by Amber Nation
Grady scoffed, “You think that’s romantic? I personally think it’s pretty corny.”
“It may be corny, but you forget, I love corny.” I stared at the woman’s face, not being one that I immediately placed. Her face lit up like the Fourth of July. Seeing her nod in the affirmative, then throwing her arms around her new fiancé, and embracing in a very long and rather steamy kiss, made me wonder if it was possible for me to be happy like that again, and if that happiness would include Grady.
Hearing a muted phone ring, I looked down to Grady as he pulled out his cell, sent the call to voicemail, and placed it back into his pocket. This wasn’t lost on me, who could be the one calling all the time and he never wants to talk to. Whenever I called, he immediately answered. He did that as well when his Uncle Mac or mother called, even if we were together he answered. Something didn’t settle right with me, but I let it go. Perhaps that was my problem with Bryce, I had my suspicions of his infidelity but I chose to look the other way. Perhaps if I had confronted it head on, things would’ve been different. But Grady wasn’t Bryce, he wouldn’t cheat on me. In my heart I knew he wouldn’t, but my head was telling me something entirely different.
The loud speakers announced that all the participants of the Chili tasting needed to head over to the cook-off tent. That was us, so we made our way through the crowd.
Upon arriving at the tent, Grady spoke in my ear. “May the best chili win.” He was taunting me. Well, bring it buster.
“Okay, this is been one of the best turnouts we have ever seen for the Chili tasting event. The scores were the closest we have ever had, that being said, the second place winner is Grady Finnegan, leaving first place yet again, for the fifth year in a row, to Emmalynne Morgan!!” the announcer cheered into his microphone.
Grady and I each made our way up to the stage to receive our trophies. I smiled as I looked at him. “I’m going to pick the corniest chick flick ever to watch,” I said with a wink.
Later that night I picked The Notebook to watch. We didn’t even get through the first half hour before Grady pounced on me.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Emmalynne
It was now the day before Halloween. Driving down the street towards the bar I took in all of the festive decorations and the changing colors of the trees. This was my absolute favorite time of year, especially the cooler weather, which made it perfect for hooded sweatshirts and flip-flops. Bonfires, Homecoming games, and hayrides, I could go on forever.
I hadn’t told Grady that I loved him again. I was kind of hurt that he didn’t say it along with me, but I didn’t want to scare him off if he didn’t quite feel the same way just yet. I would wait until he declared his feelings before I spoke those words again. The ball was in his court.
I’d tried calling and texting him within the last few minutes without a response, which was unusual. He had left early this morning due, to having a meeting with Mac to discuss changes he wanted to implement at the bar.
Ever since the morning when Tucker found Grady in my bed, yes, that was definitely a mother of the year moment, Grady had been coming and going as he pleased. I’d cleared out two drawers in my dresser for him and he even had a designated shelf in the bathroom. This was huge for me, a sign I was moving on.
So, since he left early this morning, I decided to bake my man his favorite, Gooey Butter Cake, and run it by the bar before heading into work.
Pulling my van into the parking lot, I quickly took notice of Grady’s truck and Mac’s motorcycle, along with a little four door car. Now, I was not a car person so I didn’t know makes and models, but this particular car screamed elegance. Not thinking anyone else was supposed to be here, I just chalked it up to a drunk customer who hitched a ride the night before.
If Ihad paid attention and saw that the license plate of that expensive car had New York tags, it would’ve definitely raised some red flags.
Taking the cake out of my van, being extra careful while walking through the uneven gravel parking lot, I opened the door to the bar and immediately stopped dead in my tracks.
The scene before me couldn’t be real. No, it had to be a figment of my imagination. Because the scene before me had Grady in an intimate embrace with a brunette bombshell. In fact it was the same brunette bombshell he looked to be arguing with the night I asked him about the flowers.
His back was towards me so he didn’t notice I was there. He released his hold and she didn’t appear to be stepping back, but then again neither did he. She definitely spotted me, smiling and then giving a little smirk over his shoulder. Grady tried to turn around to see what the smirk was directed at, but she stopped him by leaning in to him and kissing him. And he definitely didn’t seem to be resisting.
My whole world just completely shattered. I knew I shouldn’t have let him into my heart. How fucking stupid could I have been? Blinded by love, yet again. Before turning on my heel and fleeing, I locked eyes with a very tense and very pissed off Mac Finnegan. I quickly scrambled out of the bar before I started crying. I wouldn’t give Grady or the brunette the satisfaction of seeing me cry.
While trying my best to run through the gravel parking lot, I spotted Tessa and Brock pulling in. Upon seeing her, I immediately erupted into tears, while Tess jumped out of her car, and ran up to comfort me.
“Emmy, honey, what’s wrong?!” Tess sounded frantic, but then again, who wouldn’t at my hysterical outburst?
“Gr…Gra…Grady!!” I released another sob, my knees were suddenly extremely weak, and all I wanted to do was just sit down.
Guiding me towards the passenger seat of her car, she opened the door and directed me to sit. Brock was standing in between the driver’s side door and seat, trying to figure out what was going on.
“Sweetie, sit down in the car. Tell me, what happened with Grady?” Tessa pushed.
“I…I…went in to give him the…the cake I baked, and I caught him.” I had to stop to take a few deep breaths, as my voice was choppy due to my crying. “I caught him, hugging a woman, then she…she kissed him!!
Tessa immediately jerked up, her stance threatening.
“What the fuck?” Brock exclaimed.
“Brock, I got this. Could you take Emmalynne home please?”
“Emmy, hand me your keys so I can drive your van home. I’m going to go have a little chat with one Grady Finnegan. Hot guy or not, he doesn’t hurt my friend.”
“Tessa please be careful, remember,” Brock said but cut off.
“Yes, I know, and I’ll be fine.”
I handed Tessa the key to my van. It took me a little extra time due to my inability to see thanks to the steady stream of tears that flowed down my face and the humongous pit that was my purse. She kissed my hair and departed in a jog, then disappeared into the bar.
How could I have let this happen to me? How could I have allowed someone to become so ensconced deep in my heart? My heart physically ached. It hadn’t hurt this bad even after Bryce.
Faintly, I heard Brock on his cellphone talking to, whom I assumed was, Toby. I tuned everything out and leaned my head against the cool window of the car and continued to cry.
We arrived at my house and Brock took my keys, running to open my house. I was moving on pure instinct as my brain had officially shut down.
I advanced to my room and threw myself into the middle of my bed, wrapping myself up with my comforter. I inhaled deeply, torturing myself further since my bed had the distinct smell of Grady, woodsy and all man. I continued on with my cry.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Grady
Waking up this morning, it was almost like every other morning for the past few weeks.
I got up, kissed my woman ‘Good Morning’ and went to wake up my favorite nine year old, not mentioning he was the only nine year old I knew.
The only thing different was I had to get to the bar early for a meeting with Uncle Mac.
I had several different ideas that I would like to implement to make
Finnegan’s Bar, even better.
Going about our morning routines, I left Emmalynne baking in the kitchen while I took Tucker to school.
Already this morning Becca had called me three times. It looked as if I was going to have to change my number and clue Em into the psycho that was Becca. I knew I should’ve already done it. It wasn’t as if I was hiding anything, but she had enough to worry about in her life, and I didn’t need to bring my past mistakes into her world. Making up my mind to tell Em about her tonight, I walked into the bar.
---~~~---
The meeting went well. Mac was going to look into adding a full-time dinner menu as well as theme nights, such as karaoke. I loved having live bands on Friday and Saturday nights but this bar could have so much more potential, it could be epic. And the décor was definitely in need of a major facelift.
“Emmalynne has already told me that she loves me, but I think tomorrow I’m going to take her out and tell her I feel the same way. She’s a romantic, so I gotta make it nice,” I said starting a new conversation topic after talking business.
“Son, are you fucking kidding me? She told you that she loved you and you feel the same way but didn’t feel the need to voice that to her right then? Boy, you know your aunt and I weren’t able to have children so you are as close to a son as I got. So, I want you to listen real close to what I have to say…You are a fucking moron!” he ranted as he came up to me and smacked me upside the head, literally. “You probably hurt her feelings. Here she put her heart on the line and announced her love, and you kept your fucking trap shut, although you feel the same way. Dumbass.”
Oh god, I felt sick. “Fuck!” I muttered, running my hand through my unruly hair.
“Has she since repeated those words?”
“No, Fuck. I’m sure I really hurt her, and she put herself out there. And she’s seemed, I don’t know, almost cautious lately.” I could tell Uncle Mac was severely disappointed in me, but it couldn’t be any more than I was with myself.
My phone vibrated in my pocket about the same time I heard a woman yelling, “Grady.”
“Shit!” As if things couldn’t be any worse, fucking Becca was here.
Uncle Mac followed me out of the office and towards the bar. Sure enough, perched on a stool, was none other than the venomous bitch herself.
“Son, who is that?”
“That,” pointing a finger in the direction of Becca, “is a pain in my ass, and she will be leaving.” I yelled out the last part, loud enough so she could hear me.
“I suggest you get her out then,” Mac said as he retreated back into his office.
“I’m not leaving until we talk Grady,” she said in the squeaky tone that was her voice.
I stormed over to where she was seated as she stood to face me. Unfortunately for me, my back was to the door, but I just wouldn’t realize the point of that until much later.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I narrowed my eyes and just took a good, hard look at Becca. I don’t even know what the hell I had even seen in her in the first place. She was the complete and total opposite of my Emmalynne. Em was selfless while Becca, selfish. Becca was way too skinny. Sure she was pretty but there was no comparison to the beauty that Em held. “You’ve got two minutes Bec, then I want your ass outta here and out of my life.”
“Oh Grady, come on baby,” she said as she tried to reach out to touch my arm. I flinched back. “We used to be so good together, don’t you miss us? I know I do.”
I didn’t know what her game was but it was past the point of getting old. “No, I can honestly say I don’t miss you, I don’t even miss the thought of you. I have a woman now, a fantastic one at that. She is everything you aren’t.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen you with her, definitely goes against your normal type. Going after the large ones these days, huh?”
If she was looking to rile me up, it was fucking working. Snapping the last of my control, I moved to grab her arm in a tight clench but retreated at the last second, as I bit out, through clenched teeth, “Don’t you EVER talk about Emmalynne like that again. She is three times the person you will ever be. I love her, and FYI, in case you’ve forgotten, you dumped me months ago through a fucking Dear John letter, no less.” Getting in her face I continued, “If you don’t leave and make yourself scarce, I’m going to be forced to call the Sheriff, and they don’t take too kindly to stalkers.”
Her eyes were now big and round and she flinched as she started stammering, “Yo…you love her? You must because you’ve never talked about me like that. You were always so cold and distant.” A few tears rolled down her face. “Okay Grady, I’ll be leaving now, but can I just have a hug first, as closure, as a last goodbye?”
Knowing this wasn’t such a good idea, but I didn’t see her relenting, I nodded my head and enveloped her in a hug. What was meant to last a few seconds seemed like hours because she wouldn’t let go. “Let go,” I growled in her ear. Finally she released her hold on me, as she stepped back, smirking at something over my shoulder.
I tried to turn around to see what she was smirking at when she threw herself at me and pressed her lips against mine.
I would admit, for a split second I had a positive reaction until it quickly turned negative. Forcing her off of me, I growled, “What the fuck are you doing?”
“Son,” Uncle Mac appeared, walking towards me with a murderous look upon his face.
“Just a minute, Uncle Mac.” I said as I put my hands on my hips, “Seriously Becca, why the fuck would you throw yourself at me like that and kiss me? I just got finished telling you about Emmalynne and that I love her. You really are a fucking bitch.”
“Grady,” Mac growled out. His tone was certainly not one to mess with so I focused my attention on him, at least until I heard someone throw open the door to the bar so hard it crashed against the side.
Turning towards the door, I saw a fuming Tessa thundering towards us. Uncle Mac had to quickly intervene because it seemed that Tessa wasn’t going to stop. Holding his arm loosely around her stomach, Mac calmly said, “Tessa calm down.”
“Don’t you fucking tell me to calm down! That wasn’t your friend you just ran into in the parking lot, with huge tears running down her face, saying her man was sucking face with a brunette bitch,” Tessa barked out.
I glanced over towards one of the several empty tables, and sitting on top was a baking dish.
Emmalynne. FUCK!
“You,” she pointed to Becca, “you home wrecking slut. You are damn lucky that Mac here is holding me back, because if he wasn’t, I’d be on you like white on rice. I don’t know who the fuck you are or where you fucking crawled out from, but I suggest you go back there before this gets ugly.” Tessa sneered, she was on a roll.
“And as for you,” she looked pointedly at me, giving me a death glare.
“Tessa, I can explain. It really wasn’t what it looked like.”
“Save it for someone who actually cares what you have to say. Hot or not, you are a fucking asshole. And to think, I thought Bryce was bad. At least when he cheated, he didn’t do it out in the open, in goddamn public, for any Tom, Dick, or Harry to see.” Twisting out of Uncle Mac’s hold, she got directly in my face. “You can work all by your-fucking-self tonight, because the way she looked just now, you fucking crushed her. Her heart was apparently just shattered into a million fucking pieces.” She jammed her finger rather hard into my chest. “And I gotta be the one to pick them up and try to restore them.”
She took one last look at Becca, “I mean it bitch, you had better be gone. I know people in this town, and they will make sure you’re gone.” She stalked back out the way she came in, throwing the door open.
“Mac, get that fucking bitch out of here! Seriously, if I look at her one more time, I might actually hurt her. I guess I’m more like my father than I thought.” I stalked back towards the office and slammed the door shut. I planted myself in a chair, put my elbows on my knees, and dropped my head in my
hands. I pulled my hair hard as I screamed, “SON OF A BITCH!”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and saw a few missed calls from Emmalynne starting about thirty minutes ago.
Also there were two text messages. I plunged the knife deeper in my heart by reading them.
EMMY LOU: Hey babe, I tried calling, I’m on my way to bring you your favorite, Gooey Butter Cake!! ;)
EMMY LOU: I hope the meeting went well for you, I’ll see you soon!! XOXO Muah!!
Hitting the call button while on her name, I prayed to God that she answered. It went directly to voicemail. My only other option was to go to her house.
Making my way back through the bar, I saw Mac standing with his hands on his hips, and no sign of Becca. “I’m going to her house, I’ll be back. And no, I don’t know what I’m going to say to her.”
On the drive to her house, I thought about what a major fuck up I was. I’d never been in this situation, mostly because I never had a woman get as close to me as Emmalynne had.
Reaching Emmalynne’s house, I saw her minivan, Brock’s Camry, and Toby’s Jeep. I braced myself for a major letdown, but I had to know for sure.
I rang the doorbell, and a very broody Brock answered. “What do you want?” he exploded.
“Can I talk to Emmalynne, I need to explain…”
“She doesn’t want to talk to you! You need to leave!” Toby screamed from behind Derek.
Then I heard Emmalynne shout, “You mother fucking asshole.” Trying to look over the two men in the doorway, I couldn’t see her, but it sounded like the yelling was coming from her bedroom. “It took me five years to let someone else in again, and you betrayed my trust the first chance you got!” Em then let out a huge sob.
“And to think, Tessa and I rooted for you…asshole” Toby muttered the last part under his breath, as he slammed the door in my face.
Going back to my truck and peeling off of her street, I just knew that I’d lost her. I’d lost the only woman I’d ever loved.