Saving Her

by Mia Ford

  “My sister is the reason you broke up with Amanda,” Lindsey insisted.

  “I know what Sarah did,” I said. “She slept with Amanda’s ex on purpose. Amanda told me the whole sob story when we were dating. I met Sarah once when we were in a restaurant. She made some snide comment to Amanda and got her all upset. Though now, I am thinking that those tears might have been all for show.”

  The scene from the park started to play in my mind. She really did seem genuinely upset, and that had been the exact moment that I fell even further in love with her, thinking she was the woman that I was going to spend my life with. It had been a ruse, and I wouldn’t even be surprised if Sarah was all part of the giant scheme to get my money. Or maybe she had fooled them just as much as she had fooled me.

  “No,” Lindsey said. “You don’t understand. She’s the reason that all of this current day situation is happening. She is the person behind it, and she cannot be trusted. My entire life, Sarah has been jealous of Amanda. She has always done things to try to keep her from being happy. This time, she really went above and beyond. You have to hear me out. This is not what you think it is. John is being played for a fool, too. Don’t you care that some woman is using him for her own sick scheme?”

  “First of all, I still have no idea what you are talking about,” I said. “Secondly, it is not surprising if what you are saying is true about a woman using a man. It seems there isn’t a single decent woman left, no offense. I’m sure you truly love Jordan, but that would make you the exception.”

  “You are a very stubborn man,” Lindsey said, sitting down in the chair. “Listen, Sarah has been screwing John before you ever met Amanda. When you started dating her, Sarah saw an opportunity to further torture my best friend. She fucked some guy and had him create a fake marriage document. She then went to John, acting like she was so worried about you, his best friend. She gave him the document and showed him some woman’s marriage license online. The woman just so happened to have the same name as Amanda, but she’s like forty-six and lives in Iowa. From there, John had his ‘proof,’ and of course, everything after that looked suspicious. I have known Amanda my whole life, and I would know if she were married.”

  “Wow,” I said, laughing and clapping my hands. “That is a very elaborate story. Did you get that from her, or are you in on this, too? What’s in it for you? She must really want my money.”

  I shook my head and crossed my arms in front of me, still snickering to myself. If I wasn’t cocky about the whole situation, I wouldn’t be able to hide just how much this whole conversation was tearing me to pieces. Why couldn’t she just leave me alone? Why couldn’t she just understand that she got caught in a lie and move on to the next poor schmuck that she was planning on conning out of money? My heart was breaking in my chest, and all I could do to cover it up at that moment was laugh.

  “I am not joking, and I am not part of any scheme,” Lindsey said angrily. “I have never been away from Amanda for more than a couple of weeks. She is not married, and she has never been married. In fact, the only time I ever even heard the word marriage out of her mouth was when she told me that the two of you were going to get hitched. She was the happiest that I had ever seen her in that moment. She really loves you, and it’s not a scheme or a joke. Sarah is the reason why your life and her life are being completely ruined. I don’t know what I have to do to prove that to you.”

  “That’s the whole thing, isn’t it?”

  “What?”

  “I have mountains of hard evidence proving that what John is saying is actually fact,” I said. “You come barging into my office, full speed ahead, spouting off some ridiculous story about your little sister’s vengeful tirade, doing everything she can to ruin Amanda’s life for no good reason at all, and you don’t have a lick of hard evidence. I don’t know what you want me to say.”

  “You need to wake the fuck up,” she shouted. “You are really going to lose her for good.”

  “I’ve already lost her,” I said. “In fact, I never had her. She has never been mine because she belongs to someone else.”

  “She doesn’t belong to anyone, nor will she ever, no matter who she marries,” Lindsey snapped.

  “You know what I mean,” I said with a smirk. “You can’t lose something that you never obtained in the first place.”

  “You are making a huge mistake,” she said, picking up her purse and turning to the door. “There has never been anyone else in this world for Amanda. Even before she met you, she loved you.”

  She walked out of the office, and my face began to droop down. I could feel the pain surging through my chest, thinking about Amanda and the love that I thought we had. I stood up and walked over to the bar, pouring myself a big glass of whiskey and setting it on the desk. I made my way to the door and stuck my head out.

  “I need you to cancel everything on my schedule today,” I instructed my secretary. “I don’t want to be disturbed under any circumstances, and there are no exceptions. The building could be burning down around me, and you leave that door closed and that intercom off. Hell, tell people that I went home for the day to get them off of you if that helps. Not John, Jordan, or anyone else. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, sir,” she said, looking at me with worry.

  “Thank you,” I replied, closing and locking the office door.

  I sat down and started drinking, thinking about what Lindsey had said and everything I had been through with Amanda. She had gone and done it, just like John, planting that tiny seed of doubt in my mind. I had never heard of John screwing Sarah, and if he had slept with her more than once, I was sure he would have told me about it. John was not the kind of guy to cover his territory twice, which made me believe that the entire story was a load of bullshit.

  I sat back in my chair and downed the glass of whiskey, staring at the bottom of the glass. I was completely down, and I could feel myself growing closer and closer to a full meltdown. Everything I had worked so hard for and built meant nothing to me at that moment. All that I cared about was the full carafe of whiskey on the shelf. I got up and grabbed the bottle before settling down in the chair by the windows. I drank myself to the point of blacking out that day, passing out in the chair of my office, trying to forget. It was definitely not my finest hour.

  Chapter 19

  Amanda

  There were only two weeks left until the wedding, and luckily, Lindsey had made sure that all of her modeling contracts ended by that point. We were running around all over the place, trying to tie up the last-minute errands that needed to be done. We met with the DJ to okay the playlist, the band, to talk about what they would be playing, and the violinist that would be playing the music when she walked down the aisle. I showed Lindsey the table setting that I had picked out for her, and we went over to the venue just to take one last walk around the room, envisioning what it would look like during her reception. I was exhausted, walking two steps behind her at all times. I could remember a time where I left her in the dust, but with my body going nuts over this pregnancy, I felt like I could take a nap every five seconds.

  When we were done at the venue, we hopped in the back of the town car and sat back, both of us propping up our feet. We still had to go to Jordan’s parents’ house and talk about the rehearsal dinner over a late lunch, but for that moment, we were both sprawled out in the car. Lindsey looked stressed, and I hated that I couldn’t do more to help her. At least we both knew that in two weeks, this would all be done, and she would be enjoying being a new wife, jetting off to their honeymoon. Jordan had bought the honeymoon as a surprise, and it made me think about how Nathan loved to do things to surprise me. My heart still hurt every time I thought about him.

  “You know I went to see Nathan,” Lindsey said, watching my face across the car.

  “You did? What did he say?”

  “He wouldn’t listen to me,” she said. “I got so angry and frustrated with him, I was pretty sure he almost threw me out. I left
before it got to that point, though. I figured it wouldn’t look good on Jordan if his future wife assaulted his boss.”

  “Oh, God,” I said. “He must have been pissed.”

  “He is the most stubborn man I have ever met,” she said. “It was obvious that he was miserable without you. It looked like he hadn’t slept in years. He was shut in his office, his beard half grown out, and his tie halfway undone.”

  “I would have thought he’d be partying by now,” I said with a pout. “You know how guys are when they go through a break up. They find the first girl they can screw and use it to get over the girl that broke their heart. I can’t believe that he won’t even listen to reason. He knows about Sarah. I told him what she did in the past.”

  “Yeah, well, this thing has him so screwed up in his head that he can’t think straight,” she said. “He accused me of being in on some sort of scheme to steal his money. I was kind of offended since I have my own nice bank account, but I let it go, knowing he was just hurt. On top of that, the place smelled like booze, and I’m pretty sure that he was drunk.”

  “Drunk? In the middle of the day at his office?”

  “There was a big bottle of whiskey behind him on the bar, and he smelled like alcohol,” she said, shrugging. “Of course, it could have been a binger from the night before. Jordan told me that he has been drinking a lot. Apparently, he got into it with John in a pub one night, screaming at the whole bar before stumbling out to his car. He said that John hasn’t seen him out ever since then, but he still comes into work looking like hell and smelling like a frat boy every day, so they are assuming that he is drinking at home.”

  “John should be there for him,” I said angrily. “If they think he is doing this to himself, then why doesn’t John stop him? He cared enough to ruin his relationship with me but not enough to stop him from ruining himself.”

  I was really worried about Nathan. I knew that if he was drinking every day and looking like that in the office, then he was really struggling. He didn’t really have anyone he could talk to, and from the sound of it, he didn’t want to talk to his best friend, John. I tried not to be upset with John. He was coerced by that bitch, and he was only trying to protect his best friend. Still, he should be playing clean-up crew and getting Nathan back on his feet.

  “Have you talked to Sarah?”

  “Hell no,” Lindsey said. “That bitch can kiss my ass. We may be sisters, but that is not an obligation to play nice. I will treat her like any other crazy bitch that tries to pull some shit like what she did.”

  “Do you think she will try to show up to the wedding, even though you told her not to?”

  “She might try, but none of us will ever know about it,” she said. “I told my parents everything that she did, right after I punched her. I wanted them to know what happened before she got in there and told her little lies. We all know she was sick as a child, and that made my parents coddle the hell out of her, but it’s time she started facing the backlash for the things she does. My parents don’t want to talk to her either, so they hired security to stand out front and intercept her if she tries to come in.”

  “Wow, that is intense,” I said with a smirk. “I’m sorry that she is doing all of these things. I know it must be hard on you and your parents. I know that I didn’t do anything to make her feel this way toward me, but I can’t help but feel slightly responsible for everything that is happening. I should have just left you out of the loop until after the wedding. Then, when you were back and relaxed, I could have told you.”

  “Are you nuts?” she asked. “Then I would have been completely oblivious to the deviance of my sister. What if she tried to sleep with Jordan or something? I would end up killing her, and you know that I would never survive in prison. I would end up being someone’s pet and doing everyone’s makeup. Just thinking about eating instant mashed potatoes every day keeps me on the straight and narrow.”

  “You are so dumb.” I laughed, feeling how good it felt to really laugh again. “Do you think that Nathan will come to the wedding?”

  “I don’t know,” Lindsey said, shrugging her shoulders. “I did take the liberty of moving his seat away from yours, just in case. That way, you wouldn’t feel uncomfortable, and he wouldn’t get drunk and say something mean to you.”

  “Thanks.” I sighed. “I really wish it could be different. Even if he still hated me, I wish he wasn’t so angry at me. I didn’t do it, but in his mind, I am a lying, cheating gold digger. It breaks my heart into pieces to think that he thinks so poorly of me.”

  “I know, sweetie,” Lindsey said, leaning forward. “But you have got to put that behind you. You have to take a step back and remember that you have something big going on in your life. All of this stress and anxiety is not good for you, or for that baby. I know it’s easier said than done, but maybe it’s time that you thought about moving on. We could make a new plan for you for the future and get you excited about being a mom—because I know I’m excited to be an aunt—and start refreshing your life a little.”

  “Maybe when you get back from your honeymoon, we can sit down and do all of that,” I said with a smile.

  “Good,” she replied, looking out as we pulled up to Jordan’s parents’ house. “You ready?”

  “Sure,” I said with a smile.

  After lunch, we finished up all the other little things we had to do and met Jordan for dinner. I sat there quietly, watching the two of them laugh and talk about their days. I had almost forgotten what it was like to be that happy and that in love. When dinner was over, they dropped me at my place, both of them giving me big hugs before I went inside. I dropped my bag inside the front door and dragged my tired body up the stairs. Quietly, I undressed, laying out my clothes for the next day’s events and crawling into bed. I pulled the covers up over me and laid my head on the pillow, allowing my body to fully relax. With that relaxation came the breaking of the dam, spilling tears out of my eyes and down my cheeks. I pulled my hands up to my face and sobbed, really letting out all of the pent-up heartbreak that I had kept inside through the whole day.

  I was so upset, and I couldn’t even take a deep breath in to calm myself. The vision of Nathan torturing himself, drinking himself to the point of passing out, waking up and doing it all over again, haunted me. He was doing that because he thought I had done something terrible. I knew it wasn’t my fault, I knew that I was innocent, but it didn’t make it any easier on me. I felt guilty for making him feel that way, for not fighting harder to make him see the truth. Sarah had ruined everything in my life, and I felt like I was replaying events from the past all over again. I had something that was so wonderful and so exciting, and she ripped it right out of my hands. What she didn’t realize was that while she was getting the satisfaction of hurting me, she was hurting two other people in the background.

  Nathan was distraught, unable to move past what had happened. She had completely ruined him and put all the blame on my shoulders. He would never get over this betrayal, and he would never have the joy of knowing his child. He would push the rest of us away for as long as we lived. I was sure of it. My child, growing strong in my belly, would come into a world full of love, but missing its father, something I could never replace. She had destroyed three people’s lives, and she had no remorse for it.

  My tears came faster and faster, and I sat up in bed trying to catch my breath. The hormones from my pregnancy were not making any of this any easier on me. I knew they were driving the stake even farther into my heart. Lindsey was right, though. I needed to find peace in my own life. I needed to stay calm and to move past all of this because I was now responsible for another human being’s life. It was not good for me to get that upset about anything, and I knew that it was causing the baby all kinds of stress.

  I reached over and grabbed the water off the night stand and took a sip, my breath shuddering in my throat. I swallowed hard and leaned back against the headboard, closing my eyes. There was nothing I could do about
what was happening, and I needed to get it together if I ever wanted to feel normal again.

  Chapter 20

  Nathan

  My feet lifted up off the floor, and I propped them on the chair in front of me. I sat back and took a long sip of my beer, fiddling with the shot glass I had just emptied. I was at the Regency Hyatt with John, Jordan, and a few other guys from work, having a work bachelor party for Jordan. The guys were having a hell of a time, and no one was bothering me, which was a good thing. Sure, I was trying to do something nice for Jordan and show him there were no hard feelings about his soon-to-be wife barging into my office, but I also had a hidden agenda. It was an excuse for me to drink, not that I needed an excuse these days, but at least I didn’t feel guilty doing it in a room full of drunk guys having a whole lot of fun. I never understood bachelor parties. They were an excuse to do stuff that you could do anytime, but you just felt self-conscious about it.

  This party, though, was getting pretty wild. I had made sure to book the penthouse so that none of the other guests were bothered. I also wanted to make sure none of the guys got loose, completely wasted, into the general public. From the thumping of the music and the fact that two of the guys had their ties around their heads with no shirts on, I had made a really good choice. I had the thing catered and bought more alcohol than we could drink during five of those parties. The guys had been so excited, they barely got any work done at the office during the day.