“How about a quick mani pedi and then dinner?” Jill asked.
“What?” I said. I’d been checking the volume on my phone, making sure it was turned up.
“Mani pedis.” She repeated. “Let’s get them.” I glanced at my phone again. “Good grief, Brooke. It’s not like it will take all night. I promise I’ll have you home in time to talk to your precious A-won.” I glared at her.
“He’s just supposed to call when he gets back in town, to let me know he made it in okay.”
“Fine, you can still answer from the nail salon. Let’s go.”
But Aaron didn’t call. Not while my nails, now gleaming with Cherry Punch polish, dried. Not during our early dinner of guac and chips and fajita roll-ups. And not while I found places in my closet for all the new clothes I’d bought. It was 8:14, an hour later where he was. I knew that Aaron would call as soon as he got back, not just because he promised me, but because he just would. And so I knew he wasn’t home yet. And that worried me.
A movie channel was showing one of my favorite comedies, so I curled up on the couch to watch it, but found myself glancing at the clock often. 9:06. 9:29. 10:05. 10:40. 11:12.
I thought at first that the ringing was a part of my dream. It wasn’t until the fourth ring that I woke up, barely, and felt around in the couch for my phone. The overhead light was on, as was the TV, and my half empty bowl of popcorn was at my side.
“Hello?” I said groggily.
“Hey, Brooke.” Aaron’s voice was soft, almost a whisper.
“What time is it?” I asked, trying to focus on the DVD player clock.
“Just after three here. I’m sorry to wake you up, but we just got back--it’s a long story--and I just wanted to let you know I’m here. I’ll explain everything tomorrow, okay?”
“Okay,” I said.
“Okay. Now go back to sleep. I’ll talk to you in the morning. Sweet dreams, Brooke.” I hung up the phone and stretched my arms over my head. A glance at the clock confirmed what Aaron said: 2:12 am. I must have fallen asleep waiting for him. I placed the popcorn bowl on the coffee table, switched off the lights and TV and headed to my bedroom to grab a few more hours of sleep.
I woke up around eight, tired and sore from the late night. Coffee was waiting, its caramel vanilla scent promising to wake me up. I poured a cup, added some sweetener and cream to dilute the coffee taste, then wandered over to the couch. I’d left my phone there the night before, so I hadn’t heard the text come in an hour earlier. Hey. I’m awake. Call me? He picked up on the second ring.
“Hey,” he answered.
“Hey,” I replied, stifling a yawn. I could almost feel him wince.
“I’m really sorry about yesterday,” he said. “And I hated waking you up, but--”
I interrupted him. “I’m glad you did. I was really worried.”
“I know,” he answered quietly.
“What happened?”
He sighed, and I knew whatever had happened was a long story, one he was not excited about retelling. “We went to a state park about four hours away,” he began. “The plan was to leave around eleven, stop and eat about twelve thirty, and be home by five. But about an hour in, in the middle of nowhere, one of the vans blew a tire. I mean, it was so bad it messed up the wheel.” He paused, and I just knew more calamity was coming. “And since we were in the middle of nowhere...”
“There were no mechanics?” I finished for him.
“Right. And no cell service. So, we all piled out of the van, and a couple of the coaches took the other one to find help. We all just sat around on the pavement in ninety degree heat and waited. None of the service stations were open, being a Sunday, so the two coaches eventually just found a car rental place and rented another van.”
“That sounds like an adventure,” I said. Actually, it sounded awful, and I’m sure it made for a really long day. But Aaron would never say that. He rarely complained, not even to me.
“Something like that,” he said. “By the time we got on the road again it was way past lunch, and we were pretty much starving, and hot, so we stopped for what was supposed to be a quick bite, but with twenty football players and ten coaches, well, it took awhile. And there was a wreck on the interstate that backed it up for miles. And coach had left all our stuff and his keys locked in the office, so he had to track down campus security to let us in. I tried to borrow his phone when I realized just how late we were going to be, but his battery had died.”
“Think maybe he’ll rethink his cell policy for next year?”
“Doubtful. He’ll probably claim it was part of his plan, you know to build problem solving skills or something.” We both laughed, and after a moment Aaron said, “Thanks for understanding.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” I asked.
I could sense him shrugging. “I don’t know,” he said, “but a lot of people wouldn’t.”
“I guess I’m not like a lot of people.”
I’d meant it to be funny, but his answer was serious, his voice barely more than a whisper. “I know.” My heart beat faster, keeping time with the butterflies now soaring through me. Where was that coming from? I pushed the feeling down quickly before it could take root.
“So,” he said. “How was lunch with your mother?”
“Really good, actually. Surprisingly,” I said.
“Yeah? So she’s over Spencer?”
“I think so. Funny that it took her so much longer than it took me.”
“Does that mean she’s out of your love life now?” he asked. There was a hesitancy in his voice I now recognized well: Aaron was going into protective mode.
“Well, I don’t know about that. I mean, things aren’t perfect between us or anything. She still thinks my frustration over her meddling had to do with the fact that Spencer cheated.”
“As opposed to just her meddling.”
“Well, yeah,” I said. “I mean, I shouldn’t have to endure infidelity and humiliation to be able to end a relationship. That part she still doesn’t get.” And I wasn’t sure she ever would. But for now I was content to have my mother back in my life and Spencer out of it.
Or so I thought.
Chapter 16
When I was fourteen my parents took me to an amusement park a few hours away to celebrate my starting high school. “Wild and Wicked” was the newest, fastest roller coaster at the park, and I--and everyone else within a three state radius--couldn’t wait to ride it. My dad and I have never had all that much in common, but as an engineer, he loved roller coasters almost as much as I did, if for a different reason. And so it was he who waited in a two hour line in the sweltering heat with me that day. The line inched slowly forward. I could tell Dad was bored, but I was so excited that I didn’t even mind the wait, using the time to people watch.
When our turn to ride finally came, we pulled the harnesses down over our heads, tightened our seat belts, and steeled our stomachs. The coaster clack-clack-clacked to the top of its highest hill. From there you could see the entire park. I was so excited and nervous that I counted the seconds to the top to calm down. Thirty-seven. We dropped suddenly, then turned sharply to the left before going upside down a few times and stopping with a jerk back inside the loading station. The entire ride--including the slow trip up--lasted one minute and twenty-three seconds.
So far the summer had been like that two hour wait. A few interesting things here and there, but for the most part a seemingly never ending sameness. The only difference was that with the roller coaster, I knew things would eventually get more interesting. Given the metaphor, it probably shouldn’t have surprised me when things started happening all at once, like twists and loops and fifty foot drops that make you swallow your stomach.
After working what seemed like forty hours straight, I finally found myself with an entire day off and a grocery list three pages long.
I turned my cart up the next aisle in search of shampoo and very nearly crashed into her. Her. Brittney. The girl wit
h whom Spencer had cheated on me. His fiancée.
“Oh,” she said, startled by either the near wreck or seeing me, I wasn’t sure. “Um, hi.”
“Hi,” I replied. “Brittney, right?” I knew, of course, but this seemed a safe reply.
“Yeah.”
Well this was awkward. I decided to put us both out of our misery. “Nice to see you again. Sorry for almost plowing you down.”
I maneuvered my cart to move past her, and was halfway down the aisle when she said my name, only barely loud enough for me to hear. I stopped, and waited for her to approach before I turned around.
“Um.” She paused again and looked down before taking a deep breath and meeting my eyes again. “That day when we met. On the lake? Spencer introduced you as a friend from college.” I nodded, both in agreement and as encouragement for her to go on. “But I also heard that you guys were...more than friends.”
There was no question in there, but I knew she was waiting for an answer. I also knew this conversation had no hope of a positive ending. “That’s true,” I said. “We dated for over four years.” Something passed over her face that wasn’t anger, wasn’t surprise. It was more like confirmation.
“We’ve been together for two,” she said quietly. “Did you know?”
“That Spencer was cheating on me? Not until I met you. He broke up with me the day before he proposed to you.”
She clutched the basket in her hands so tightly that her knuckles turned white, and I thought she was going to cry.
“I didn’t know. I had no idea.”
“I know.” She looked up at me, no doubt shocked that I wasn’t screaming at her. I sighed. “Look, Spencer was a terrible boyfriend. I think I knew it all along, but he has a way of making you need him. And I was devastated when he dumped me at my birthday dinner--” her eyes widened at this-- “but it was clearly for the best. And when you told me you two were engaged, it was clear you were as clueless as I was.”
“But you didn’t say anything.”
“No. And maybe I should have. But you were obviously happy, and I didn’t think it fair for my anger and hurt to ruin the happiness of someone I didn’t know. For all I knew, you deserved each other, or maybe he was different with you. That and I was in shock.”
She laughed a little at this, but quickly sobered. “I don’t know what to do now.”
I sighed. “Look, I can’t give you the answer to that. But here’s what I know: Spencer didn’t just cheat on me; he cheated on you, as well, the entire time you were dating. And the two year mark was when I really felt that I was giving way more than I was getting in the relationship, but it took him ending it for me to get out. And I see how bad things were now that I’m out. Do with that what you want.”
She nodded and began to turn away when I stopped her. “Brittney.” She looked up at me, lost. “I probably don’t want to know the answer to this, but how did you meet?”
“He used to come in the restaurant where I was a waitress.”
“Near school.” She nodded, and then abruptly stopped when it hit her: he’d been dating us both in plain sight.
“Well,” I broke the silence. “I’d better…”
“Yeah. Um, thanks. For telling me. About everything.”
I gave her a small smile--we were bonded now, after all--and walked toward the exit, my abandoned cart parked in the middle of the aisle, having completely forgotten what I’d come in for in the first place.
Perhaps it was silly of me to think that would be the end of it. Brittney would make her choice, and whatever our lives looked like, we’d go on with them. But here it was two days later, a Wednesday, and I had closed at work. This was not unusual, but Caryn was usually with me. Tonight, though, she’d left early to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Night had not completely taken over yet: streaks of orange and pink still shone through the growing dark. I walked toward my car, parked under a street light, just like my dad had taught me. I wasn’t parked far from the store, but just far enough that I didn’t notice the figure in the shadows until it was too late to detour.
Spencer leaned against side of my car, blocking the door.
I sighed, trying to sound annoyed rather than scared, but gripped my keys pointy side out a little tighter, and moved my cell phone from my pocket to my hand. “What do you want, Spencer?”
“Come on, Babe. Is that any way to greet the man you spent the best years of your life with?”
I cringed. “It is when that man is actually a little boy who treats you like crap and then leaves you for someone else. On your birthday.” I had never spoken to him that way. I wasn’t sure where this courage came from, especially since I was trembling inside.
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic, Brooke. You make it sound much worse than it was.” Something came untied inside me at that moment, and I realized that I’d never had the opportunity to tell him how much he'd hurt me. Other than those few words on the lake, we had not talked since the breakup, so I’d never been able to tell him what a jerk he was. I’d seen him around town--it wasn’t large enough that all contact was unavoidable--but I’d managed to duck down aisles or turn down different streets whenever he was near. Since most of our mutual friends were really his friends, I’d not heard much about him via the grapevine, either. Not that I cared.
“Please get off of my car,” I said, my voice a warning. “I need to leave.’
“What? You have somewhere to be? You seeing someone else?”
“That is not your business,” I said. “Now please, move.” Something in his posture made me tense up even more, put me on high alert.
“Oh, come on, Brooke. You know you miss me. Get in the car with me, we’ll drive and talk. Catch up.” Why was this happening? I thought I had finally rid my life of the last remnants of Spencer.
The parking lot was empty and too far removed from the main road to expect help. I moved my phone to my other hand so he would see I had a lifeline. “What? You’re going to call someone for help from big bad Spencer?” His smile was sinister, one I didn’t recognize. “Gonna call your new boyfriend?”
For one second my fear turned to confusion. “Who are you talking about?” I asked.
“Oh, so there’s more than one? I always knew you were a slut. Not that I ever got the rewards of that.” He moved closer to me. I knew I had nowhere to go. I couldn’t get around him into my car, and I couldn’t outrun him.
“You’re one to talk.”
“Yeah, well, that’s kind of the problem. Thanks to you, I have no one.” So Brittney had ended things. And apparently told him about our meeting. That I did not appreciate. “You ruined a good thing. Just couldn’t mind your business.”
I shook my head. “No, Spencer, I’m pretty sure that was all you. Grow up and take some responsibility for once.” Spencer took a step toward me, and my courage faltered. I pulled up the keypad on my phone to call...someone.
“Again with the phone trick. Who ya gonna call to protect you now, Brooke?” Spencer laughed, sensing I had no one to turn to.
But at that moment I glanced up at headlights swinging into the parking lot.
“Dave,” I said, making my voice clear and strong. Dave, my sister’s long-suffering boyfriend, was behind the wheel of the nearing car. And he hated Spencer. I wasn’t exactly sure why, but any time we were all together the tension had been palpable. There had to be some history there, but neither of them ever talked about it.
Spencer looked behind him to where my eyes had traveled. I watched him tense up and start to back down even though Dave didn’t appear to see us. Dave pulled into a parking spot at a restaurant further down the strip mall. If I called out to him, he’d probably hear me; if I phoned him, he could be there in under a minute. Spencer must have realized this, too, because he held his hands up in surrender.
“You don’t have to be so dramatic,” he said. “Leave if you want. It’s your loss, though.” It wasn’t, but I didn’t say anything as I used the small opening
he had left me to jerk the car door open and slide inside. He reached for me, and I thought he was going to grab me and do who knows what, but I slammed the door at the last second, locking it as I did. “It’s okay, Brooke. I’ll get you to see reason. Next time you’ll come with me.” His gaze, one of derisive laughter, followed me as I threw the car into reverse and pulled out of the lot and into traffic.
I don’t think I breathed until I hit the first red light nearly a mile down the road. Then, instinctively, I checked the rearview mirror to make sure he wasn’t following me. Safe. Even so, I hurried into my apartment, casting several glances behind me on my way up the stairs. My fingers trembled as I put my keys in the lock and attempted to open the door. I dead-bolted it behind me, drew the blinds and grabbed my phone.
“Hey!” Aaron answered. “I was just about to call you. How was your day?”
I responded by bursting into tears.
“Brooke? Brooke! What’s wrong?” I continued to cry, not really even knowing why. I had been scared, yeah, but the incident wasn’t really all that horrific. I mean, it’s not like he’d hit me or anything. “Brooke, you have to tell me what’s wrong. Are you hurt?” I could hear panic rising in Aaron’s voice. I shook my head, forgetting for a moment that he couldn’t see me.
I took a breath, trying to find my voice. “Sorry,” I said, still crying some. “I didn’t mean--”
“Hey,” he interrupted. “No apologies for tears, okay? Ever.”
“Okay. I just didn’t expect...to do that.” I didn’t say anything for a moment, and Aaron didn’t rush me. I’d called him, after all; he knew I’d talk when I felt ready. Finally I took a deep breath and began. “Spencer was waiting by my car after work,” I said flatly.
Another silence. Then, “Did he hurt you? Because if he did, Brooke, I swear I will get in my truck right now and come make sure he never does that again.”
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