For A Reason

by T. N. Cole

  “Breathe, baby.” He laughed after a few beats.

  I inhaled sharply. “I feel like I’m in a dream. But, even in a dream, this scenario would still never go as well as it is right now.”

  “You’re not dreaming.” He chuckled. “I’m the real deal, babe. I’m here to stay. With you.”

  The force with which I threw my arms around him and kissed him passionately was almost enough to tip the bench backward. He had laughed against my mouth before he returned my amorous assault on his lips.

  “Take me home and make love to me. Please,” I murmured once our kiss slowed. I ghosted my lips up his jaw so I could whisper in his ear in French how much I loved him and how much I needed him.

  “Fuck. You’re going to be the death of me, I swear.” I laughed as he jumped up from the bench and lowered me down to the ground. Then he grabbed my hand and started speed walking to where Charles had dropped us off.

  He suddenly stopped and looked back up at the Tower which was now sparkling brilliantly against the night sky. “Wait. Did you want to go up to the top?”

  “I’ve been before. Did you want to go?”

  “All I want is you,” he declared as he softly stroked my cheek with the fingers of his free hand.

  I melted with his words. We had come so far from when we first met, and he refused to get close to me. I didn’t think I would ever be able to get past all the walls he used to protect others from himself—and himself from others. But by some miracle, I finally slipped through. It was all worth it, and I told him as much. “There was once a time when you would have never said those words to me.”

  His crooked smile had the same effect on me every single time. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Me resist you? Impossible.”

  I giggled and smacked his arm. He was full out grinning now. “I never thought I would hear that sound again.” I smiled shyly at him. He continued, “But, in all seriousness, yes there was a time when I could never have been so…happy. I couldn’t have even imagined that I could ever be as complete as I feel now. And it’s all because of you.”

  Well, here came the tears again. “Stop making me cry,” I laughed as I sniffled. “Je t’aime, Tristan.” I looped my arms around his neck as he pulled me to him. “I love you so much. For always.”

  “Not nearly as much as I love you, baby. For always and forever.” And under the gorgeous Eiffel Tower, hundreds of people, and millions of stars, he dipped me backward and kissed me.

  SOMETHING STILL WASN’T RIGHT with Kate’s story. Mrs. Jessup couldn’t hate me that much because of Mel’s accident. Yeah, she did think it was my fault, but Mel was alive and from what I could see, she was functioning as a normal human being. There had to be another reason she would go to such great lengths to “destroy me.”

  But I didn’t say as much to Kate. Not yet—not until I had more proof. I didn’t want to add more to her plate. My baby was trying to figure out the whole lawyer situation, her mom’s funeral, everything that was left to her, and what to do about Nora. Not to mention, Spring Break was ending in a few days, and we hadn’t talked about what would happen at the end of it. All I knew was that we were sticking together. I couldn’t be away from her.

  Kate was meeting with the new lawyer she had hired, and I decided to video call Adam and my mom.

  When they answered the call, they were sitting side by side in the bedroom of their penthouse. “Tristan!” my mom exclaimed.

  “Hi, Mom.” I smiled. “Hey, Adam.”

  He waved and grinned slyly at me. “I can see that you’re in a better place than when we talked last. Things are well with Kate now?”

  I mock scowled at him before I grinned. “Yeah, mostly.” I launched into the story of what had been going on over here and a summary of what Kate had told me.

  My mom was crying by the time I stopped talking, and Adam was doing his best to console her. He hugged her, rubbing her back, and whispered into her ear as she cried into his chest.

  I waited patiently until she was done. “Sorry, sweetheart. That was just so hard to hear.”

  “I know,” I responded quietly. Everything had been happening so quickly that even I was having a hard time processing it. I was sure that if I stopped to think about it, I would have issues with what I’d learned in the past few days, too. But I didn’t care enough to do so. I just needed to be here for Kate.

  “That’s…wow. That’s quite the drama.” Adam rubbed his jaw.

  “You’re telling me.” Then, “Did you find any dirt on Nora Jessup?”

  “Kinda.” He looked sideways at my mom, and she bit her lip.

  I was immediately suspicious. “What? What’s going on?”

  Adam gave my mom another wry look as he answered me. “Your mom has been hiding things from us.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like the fact that she’s been getting anonymous messages, too.” He glared at her, and she avoided both our eyes.

  “Mom? Is this true? Wait, but why?”

  “I think they’re from Nora,” she answered softly.

  “What?” I asked in disbelief. “What do you have to do with this?”

  She sighed. “Everything apparently.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  She fiddled with Adam’s hand before she looked up and met my eyes. “Did you know that Nate and I were best friends growing up?”

  “Uhh, Nate as in Mel’s dad? Nora’s husband?” This already sounded bad.

  She nodded. “Yeah, we were best friends like you and Mel were. But we had a tagalong—Nora.”

  I was speechless, scared of where this was going.

  “Nora always hated me.” She smiled wryly. “But she followed us wherever we went because she was in love with Nate. Except he could never truly love her back because he thought he was in love with…me.”

  My eyes bulged. Mel’s dad was in love with my mom? I shuddered. It was almost incestuous.

  “I, of course, never felt the same way so nothing ever happened between us romantically. Then your dad moved into town just after the start of our senior year of high school. And you know the rest—we fell in love, got married after college, had you… And eventually Nate married Nora.”

  I still couldn’t get past the part where Nate had been in love with my mom since they were kids and was possibly still in love with her to this day.

  “However, I fear he never really loved his wife. More importantly, that’s what Nora believes. And, to this day, she blames me for her failed marriage.” She cleared her throat. “Especially since his many affairs aren’t exactly a secret.”

  “Holy. Shit,” was all I could say.

  My mom was now sitting on Adam’s lap, which should have probably bothered me but the new revelations were too disturbing for me to pay it too much mind. “I know.” He rubbed her arm soothingly.

  “That’s some fucked-up small town drama right there,” I pointed out.

  Adam chuckled, and my mom chastised me again.

  I winked at her, and she rolled her eyes at me. “That’s it, then? She not only hates me for Mel’s accident and for being best friends with her before that, but because I’m your son?”

  “I think so, sweetie,” she answered sadly.

  “That’s so messed up. Nora is messed up.”

  “There’s more, though.”

  “More?”

  “Nora found out that I slept with Nate after your dad left.” She grimaced.

  “Wait, you did what?”

  “I’m not proud of it. But you know that was one of the lowest points in my life. I regret it. I actually barely even remember it. However, Nora knows about it. Another reason she hates me.”

  My only response was, “Well, fuck.”

  She sighed, knowing that reprimanding me was useless at this point.

  “Are we going to do anything about her?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, isn’t there a way we can make her pay for all this emotional and
psychological harassment? Especially with what she’s done to Kate?”

  Adam responded. “I’m looking into it. You’re right—she needs to be held responsible in some way.”

  “Tristan?” Kate called out as she shut the bedroom door behind her. She looked tired, but beautiful nevertheless. I hated that she had to wear all black; I missed seeing her in all the colors she always wore. But the good thing was that they were always black dresses. Yeah, yeah, I knew she was in mourning, but I’m a guy—a guy desperately in love with his gorgeous girl.

  “Hey, baby.” I flashed her a smile. “Come say hi to my mom and Adam.”

  She walked over, kicked her heels off, and climbed onto the bed to sit next to me. “Hi, Carly. Hi, Adam.” She waved at the webcam on my laptop.

  I kissed the side of her head. “How was your meeting with the lawyer?”

  She shrugged. “She said she’ll take care of everything. Which is good.”

  “I’m glad. That takes away some of the stress then.” She nodded her agreement.

  Adam and my mom chimed in with their sympathies for her mom, which Kate accepted graciously with a brittle smile. I could tell something was wrong, so I decided to end the video call. After a round of good-byes and promises to call later, I turned to Kate. “Come here.” I pulled us down so we were lying down face to face in the bed. She nestled closer to me so that we were touching everywhere, but there was still enough space between our heads so we could talk.

  I reached over to push her hair back from her face. “I hate that you’re so tired.”

  She smiled wearily. “I look that bad, huh?”

  “You could never look bad.” I grinned.

  All I got in response was an eye roll. Then she chewed her bottom lip in a way that told me that she had something she wanted to say.

  “I know you have something to tell me or ask me. Just say it. Tell me what’s on your mind.” I played with the ends of her hair.

  She shook her head and averted her gaze. “Kate,” I said warningly. Her eyes went back to me reflexively, but she quickly looked away again.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” she whispered as she watched her hands fiddle with the buttons on my shirt.

  “Well, clearly you do. Or it’s obviously important if you’re this hesitant to talk about it.”

  Still nothing.

  I covered her hands with mine to still them, and she finally met my eyes. She breathed in shakily. “Okay. Spring Break ends in four days.”

  I nodded. “Yes, it does.”

  “And what happens then?” she continued slowly.

  I exhaled with relief. “That’s what’s bothering you so much?”

  She was silent. But went back to playing with my shirt.

  Her reaction filled me with unease. I tilted her chin up so I could read her expression. “We go back together on Sunday, right?”

  Her pause was enough to solidify my dread. “Hey, whatever it is, it’s going to be okay. I promise.” I cupped her cheek.

  “I think I have to stay here for a little while to sort out my mom’s estate,” she said softly.

  “Then I’m staying with you,” I replied automatically.

  “But you have to go back to school.”

  “I have to stay with you.”

  She shook her head. “You can’t do that. You have your degree and med school to work for.”

  “It can all wait. It’ll all still be there when we get back. I can’t—I can’t be away from you.” In my mind, I logically knew that I really did need to go back and finish the other half of this semester. However, my heart knew that it belonged to Kate. Since when did your heart and your mind ever think together?

  “Tristan,” she chided.

  “Kate,” I mimicked her tone.

  “It’ll only be for a little while. I just need to sort everything out here before I go back. The time will go by before you know it.”

  “Will it, though?”

  “No,” she admitted. “It’s going to be difficult being away from you—”

  “Exactly.”

  “I refuse to let you make any more sacrifices for me.”

  “It’s not a sacrifice because it’s for me just as much as it is for you, sweetheart.”

  She shook her head. “You know you have to go back. And I’ll join you as soon as I can.”

  I made a frustrated noise. “I thought we talked about this. You told me you would never ask me to leave you again.”

  Her eyes welled up with tears. “I’m not asking you to leave me.”

  “You are!”

  “Tristan, please.”

  I sat up and twisted away, running my hands through my hair in frustration. This was going to be impossible. Kate put her hand on my shoulder, but I didn’t move. “This is already going to be so hard for me. Please don’t make it worse. You think I want this? You think I want to be away from you?”

  The sounds of her cries were too much for me. I turned and brought her to sit between my legs so I could crush her to me. She covered her face with her hands as she sobbed into my chest. I inhaled sharply through my nose. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to hurt you, babe. I just don’t want to do this. It kills me to be separated from you—and I know it’s hard for you, too.”

  She hiccupped as she fought to control her tears. My hand fell away from her back when she broke away to look up at me. “We have to do this. And after we make it through this, we won’t be apart ever again, okay?”

  “For always?”

  She smiled just as I wanted her to. “For always.” She held out her pinky, and I grinned as I linked my little finger around hers.

  SUNDAY ARRIVED TOO QUICKLY. After making love all night long, it was time for Tristan to leave for the airport. I was supposed to ride there with him, but at the last minute, I decided that I couldn’t go with him—it would be too painful to watch him leave that way. Besides, I would be too tempted to get on the plane with him even if I knew I couldn’t.

  “Call me when you get there,” I reminded him through my tears. They had been nonstop for the past hour. It was getting ridiculous.

  “You know I will,” he promised. “Now, stop with the crying. How do you expect me to leave you when you’re already like this? I haven’t even left yet.”

  I laughed through my sobs. He smiled and tried to wipe the wetness away, but it was no use. “Kate,” he pleaded. “Come on. You know I hate it when you cry.”

  “Okay, okay,” I took a deep breath and fanned my face with my hands. “I’ll stop. For now.”

  He shook his head and one side of his mouth tilted up. Then he turned serious as he took my face into his hands. I wrapped my arms around his waist to bring us closer together. “I love you, baby.”

  “I love you, too.” No crying, no crying, no crying. I repeated the phrase over and over in my mind.

  The front door opened then. Charles came back in from loading Tristan’s bags. But he wasn’t alone. Dressed in all black and looking just as impeccable as her mother was Mel.

  “What are you doing here?” I glared at her, and Tristan pulled me to him soothingly.

  “Relax, cousin. I’m not here to cause any trouble. I just want to talk,” Mel drawled.

  I groaned. “What if I don’t want to talk?” I mumbled into Tristan’s chest.

  No response.

  Charles informed me that the car was loaded and that he and Tristan needed to get on the road so he wouldn’t be late for his flight.

  I nodded in acknowledgment, not wanting to move my head from where it was resting on Tristan. I heard rather than saw Charles go back outside to wait in the car.

  “Wait, where’s Tristan going?” Mel asked. “Tristan, where are you going?”

  “Spring Break is over. Gotta go back to school,” he replied as he pressed his lips to my forehead.

  “Why aren’t you going with him, Lyn?”

  I sighed and shifted my head to the side so I could respond. “I have to take care of my mom’s a
ffairs and estate before I follow him back.” She was finally silent, and I hoped it meant that she was leaving.

  Tristan tightened his arms one last time before he let me go. My lips trembled as he tried to smile at me reassuringly. We sucked at this. He held both my hands in his. “The time will fly by, remember?” I grimaced as he threw my words back at me. “We’ll be back together soon. Then it’ll be for always.”

  “For always,” I repeated with a wobbly smile. He closed the distance between us and our mouths collided. Our lips slid past each other with passion and our tongues danced together with desperation. We stayed like that, devouring each other, until Tristan drew back panting. His blue eyes burned with want and love. I love you so much, I told him with my eyes. He abruptly released me and turned on his heel to leave without another word. I heard him sniffle and watched him wipe his eyes as I kept my eyes on his retreating back.

  “You’re an idiot, you know that?” Mel’s voice came from my right. I had almost forgotten she was there. Almost.

  I snorted as I turned around. “Because your opinion matters so much to me.” Sarcasm never failed me.

  She ignored that and continued. “He’s the best thing that ever happened to you, and you’re letting him leave? Just like that?”

  “Why do you care anyway? What are you even doing here?”

  “I’m here because I wanted to tell you that I’m not talking to my mom anymore.” I blanched. What in the world? “Tristan was right. She was manipulating me, and I’m done playing her games. She doesn’t care about me. She doesn’t care about anyone but herself,” she said bitterly. “I want to ask for your forgiveness. But, apparently, I have to first stop you from making the biggest mistake of your life. Why are you letting him leave without you?”

  “It’s not permanent.”

  “But it could be. Right now, you think you’re just going to be here for a few weeks, but what if those weeks turn into months? Years? Do you think he’ll wait for you? Have you met the guy? He’s perfect—someone could come along and snatch him up while you’re gone.”

  “Stop.” That would never happen… Right?