by Rye Hart
Andrea tightened her grip on me as the sobs finally started to subside. My throat was sore, and my nose was dripping, but I didn’t care. I wanted to get everything out so I could start to make sense of my new situation. If I let my emotions control me, I knew I would never pick myself back up again.
I pulled away from Andrea and sniffed. My face felt disgusting, so I hurried into the bathroom and cleaned myself up. As I stared into the mirror, I told myself to pull it together. I cried. I broke down. Now, I needed to move on. I needed to pick myself up and figure out a way to let go of both Michael and Joshua. For good.
When I walked back out to the living room, Andrea was sitting on the couch. She smiled when she saw me and patted the cushion beside her. I sighed and sank down, letting my head fall back. My entire body felt weak with exhaustion. If it wasn’t for the dull ache in my chest, I could have fallen asleep right there.
“Are you ready to talk about it?” Andrea asked softly.
“How much did you hear?” I asked.
“Pretty much everything,” Andrea said.
I nodded. I knew that would be her answer. When we saw that it was Michael at the door, I ushered Andrea out of the room. She hid in my bedroom to give Michael and me some space, but I knew it killed her to not be right beside me. If I knew my best friend, she had her ear pressed against the door until the minute Michael left.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” I said, speaking more to myself than to Andrea.
“I’m so sorry,” Andrea said. She put her hand on top of mine and squeezed my fingers. I tried to smile at her, to show how grateful I was that she was there, but I couldn’t. Even my face was exhausted.
“This is insane,” I said. “How did this happen?”
“I don’t know.” Andrea shook her head. “It does seem surreal.”
“It’s beyond surreal,” I said.
“Fucked up,” Andrea said. “Fucked up is the best way to describe this.”
“How could he lie to me?” I asked. My eyes burned with fresh tears, but I blinked them away impatiently. I didn’t want to cry anymore. Not tonight.
“Maybe he thought he was doing the right thing,” Andrea said softly.
I jerked my head up to stare at her. I thought for sure I’d misheard her. For a second, it sounded as if Andrea was going to defend Michael.
“What?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Andrea said quickly. “But, it just… He really seemed to like you. I can’t imagine he would do something like this just to hurt you. It doesn’t make sense.”
“It does if it was some sort of game,” I said. “If he and Joshua cooked up a scheme or something.”
“Do you really think that’s what happened?” Andrea asked doubtfully. “I mean, you said yourself that Joshua was shocked when he saw you with Michael.”
“It could have been an act,” I said.
“And the whole ‘I still love you’ thing?” Andrea pressed. “Was that part of their game?”
“Maybe.” I shrugged. “Don’t ask me to understand how their minds work.”
“It just doesn’t add up, Julie,” Andrea said. “It doesn’t make sense for Joshua and Michael to plan this whole thing out just to screw with you.”
I shook my head and looked away. The last thing I needed was for my best friend to defend Michael and, yet, I knew she was right. It didn’t make sense. Joshua was way too surprised to see me with Michael. He was shocked. Livid. There was no way he knew about us until we showed up for dinner.
Still, Michael knew the truth the whole time. That first day in the café, he knew who I was. He knew all about my relationship with Joshua, and he never said anything.
“How could Michael lie?” I asked again. “And why? What was the point?”
“I don’t know,” Andrea said. “That part really doesn’t make sense.”
“I mean, he could have just told me who he was,” I said. “He could have said, ‘Hey, I’m Joshua’s brother, and I recognized you from Facebook. You’re Julie, right?’ It would have been that simple.”
“Maybe.” Andrea shrugged. “Or maybe not.”
I frowned and stared at her. Andrea was usually the first person to man-bash. Every time either one of us went through a breakup, she was vicious with her insults. It always helped us move on, but now, she was only confusing me more.
“What’s going on with you?” I demanded. “I thought for sure you would hate Michael for what he did to me.”
“I do!” Andrea said quickly. “Julie, trust me. I’m pissed as hell right now.”
“Then, why are you defending him?” I asked.
“Because he doesn’t seem like a jerk,” Andrea said simply. “Joshua always seemed like a total tool. From the first time I met him, I hated him. But Michael, not so much.”
“You’ve never actually met him,” I said.
“You’re right,” she said with a nod. “But the way he was talking to you, it’s obvious that he really cares about you, Julie.”
“If you care about someone, you don’t lie to them.”
“Maybe he didn’t know how to tell you,” Andrea said softly. “Maybe he saw you in the café and wanted to talk to you, but he was afraid you’d run away if you knew who he was. Then, he really started to like you, and the closer you two became, the harder it was to tell you the truth. Maybe, he just wanted to see if things could work out between you guys before he dropped the bomb about being Joshua’s brother.”
I shook my head. “That doesn’t make sense. Besides, even if it’s true, it’s a shitty reason to lie to someone.”
“I agree,” Andrea said. “But it makes sense, doesn’t it?”
I just shook my head again and turned away. I didn’t want things to make sense yet. I just wanted to be angry, to silently curse Michael for making me fall for him. I hated him for breaking my heart when it was already in a shambles over Joshua.
“I wish I’d never met him,” I said softly. “Him or Joshua. They’ve only brought me grief.”
“I know.” Andrea sighed and sank down closer to me.
We sat in silence for a while. My head was spinning. It seemed crazy that this was where my life had ended up. It wasn’t that long ago that Andrea and I were moving my stuff into this house. It felt like yesterday that I was crying over Joshua and, now, here I was, broken over a man who turned out to be his brother.
“I just,” I said, finally breaking the silence, “I really, really wish I’d never met either one of them.”
“You don’t mean that,” Andrea said softly.
I looked at her, angry at first. She just smiled at me kindly and squeezed my hand again. Andrea was never the type of friend to lie. She wouldn’t sugarcoat things. She wouldn’t hide from the real issues just to make me feel better. Most the of time, I loved her for it.
“I wish I meant it,” I said, sighing.
My eyes closed, and I felt fresh tears begin to form. As much as I wanted to be done crying, I wasn’t.
“I was falling in love with him,” I said weakly. My voice broke, and just like that, I was crying again.
Andrea pulled me into her arms and smoothed my hair. She let me cry on and off for the rest of the night. We switched between hating Joshua, cursing Michael, and laughing at them both. Still, nothing we did made me feel any better. I missed Michael so much that my stomach felt like a pit. It was as if he’d created a void I wasn’t sure I would be able to fill again.
“He meant a lot to you,” Andrea said later that night. “I can tell.”
“You want to know something really pathetic?” I asked.
“Always.” Andrea smiled.
“Part of me thought he was the one,” I said. “I know, it’s stupid.”
“Why is that stupid?” Andrea asked.
“Because we barely know each other,” I said. “We only just met and, already, I was falling for him.”
Andrea shrugged. “Sometimes it happens that way,” she said. “Love at first s
ight does exist, you know?”
“I’m not so sure about that,” I said doubtfully. “That’s a fairy tale.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” Andrea said.
“It doesn’t matter anymore,” I said. “Everything’s different now. Everything’s changed.”
“So, you never want to see him again?” Andrea asked. “Ever? You don’t want to let him try and explain?”
I didn’t know the answer to her question, so I didn’t give one. Part of me hated Michael more than I’d ever hated anyone. Another part of me wanted to fall into his arms and let him heal me. I didn’t know which part of me would win.
“I don’t want to think about it tonight,” I said. “I just want to get through this.”
Andrea nodded. We kept talking through the night. We ordered pizza and sipped wine until the sun rose outside.
CHAPTER 24
MICHAEL
Weekends were off limits. Marcy knew not to call me anytime on Saturday or Sunday unless the sky was falling. So, when I woke up Saturday morning to three missed calls from my secretary, I knew something was horribly wrong.
“Marcy,” I said when she answered my call. “What is it?”
“You need to get to the office,” Marcy said. “The Richardsons are here.”
The name fell like a weight on my ears. The Richardsons were some of my biggest clients. We’d worked together for years.
“What’s going on?” I asked. I pushed myself out of bed and hurried into my bathroom.
“They’re angry,” Marcy said quietly. “Something about this latest round of tools.”
“I’m on my way,” I said.
I hung up and jumped in the shower. Five minutes later, I was dressed and in my car. I sped through town, not bothering to slow down until I pulled into the office parking lot. Marcy’s car was already in her usual spot, and two other, unfamiliar vehicles were parked on either side of her.
I groaned and shoved open my car door. This was the last thing I needed today. I barely slept the night before. Instead, I tossed and turned for hours. I tried everything to get Julie out of my head, but the hurt look on her face was forever burned into my memory. Even in the morning light, I couldn’t shake the memory free from my mind.
“Mr. Smart,” Marcy said when I walked through the door. She visibly relaxed when she saw me. “They’re in the conference room waiting for you.”
“Thank you, Marcy.”
I squeezed her shoulder as I hurried past. Outside the conference room, I paused with my hand on the doorknob. Whatever was going on in my personal life, I had to push that aside. This business, my business, was too important to let it fall apart.
With a deep breath, I turned the knob and slowly stepped inside. I smiled at the Richardsons and quickly closed the door behind me.
“About time you showed up,” Jim Richardson said. “Where the hell have you been, Smart?”
“Well, it is Saturday morning,” I said.
“I’m not fucking around right now,” Jim said. “Not today, Michael.”
“Just slow down for a second,” I said. I walked over to sit down while Jim glared at me. His two sons, Trey and Turner, kept their eyes locked on their father. The tension in the room was already unbearable, and we hadn’t even begun talking yet.
“I don’t want to slow down,” Jim said. “I want you to fix your mistake.”
“What mistake is that?” I asked patiently.
I leaned back and intertwined my fingers over my chest. This was the position I always took in important meetings. It allowed me to appear relaxed and calm, while still remaining strong and confident.
“You don’t even know?” Trey demanded. “What the hell is going on around here, Michael?”
“We’ve been sending complaints to your office for over a week,” Turner said. He was calmer than either his father or his brother and, still, his anger was evident.
“I’ve received a few emails,” I said with a nod. “And I responded.”
“Not good enough,” Jim said. “We asked for a whole new set of tools four days ago, and still, we’ve gotten nothing.”
“You know it doesn’t work that way,” I said. “I have to send a technician out to examine the tools before they can be replaced.”
“We don’t have time for that!” Jim spat. “We’ve already spent a week waiting around for you to get off your ass!”
I nodded and let Jim lay into me. He screamed and yelled, jumped to his feet and paced around the room. The whole time, his sons continued to glare in my direction. I did my best to listen to every word he said, but I let most of it slide past my ears. I just couldn’t bring myself to care about his complaints. Not now. Not with everything else I had going on.
“Are you even listening to me?” Jim screamed. He’d finally stopped pacing, but I didn’t know when. He was standing at the opposite end of the conference table, glaring at me.
“Of course, I’m listening,” I said. I sat up straighter. “But screaming isn’t going to resolve the problem, Jim.”
“Well, you can’t be trusted to resolve it!” Jim said. “That much is clear.”
“Just let me send my technician out,” I said calmly. “He can assess the situation and then we can decide what to do from there.”
Jim’s eyes flashed. I’d never seen him so enraged. Both Trey and Turner shook their heads in disgust and turned away from me. It was too late, but I suddenly realized I’d missed something important.
“I just told you,” Jim said. His voice was low. “I already had a technician assess the fucking tools, Michael. They are all shot. Not a single one works. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I got on a goddamn plane this morning!”
I didn’t know what to say. “I didn’t realize—”
“I just fucking told you!” Jim screamed.
I flinched, and that was it. The rest of the meeting was shot to hell. Jim raged at me while I tried desperately to rectify the situation. I begged, pleading with Jim to give me one last chance to make things right.
It was no use. Jim Richardson was done. It was bad enough that he flew all the way to Texas to have this conversation, but when I basically ignored him in my own conference room, his anger became too much to overcome.
“I’m done,” Jim said. He shook his head and turned toward the door.
“Wait,” I said. I jumped to my feet and hurried to block his exit. “Just give me five more minutes, okay? I’m sorry about my behavior today. I truly am. But I can fix this.”
“How?” Jim demanded.
“I’ll get your tools today,” I said firmly. “If I have to drive them to Alaska myself, I’ll get you the tools today.”
Jim was already shaking his head before I’d even finished speaking. He just shoved past me and slammed open the door.
“We won’t be working with you any longer,” Turner said simply. “I expect that our contract will be terminated without any additional charges.”
“And if not,” Trey added. “You’ll be hearing from our lawyers.”
“Trey,” I said. Desperation dripped from my lips. “Turner. Just hear me out, guys. Come on.”
“We have Christmas plans,” Turner said. “We don’t have time to waste on you, Michael.”
They followed their father out of the conference room, letting the door slam shut behind them. When it did, I sank into the first chair I could reach and put my head in my hands. What was happening to my life? How had things gotten so bad so fast?
I didn’t know how long I sat in the conference room. My head was pounding from lack of sleep and stress. Not only was my personal life in a shambles but, now, my business was falling apart, too. It was as if the entire universe had begun to plot against me overnight.
“Mr. Smart?” Marcy asked nervously. She poked her head into the conference room just as I looked up.
“Yes?” I asked weakly.
“I don’t know if you want to talk to anyone right now,” she said slowly. “But your mother
is on line one for you.”
I nodded. “Thank you, Marcy.”
Marcy hurried out of the room while I slowly pushed myself to my feet. There was a phone on the opposite end of the table. I made my way over to it, wondering how my mother knew I’d be at the office.
“Hello?” I said as I put the phone to my ear.
“Michael!” My mom’s voice was bright. I closed my eyes and tried to keep my annoyance in check.
“Hi, Mom,” I said. “How’d you know I was here?”
“I didn’t,” Mom said. “But I called your house and your cell first.”
“Oh,” I said. “Sorry about that. I’ve been in a meeting all morning.”
“On a Saturday?” Mom asked. I could hear the worry in her voice.
“Everything’s fine,” I said. “Just some last-minute issues with a tool package I have up in Alaska.”
“Oh, okay,” Mom said. She didn’t really understand my work. Mostly because she never tried to. “Well, I’m sure you’ll get it all worked out.”
“I’m sure I will,” I said. “So, what’s up?”
I wanted to get off the phone quickly. My day was already miserable, and I wanted nothing more than to go back home and hide under my covers for the rest of the weekend.
“I’m calling about Christmas,” Mom said. “Are you still planning to be here?”
“Yes,” I said. “Of course.”
“Okay good!” Mom squealed. “I’m so excited. Your father is, too. He’s been planning the menu for two weeks now.”
“You don’t need to go to any trouble,” I said. “It’s just us, right?”
“Well, the neighbors may stop by,” Mom said. “But that’s another thing I wanted to ask you. Are you bringing your new girlfriend along?”
I froze. I couldn’t remember telling my mom about Julie, but I knew I must have. My mom waited silently for my answer.
“No,” I said. “Julie and I aren’t seeing each other anymore.”