Rebecca said, leaning closer to the table. “What about Dr. Boyle? They can’t have fallen in love–” Locke snorted “–in less than a week.”

  “Love is a relative term,” Locke told her, glancing at Elliot. “When I finally convinced her that Elliot wasn’t serious about her, she tried to throw me out of the house.”

  “But it’s your parent’s house.”

  “That’s what I told her. She was annoyed for a few hours, but everything looked better when Boyle came for his daily visit. She’d liked him well enough to encourage him from the beginning, and after Elliot was no longer an option, she latched herself onto her doctor. Let’s just say that I’m glad Nicole probably won’t be living in Mackinac City. I’m certainly not on her list of best friends, even though she’s happily engaged.”

  Rebecca just shook her head. She was beginning to think that Locke had missed his calling in life. He would have been great at a dating service.

  Locke turned to Melissa and proceeded to tell her about Nicole and the pink suitcases, and after a few minutes Elliot tilted his head in her direction and asked, “Will you go with me?”

  Rebecca’s fork hovered in front of her open mouth. “Like I ‘went with’ Matt Larkin in the seventh grade?”

  “I hope I have more grace than that,” Elliot said, running his hand across his face. “I was asking if you’d go to the wedding with me.”

  Laughing, Rebecca elbowed him in the side. “That would be fun. But I hope I’ll see you before then; the wedding’s two weeks away.”

  Elliot kissed the top of her head and pulled her close. “You’ll see so much of me over the next few weeks that you’ll think I’ve moved in,” he promised.

  A minute later, Jaime cleared away their plates and beamed at them again. When he left, there was a note on the table in front of Rebecca. She opened it and laughed.

  “What is it?” Elliot asked, looking over her shoulder.

  Please consider Jaime’s when you plan your wedding reception.

  ***

  On the day of Nicole’s wedding, Rebecca found herself in Cassie’s spare bedroom. “I still don’t see why you’re making all this fuss,” she grumbled as Cassie wound her hair around the curling iron. “I’m not the one getting married.”

  “True,” Cassie shrugged, “but I haven’t seen you alone in a few weeks and thought this would be a good way to make you sit still long enough to talk to me without Elliot hovering in the background.”

  Rebecca smiled at her sister in the mirror. She had seen a lot of Elliot over the past two weeks, and she felt slightly guilty for ignoring the rest of her friends. “You know I still love you,” she said fondly. “I’ve just been a little… preoccupied.”

  Cassie snorted and moved on to another section of Rebecca’s head. “That’s an understatement. Has there been a day when you haven’t done something with your ‘oh so very attentive’ boyfriend?”

  Cringing, Rebecca reached down and fingered the watch Elliot had purchased for her a few days before. He’d noticed it was missing, and when she told him she’d lost hers at Grant Park, he’d appeared on her doorstep the next day with a replacement. “I like buying things for you, now that I’m allowed,” was all the explanation she received.

  “I hate that word,” she said. “It sounds so high school.”

  “Well, he’s not your fiancée or your husband, so what do you think he should be called?”

  Rebecca thought for a minute, watching Cassie’s reflection. “I don’t know,” she conceded finally. “Maybe ‘significant other’?”

  Cassie pulled a face. “That makes it sound like you’ve been living together for years, not dating for a few weeks. Try again.”

  A knock on the door stopped Rebecca from answering that maybe fiancée didn’t sound as awful as it had only a few weeks ago, and Michael came in, looking frazzled. “Are you two almost ready?” he asked, checking his watch. “Elliot’s been here for fifteen minutes, and if we don’t get going we’ll be late.”

  “You wouldn’t mind being late,” Cassie said absently. “You’re just afraid of what Nicole would do to you if you didn’t show up on time.”

  Michael gave her a pained look. “Come on, wife. Hurry up.”

  Cassie patted Rebecca’s hair and stood back to admire her handiwork. “You look beautiful,” she said, obviously pleased with herself.

  “Beautiful doesn’t do her justice.” Elliot stood in the doorway, a strange expression on his face. He cleared his throat and held out his hand wordlessly.

  “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you in a suit,” Rebecca said, looking him over and smiling. “You didn’t fill it out nearly as well then.” She stopped abruptly and blushed. Had she really just said that out loud?

  “The same could be said for you,” Elliot whispered, his eyes dancing. He put his hand on her cheek and leaned in to kiss her.

  “I now pronounce you man and wife!” Cassie crowed, her arm around Michael’s neck. “If that dress were white we could have a double wedding.”

  Elliot’s lips smiled against hers. “Don’t tempt me,” he murmured. “Just say the word, Bex, and we can join Boyle and Nicole this afternoon.”

  Only a week ago, Rebecca might have panicked at the suggestion, but now she wasn’t so sure. The more time they spent together, the harder it was to be apart, and if the purpose behind dating was to get to know someone they were already well beyond that.

  Elliot kissed her one more time before glancing over at Michael. “I thought we were going to be late,” he said, watching Cassie fuss one last time over her husband’s tie.

  They slid into their seats fifteen minutes before the show started and Rebecca looked around her incredulously. Between the pink ribbons and pink flowers and pink dresses on the attendants milling around behind them, she felt like she’d fallen into a vat of Pepto-Bismol.

  “I think I might be sick,” Elliot muttered next to her.

  Rebecca smirked at him. “Just think, this might have been you. I wonder if Dr. Boyle is wearing a pink tux.”

  Elliot shuddered and inched closer to her. “It was never going to be me,” he told her as seriously as he could while surrounded by pink love. He looked at her appraisingly. “Please tell me you’ll do things differently when you get married.”

  Rebecca tilted her head and gazed back at him. “Why do you want to know?” she asked, wondering if he had an ulterior motive.

  Shrugging, he made a gagging noise and pretended to be sick. “Because if I’m privileged to be at your wedding, I want to be sure I come prepared.”

  “Don’t worry,” she assured him. “I think I’ve just developed a decided aversion to pink in any form.”

  “That’s too bad,” he breathed, leaning toward her as the music started. “It looks sexy on you.”

  She tried to pay attention to what was happening in the church, but when Elliot pulled out a small notepad and began to write she gave up. “What are you doing?” she hissed, looking pointedly at his pen and paper.

  “Writing you a note,” he whispered back. “Be quiet. It’s rude to talk during a ceremony.”

  Glaring at him, she folded her arms over her chest and pretended that Nicole’s wedding gown–ruffled, beribboned, and adorned with pink accents–was the most fascinating thing she’d ever seen. Although, if she was being perfectly honest with herself, the dress was a masterpiece of tulle and froth. She looked, Rebecca decided, like a white cupcake liberally decorated with pink sprinkles. She wondered idly how Nicole had stuffed it in her car. And how she was getting to the reception.

  She pretended not to notice when Elliot pushed his notepad at her a minute later, only relenting when he stuck his pen beh
ind her ear. It read, ‘Since your wedding won’t look like this, what will it look like?’

  What was all this talk about weddings? A line from his column floated to the surface of her memory: I realize it’s too soon to ask you again to be with me forever, but you know that is my final goal…

  If it wouldn’t be so absurd to propose after dating a mere two weeks, she’d suspect him of plotting something. Rebecca glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He was staring straight ahead, a glazed look in his eye.

  She wrote back, ‘Smaller. Like you’d miss it if you blinked.’

  Elliot’s eyebrows rose at that, and he glanced at her before he took his pen from her hand and started scratching across the paper.

  ‘So whom would you want there?’

  Rebecca tapped the pen on her chin, considering. ‘Cassie and Michael, obviously. And Jen and Scott.’ Elliot read as she wrote, nodding. ‘Haley, but not Nicole.’ A sudden cough from Elliot told her he’d either thought that was in bad taste, considering where they were, or he’d been disguising a laugh. ‘And Locke. Definitely Locke.’

  Elliot took the notepad back from her.

  ‘What about the rest of your family?’

  Rebecca shook her head.

  ‘No, but thanks for asking.’

  ‘Not even Faye?’

  She had to think about that one. As much as she loved her aunt, she wouldn’t miss her.

  ‘Nope.’

  Elliot slipped the notebook inside his coat pocket, looking thoughtful. That expression stayed on his face through the rest of the ceremony and into the reception, only disappearing after he’d excused himself from their table to make a phone call. When he returned he was looking pleased with himself–and excited.

  “What’s going on?” Rebecca asked over the noise of the band.

  Elliot smiled at her innocently. “Nothing,” he said, then pulled her to her feet and joined the other dancing couples.

  ***

  Over the next two weeks, Elliot behaved very strangely. They saw each other every day but one, and when Rebecca questioned him as to his whereabouts, he just tried to look natural and changed the subject. And one day, when she stopped by Cassie’s and walked into the family room, Elliot was sitting next to her sister, his head bent over a magazine that he promptly stuffed under the sofa cushion. He then refused to budge.

  But Rebecca really started to wonder about his sanity when she found him at the library Friday afternoon. It wasn’t the fact that he was there that surprised her–he’d met her at work several times for lunch–it was that he was coming out of Sarah’s office that really threw her.

  When Elliot spotted her he threw his hand up in greeting and turned to shake Sarah’s hand. “I appreciate the help,” he was saying as she walked near. “I’ll let you know what happens.”

  “Oh, I daresay you won’t have to,” she replied before closing her door.

  “What was that all about?” Rebecca asked, slinging her bag over her shoulder.

  Elliot grabbed it from her and placed his free arm around her waist. “I was thinking about writing a column on the growing illiteracy problem and the need for libraries in inner-city neighborhoods,” he said vaguely. “What do you think?”

  “So you’re done with the mayor’s beautification project?”

  He shrugged. “For now. Hey, are you finished for the day? I was hoping I could take you back to my place for dinner.”

  Rebecca looked at him suspiciously. “Are you cooking?”

  “Don’t tell me you’re still afraid of me in the kitchen,” he said, following her to her car. “I haven’t killed anyone yet, nor have I burnt down any buildings. It’s perfectly safe.”

  She stared at him for a long moment. “You’re up to something. I can tell. What is it? Should I be nervous?”

  Elliot scowled at her. “What makes you think that?” he asked, sounding wounded. “All I want is to make dinner for the woman I love. And if you’re too tired to go home, you can crash in Cassie’s spare bedroom. Does that sound so strange?”

  Rebecca smiled involuntarily. She still got goose bumps whenever he said that. “I’m right behind you,” she said, and got in the car. The journey took a while, as she hadn’t convinced Elliot that it wouldn’t kill him to drive more than three miles over the speed limit. During the car ride, she considered Elliot and his curious behavior. Could he be plotting some way to propose? He certainly had all the signs. He’d already hinted that he would. The question was, when?

  When they arrived at his apartment, Elliot shooed her into Cassie’s while he cooked, claiming that he’d burn something for sure if she were in the kitchen, hovering over his shoulder.

  Cassie was waiting for her when she knocked next door. “What took you so long?” she demanded, walking down the hall to the spare bedroom. “I’ve been waiting all afternoon for you.”

  “How’s school going?” Rebecca asked, ignoring Cassie’s ramblings. College courses had started a few weeks before, and Cassie seemed to be in her element.

  “Great! I think I’ve decided to major in fashion.” Cassie beamed. “Doesn’t that sound brilliant?”

  Rebecca reached over and hugged her. “I think you’ll be brilliant at it,” she said sincerely. “You’ve always had a certain flair for it, and I can’t imagine what you’ll be like with some training behind you.”

  Cassie opened the bedroom closet and pulled out several items of clothing. “You know, I’ll need practice,” she said slyly, glancing at Rebecca for her reaction. “I know I promised not to buy you any more clothes, but this time it’s for a good cause. Try some of these on for me. I want to make sure I still have your size down.”

  Sometimes there was no use arguing, so Rebecca merely sighed and did as she was told. After trying on the third outfit, the last a soft green dress that she swore was too tight, she’d had enough and told her sister to stop. “I think you know what you’re doing,” she said, laughing at the disappointed look on Cassie’s face. “I still don’t see why you can’t use someone else as a guinea pig. Why don’t you talk to Haley? I’m sure she wouldn’t mind getting new clothes.”

  “It’s not the same thing,” Cassie pouted. “Hold on… I think I hear the doorbell. It’s probably Elliot. Come on back when you’re done with dinner!”

  Rebecca didn’t realize until she was in Elliot’s dining room that Cassie had effectively ‘dressed’ her for another date, and somehow knew that she might be staying the night. She stared at Elliot, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. She wouldn’t put it past Cassie to be in cahoots with Elliot about a potential engagement.

  “What?” he asked, pouring her a glass of water. “Don’t you like parmesan chicken?”

  “It smells delicious,” she said, still looking at him strangely.

  “Then what’s the funny look for? Enjoy your dinner. After all, this is the first time I’ve ever cooked for a girl, and I want to know how I did.”

  After stuffing herself silly, Rebecca had to concede that Elliot was a very decent cook. “Why have I been doing all the kitchen work?” she grumbled good-naturedly.

  He kissed her and led her outside to the balcony. “Because you look so delectable in an apron. Don’t worry about the mess,” he added when she looked back toward the table. “I’ll clean up after you go to Cassie’s.”

  Elliot sat in a lounge chair and pulled her down next to him. “I might just go home,” she yawned. “I had kind of a crazy day.”

  He cleared his throat and gazed up at the stars, his hand playing idly with her hair. “Actually, I have an ulterior motive,” he said. “I have a surprise for you tomorrow, but you’ll need to be up quite early. If you stay at Cassie’s, I won’t have to drive all the way to your apartment to get you.”

  “A surprise? What are we doing?” she asked languidly. She loved it when people played with her hair, and Elliot was very good at it.

  “That’s why it’s a surprise, Rebecca. We need to be on the road no later than five, so set y
our alarm.”

  Rebecca groaned. She’d been hoping to sleep in this weekend. But the thought of going somewhere potentially romantic made her more excited than she was willing to admit–even to herself. “You have to promise not to be angry if I’m grumpy tomorrow,” she warned. “I was planning on some beauty rest.”

  “I thought I told you before that you can’t possibly get any more beautiful than you are right now,” he murmured, kissing her forehead softly. “Have you recovered from Nicole’s wedding yet?”

  The abrupt switch in conversation made her sit up and stare at him. “What? Why, do I look like I want to strangle a cupcake?”

  “No, no,” he said, pulling her back down to sit in front of him. “You just seemed a little rattled, that’s all. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

  Rebecca wasn’t so sure about that. When she was back in the spare room next door that night, she wondered idly about Elliot and his surprise. Maybe they were going to attend a wedding the next day. She shrugged and hung her dress up in the closet that looked much emptier than it had several hours before when Cassie had made her try on all those clothes. Too tired to wonder about it, she fell into bed and was asleep before she could think any more.

  When she answered Elliot’s knock the next morning, he was holding a mug filled with hot chocolate. She took it gratefully and left a note for Cassie and Michael, thanking them for the use of their room. She shivered when they got in Elliot’s car. It was only September, but the air was cool this early in the morning.

  “So where are we going?” she asked as he entered the freeway.

  Elliot turned up the heat before answering. “We’re going to O’Hare,” he said, turning his attention back to the road. There weren’t too many cars out that early on a Saturday, but for some reason it took all his concentration to keep the car going in a straight line.

  “O’Hare? Are we flying somewhere?”