My Forever Plus-One

by Shannyn Schroeder

  “Thank you. Any recommendations going forward?”

  “Keep it up.”

  She left his office riding a high that was limited by her brief exchange with Owen. In her office, she had a bunch of interviewees to confirm for upcoming shows. They would have a meeting tomorrow to brainstorm new episodes. Instead of doing any of that, she opened her phone and stared at the text from Owen, trying to read between the lines, willing it to mean something more.

  Taking her things from his house had been one of the hardest things she’d ever done. Even harder was leaving a bag of his clothes that she’d borrowed. While he’d joked that she might have had a third of his wardrobe, she definitely had more than she’d let on. Now everything was back to its rightful owners. And everything felt wrong.

  After a few hours of slogging through work that she normally breezed through, her phone rang. She answered without looking at the screen. “Hello?”

  “Hey,” Owen’s deep voice rumbled across the line.

  Her fingers froze on her keyboard. Had it only been a couple of days since she’d heard his voice? It felt like weeks.

  “You there, Evelyn?”

  “Yeah.” Her voice was barely a whisper.

  “I’m sorry. I’ve been a jerk and I should know better.”

  Her lungs filled with much-needed oxygen. “Yeah, you should have.”

  “I don’t know if I can fix this, but I want to. What I said and how I acted were way out of line.”

  “Yep.”

  “The thought of you with anyone else pushes me to a place where I can’t think. My reaction was worse. I pushed you away, but I can’t function without you in my life.”

  Tears dripped down her face.

  “I love you, Evelyn.”

  “Why the sudden change?”

  He paused. “I talked to Gabe.”

  “Gabe?” she asked with a laugh. Had he said Trevor or even Nina, it would’ve made sense. They would’ve told him he was being an asshole. But Gabe thought them being together was a bad idea. “What did he say?”

  “He convinced me that I was wrong.”

  “How the hell did Gabe of all people convince you?” This should be one hell of a story.

  “Don’t get mad. He did some unethical stuff, but he did it because he cares about us.”

  “What do you mean?” Her nerves prickled uneasily.

  “He hacked security cameras to show you throwing Donald out.”

  “What?” Her voice rose and her happy tears quickly dried up.

  “I said don’t get mad.”

  “Wait. Are you telling me that Gabe hacked into my life to prove to you that I wasn’t cheating on you?” Rage that was becoming all too familiar bubbled up.

  “He did it to help fix things. Gabe wasn’t thinking—”

  “Stop. You’re misunderstanding my outrage. Gabe was being Gabe, and believe me when I say I’ll make sure he understands how wrong that was. But you…you call me with this apology, telling me you love me, but it’s only because you were handed irrefutable proof that I was honest. That’s bullshit, Owen. You don’t treat someone you love like that.”

  “That wasn’t—”

  She didn’t wait to hear the rest of his rationalization. She hung up. She had enough of him yanking her emotions around. Even after everything she’d said and done for him, he’d needed Gabe to tell him that she hadn’t cheated. She couldn’t be with a man who couldn’t—or didn’t want to—trust her. Where had her best friend gone? More tears fell as she accepted that her relationship with Owen was over.

  …

  When Evelyn finally dragged herself home that night, she couldn’t help but look at her guest parking spot, the one usually occupied by Owen. It had been empty for days, but today someone was parked there. What the hell? It was her spot. She eyed the minivan and recognition hit. It was Tess. As soon as Evelyn stepped from her car, the doors on the minivan popped open and Tess and Nina sprang out.

  “Thank God,” Nina said. “We’ve been waiting forever.”

  “We have not,” Tess said.

  They both rushed forward carrying grocery bags.

  “What’s all this?” Evelyn asked, pointing to the bags.

  “We figured you needed a girls’ night.”

  “I suggested we go out and get you rip-roaring drunk, but Tess pooh-poohed that idea.”

  Hearing Nina talk about getting her drunk felt weird because she’d never even seen Nina have more than a glass of wine to be social, much less tie one on. Her family history with alcoholism still hit her hard.

  “I’m not up for going out anyway,” she said. “With this being the first week of shows, I have to be sharp.”

  Tess held up her totes. “Hence, the bags. Let’s go in and you can tell us what the hell is going on with you and Owen.”

  Evelyn swallowed hard. “In a nutshell, we’re done.”

  She turned and led her friends into her condo. Part of her wanted to crawl under the covers and not deal with anyone, but the rest of her was grateful she had good friends who would take care of her. Inside, she kicked off her heels. “I’m going to change. Make yourselves comfortable.”

  She went to her bedroom and pulled on sweats.

  Nina called, “Ice cream or alcohol?”

  It had been so long since she had a breakup pity party, she didn’t know what to do. Both was her initial reaction, but since she didn’t want to get sick, she said, “Maybe stick with junk food.”

  She joined her friends in the living room. Plopping on the couch, she found an assortment of bad choices to drown her sorrows in. When was the last time she’d done this? How had she mended her broken heart last time?

  Hell, last time was when she’d gotten divorced. She hadn’t been in a serious relationship since. Therapy and Owen had helped her. They’d helped each other.

  “Now tell us what the hell happened,” Nina demanded.

  Tess patted Nina’s leg. “She’ll talk when she’s ready.”

  Digging into the pint of chocolate fudge ice cream, Evelyn waved a spoon. “You know most of it. Owen accused me of cheating on him with Donald. He said I always choose Donald over him. Which is bullshit, but I can concede that I did tend to give Donald too much space in my life.”

  “And?” Nina prompted.

  “I went to the firehouse and told Owen that he had a point. I had already thrown Donald out. I apologized for not thinking about how the decision to let Donald stay here would make him feel.” She shrugged as if the next part was no big deal. “He said my apology didn’t matter.”

  Nina shook her head. “Asshole. Gabe said he talked to him, thought he was coming around.”

  Evelyn laughed. “Oh, yeah, I’ll be talking to Gabe. Did he tell you what he did?”

  “Uh-oh,” Tess said.

  “He hacked security cameras and God knows what else to show Owen that I didn’t cheat.” She bit her trembling lip. “Owen called today and apologized. Then he let it slip that Gabe proved I wasn’t lying.”

  Tess moved over and put her arm around Evelyn’s shoulder. “Men can be really stupid.”

  A fresh round of tears filled her eyes.

  “I’m gonna kill Gabe. I told him to stop being a dick. He just couldn’t back off,” Nina said.

  Evelyn shook her head. “It wasn’t cool for him to hack into my life, but he was being Gabe. In his head, that was going to fix it. In the long run, maybe it’ll help Owen. Next time he’s confronted with someone telling him the truth, he might not jump to the worst conclusions.”

  “Next time?” Nina asked.

  “It won’t be with me. He said he trusted me, and even when I apologized for neglecting his feelings, it wasn’t enough. He still didn’t believe me. Believe in us. I can’t live like that.”

  “There’s got to be something…”

  Tess waved a hand. “If Evelyn doesn’t think they’re worth fighting for, that’s her choice.”

  Why did that feel like an attack? “Would you?�
�

  “I don’t know. I know you love him. And he loves you. If he didn’t, you sleeping with Donald wouldn’t have knocked him on his ass. Trevor said he’d been by to see him and he’s a mess.”

  “He created this mess.”

  “I’m not defending him. I’m speaking as someone who has misjudged. I didn’t trust Miles when it came to my kids, and he proved me wrong. He screwed up along the way, but that’s life. Learning to accept that has been hard for me.”

  “Do you think Owen can learn to accept that I’m going to have men in my life but that doesn’t mean I’m going to sleep with them?”

  “I don’t know. What do you think?”

  It was such a typical mom move from Tess. She’d led Evelyn down a path to question her own thoughts and beliefs. But this was such a mess. “I thought so. When we started this, moved our relationship to more than friendship, I thought we couldn’t go wrong. We’ve always trusted each other. But he changed.”

  “You both did. Falling in love does that.”

  Nina watched the conversation like it was a tennis match. Evelyn tilted her head. “Anything to add?”

  “I don’t know. This whole thing is very disheartening for me. I thought you and Owen were a sure thing. I mean, if you guys can’t make it work, how can the rest of us?”

  “Hell if I know,” Evelyn answered, and scooped up more ice cream.

  …

  It had been days that felt like months since he had seen or talked to Evelyn. He’d fucked up everything, and he’d tried calling her, but she wouldn’t answer. He attempted to get Nina or Tess to pass a message to her, but they weren’t having any of it. At least Tess had given him a sympathetic look. Gabe had gotten him in trouble, and Trevor made it well known that he wasn’t getting in the middle of anything.

  So he did what he’d been dreading—he turned to his family. He called Dave and asked him to meet for early drinks. He sat at a corner table at the sports bar, completely uninterested in the game on TV, nursing a beer while waiting.

  His brother slid into the chair across from him and said, “Tell me your troubles.”

  “I screwed up with Evelyn.”

  Dave waved a waitress over and ordered two more bottles of beer. “How bad?” he asked.

  “Like take-the-few-things-from-my-house, return-my-key and pretend-I-don’t-exist bad.”

  Dave let out a long, low whistle. “What the hell did you do?”

  He drained his bottle and then launched into an explanation. Dave listened without interrupting.

  When he finished, Dave sat back and crossed his arms. “Let me get this straight. You accused her of cheating on you with her ex and in your apology you pointed out that you were only apologizing because your buddy invaded her privacy to prove her honesty.”

  “It sounds even worse when you say it like that.”

  “Am I wrong?”

  Owen shook his head.

  Dave reached across the table and slapped the back of Owen’s head. “What the hell were you thinking?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I’ve watched you with Evelyn for years. I’ve never seen you as comfortable and in love as you are with her.”

  “I know.” He held his head with both hands, elbows propped on the table. “Every time I saw her with other guys, just talking to them, it was like a switch flipped and I started looking for evidence. Then when I saw her ex in her house, I lost it.”

  “So instead of enjoying every minute of your life with the woman you love, you spent all your waking moments looking for proof that she was cheating. Not every woman is Stacy.”

  “I know that. But I missed all the signs with Stacy.”

  “You shouldn’t have to look for signs. You made yourself see things that weren’t there with Evelyn.”

  He knew this. With the exception of going to work, all he’d done was retrace every bad move he’d made with Evelyn. He even went back and talked to his old therapist. “I know my head is a mess. I need to figure out how to get her back.”

  Dave blew out a breath. “Evelyn is a strong-minded woman. She’s not going to put up with that kind of bullshit.”

  “Now you’re an expert on Evelyn?”

  “I’ve known her for years. I’m not an expert, but I know enough to know you delivered a hell of a blow, and you might not be able to come back from that.”

  “Then I guess this conversation is pointless.”

  “Have you seen her?”

  He shook his head. “I’ve been trying to respect her privacy. She won’t answer my calls or texts.”

  “She might respond to a face-to-face conversation. It would at least let you know where you stand. Look her in the eye and see if there’s anything left.”

  His stomach turned thinking about how he’d treated her when she’d come to see him. Both times. He was such an asshole.

  “But don’t be creepy and stalkery about it, or I’ll have to kick your ass. Don’t lose sight of respecting her, but let her know you want to try to fix it. Show her you’re willing to put in the work.”

  He looked at the time. Knowing Evelyn, she wouldn’t be leaving work for a while yet. He passed his full beer to his brother. “I have an idea, but I have to go.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to see her and ask her to go on a date.”

  “Good luck.”

  …

  Evelyn had been doing little more than working, but the extra time on the phone and behind the control panel was paying off. People were tuning in to Chi-talk Live, and the bonus for her was that she was too exhausted to think about Owen. She pulled into her parking lot, and her heart stuttered. The mere thought of Owen had her conjuring an image of his car. She hit the brakes and blinked.

  His car was in her guest spot. She drove to her spot and when she angled, her headlights caught on Owen sitting on the ground. What the hell?

  He looked up, squinted at the headlights, and used a hand to shield his eyes.

  She rolled her window down, the cold fall air whipping in. “What are you doing?”

  “I wanted to see you.”

  She waved a hand to get him to move. He stepped back to the wall and waited while she parked. She reached for her bag and took a few calming breaths. Owen was here. She had no idea why, but it felt so damn good to just see him. She reined in the swell of emotion and stepped from her car.

  He must’ve been sitting there a while. His cheeks were pink from the cold wind.

  “Why are you here?”

  “I want to talk to you, if you’ll listen.”

  “Sitting in my parking spot seemed like a good idea, why?”

  “It got your attention, didn’t it?” He offered a small smile.

  A gust of wind kicked up and sent her hair flying.

  “Can I come in? It’s freaking cold out here.”

  “You have a key.”

  “After you returned my key, I thought you might’ve had the locks changed. Besides, it would be another douche move to just be sitting in your condo uninvited.”

  She heard his words. He was acknowledging that he’d crossed lines. It was a step in the right direction. She nodded and led the way inside.

  Upstairs, she hung up her coat while he locked the door. Then she turned and crossed her arms while leaning against the couch.

  He stood for a full minute and just stared into her eyes. The pain he was in radiated across the room, and she wondered if he felt hers as well. Then his gaze dipped, and she had her answer. He knew.

  “I fucked up,” he said quietly, not quite a whisper. He ran a hand through his hair and looked up again. “The thought of losing you made me unable to think straight.” Raising a hand to stop the response from forming on her lips, he continued, “I know you did nothing to put those ideas in my head.”

  He paced in the small hallway. “I look at you and I see the most amazing woman I’ve ever met. I can’t help but wonder what you’re doing with me. Other men want you, a
nd it fucks with my head. But I’m working on fixing that.”

  He stopped in front of her, close, but not touching. “I went to talk to my therapist. I’m trying to get it right, to show you that you can trust me not to screw this up again.”

  This was what she’d wanted before. An apology and the admission that he’d at least try not to constantly think she was cheating.

  “I know I have to prove myself to you. All I’m asking for is a chance. Don’t give up on me.”

  His plea ripped through her heart. Could they do this? She saw sincerity in his eyes. Her fingers flexed because she wanted so badly to touch him, soothe him. Find comfort together. But she simply whispered, “Okay.”

  Tess had made her question whether this relationship was worth fighting for. It was.

  “Was that a yes?”

  She nodded and leaned forward.

  He gripped her hips and held her still. Leaning until his forehead touched hers, he said, “I love you so much. I’ve missed you.”

  Her heart thumped and her nerves sang. “I love you, too.”

  Then with his lips near hers, he asked, “Will you go out on a date with me?”

  “Of course,” she answered with a smile, still waiting for the kiss.

  “I’d like you to be my plus-one.”

  Her heart swelled. He wanted them to be what they’d always been for each other before. Could they go back?

  “It’ll be a first date.” He leaned around her and slid an envelope on the counter. “There’s the invitation.”

  He kissed her cheek.

  She turned her head to catch his mouth, but he stepped away. She sagged against the wall, her head spinning.

  “I should go.”

  “Stay.”

  “I have to work in the morning.”

  “You can hang out for a while. We can talk and catch up.”

  They went to her couch and sat beside each other, touching in small ways. She told him all about the success of the show, and he thanked her for airing the segment about the youth center.

  “I thought your boss shot that down,” he said.

  “He did, but in our first episode we were still finding our rhythm. We had a guest who was horrible on camera, and we cut the interview short. I needed filler.”