“What the fuck?” Meredith looks over at me again. “You tried to sleep with her on the first date, didn’t you?”
“What? No! It wasn’t me.”
“It’s true,” Foxy reaches for her friend’s hand and squeezes it. “It wasn’t him.”
“Wait,” Meredith looks from Henry to Foxy to me, and then back to Foxy. “It was both of them?” She raises an eyebrow. “Damn, Foxy, I never pegged you as the threeway type.” She grins, smiling like she knows some terrible secret that she’s not supposed to know.
“What? No!” This time, I speak up louder, and Meredith looks at me sharply.
“Don’t you raise your voice at me in my own bar. I will kick you out,” she snaps.
“I’m sorry,” I say, lowering my voice. “I didn’t mean to insult you.”
“You didn’t,” she says. “But I don’t like people bitching at me.”
I open my mouth and then shut it again. She doesn’t want to hear that I wasn’t actually bitching at her. I was just explaining my reasoning for talking. Besides, we didn’t have a threeway. Not that it’s any of her business.
“It’s okay,” Foxy says, trying to soothe her friend. “They’re good guys. Mer, something happened.”
“What?”
She fills her friend in on everything: how we met each other back in the day, our whirlwind romance, and the fact that she dumped me. I cringe at that part, but I try to stay cool and let her tell her story. Meredith seems to know about me already, but I don’t think Foxy had told her all of the details surrounding our breakup. To her credit, Foxy doesn’t blame my mother. She doesn’t gloss over the fact, but she also seems to accept that it was her choice. I have to respect her even more for that.
I’ve had a little bit of time to think about these new realizations and these things that have come to light, and what I’ve learned is that Foxy really did think she was doing what was best for me. She wanted me to live a good and happy life, but the truth is that I don’t know if happiness is something I’ll ever be able to acquire without her. Even though I have a booming business and a wonderful business partner, I’m missing her. I’ve been missing my mate this entire time, and now that she’s here…
Well, I don’t even want to think about letting her go.
When Foxy finally gets to the part of her story where Henry discovered that Allison’s brother was the one who tried to seduce Foxy, Meredith gets pissed. Her eyes narrow, and the scent of pure, unadulterated anger starts seeping from her. This just makes me like Meredith even more. Okay, she seems a little rough around the edges, but she also seems fiercely loyal, and I really like that about her. We all need someone who is going to have our backs at all times.
And Foxy? She’s got the best guard ever. Meredith isn’t going to let anything happen to her, and I totally, completely respect that. I like knowing that even if I’m not around all of the time, Meredith has got Foxy’s back. That’s important. Really important.
“You know, you were the one who told me about the app,” Meredith says. “And I found the most wonderful guy through it.” She looks right at Foxy and she sighs. “It’s not fair that I found someone perfect and you ended up with a guy who tried to hurt you.”
It’s not fair.
None of it’s fair.
It’s not fair that Foxy and I broke up. It’s not fair that we’ve lost so much time when we could have been together. It’s not fair that she tried to put herself out there only to be broken. None of this is fair.
“Foxy is a good lady,” Meredith turns to me. “She deserves to be safe. I know you’ll take care of her, Brendan, but damn, the fact that this tiger when after her just pisses me off.”
“We have his name,” Henry offers. “Aaron Erin.”
The entire room is silent for a minute, and then Meredith’s jaw drops.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Meredith rolls her eyes so hard I think they’re going to slip out of her head. “That’s his actual name?”
“He goes by A.”
“I would, too. Fuck.”
She grabs a rag and starts wiping down the bar. All the while, she’s shaking her head. Foxy looks over at me and reaches for my leg. She squeezes it gently, letting me know that she’s here for me, and that we’re in this together. No matter how this whole thing started, right now, we’re partners.
Now and for always.
I hope.
When this is all over, I’m going to beg that girl to marry me. I’m going to give her anything she wants, and I’m going to love her forever. If she’ll have me, I’ll spend the rest of my life making up for all of the time we’ve been apart. I’ll do anything for her. She deserves that and more.