I pondered this for a minute. As much as I didn't want to see her, I also wanted answers. I deserved answers. After all, that was what I had come to seek, and truthfully, the only place I would get them was from her. I glanced down at my watch and mentally calculated the time it would take for gift exchange and dinner.
"All right, tonight at eight?"
"Perfect. Swing by my parents’ place. I'll see you then. Oh and, Drew, Merry Christmas."
* * *
We had doneour gift exchange shortly before dinner. Zach and Ann Marie had left with Joe and Barbara shortly after dinner to head to her family’s for the evening, leaving Lexi and I at home. "I'll be back shortly," I called up the stairs to her.
"Okay, if I'm not here when you get back just come downtown. I may go out and snap some photos of the town square," she called down to me not even questioning where I was headed.
"All right," I answered. I grabbed my coat from the hall closet and headed out the front door. Lexi and I had promised to exchange gifts tonight after the family was in bed. I hurried down the porch steps and made my way to Laura's parents’ place about twenty minutes away.
I rounded the corner thinking about Lexi when I looked up and saw the house off in the distance, and everything came rushing back, thoughts of Lexi leaving my mind. I walked slowly up the front steps to the front door and knocked, waiting to be let in. It was a cold night, a few clouds in the sky, but mostly the stars twinkled brightly above my head.
It was only a matter of seconds before I watched Laura come around the corner, smiling as she approached the door. She looked good, dressed in black dress pants and a white silk blouse with a red scarf around her neck. She pulled the door open.
"Hey." She smiled at me. "Come on in," she said, stepping off to the side.
I could hear her family chattering and laughing in the background as I stepped inside the foyer.
"It's good to see you." She grinned as she held her hand out for my jacket.
I was hesitant. She had said she wanted to talk, and I had assumed she meant in private, but I slipped my jacket off anyway and toed off my shoes.
She hung my jacket in the closet and then turned to me, smiling as she placed her hands on her thighs and looked around as if she didn't know what to do. Laughter erupted from the kitchen, and she turned and made her way back to where she had been.
"Drew's here," she called out as I followed behind her into the kitchen where everyone sat around the kitchen table, dessert plates in front of them.
"Hi, Drew, it's great to see you," Laura's mom said, getting up from her chair and embracing me in a tight hug.
It was almost as if Laura hadn't run off with another man only minutes before we were supposed to get married, leaving me at the alter looking like an idiot. Laura patted the empty chair beside her, signaling me to sit down.
At first, it was awkward being back there with her family, and then I got into a debate with her father, and soon an hour had passed by. I glanced down at my watch, seeing that it was close to ten. I didn't want to be here all night. She had wanted to talk to me, after all. I leaned over and placed my hand on her knee. "Can I speak to you alone?" I whispered as everyone looked over at us.
"Of course." She smiled awkwardly, excusing us from the table, and got up. "Guy's we are just going to head out for a walk."
"Drew, it was great to see you again," her mother said, hugging me once again.
I walked out to the foyer and slipped into my shoes and grabbed my coat off the handle of the closet door.
"How about we walk down to the little cafe in town?" she murmured as she put her coat on.
"Sure. That’s fine," I said, opening the front door and stepping out into the cold.
We walked in silence for a while through the brightly lit neighborhood, taking in the Christmas lights. It wasn't a comfortable silence by any means, and I struggled to find words to say to fill that silence while we walked. I had never been as glad to see the lights of the cafe as I was in this moment. As I approached the door, I was surprised to find the cafe open, not really thinking about the fact that it was Christmas day.
I opened the door and allowed Laura to step in front of me. She walked over to the seat beside the fireplace and unwrapped her scarf. "What would you like?" I asked.
"A coffee please," she said, sitting down and running her fingers through her hair.
I brought over two coffees and sat down beside her. She sat there looking at me, a smile on her lips, just like nothing had even happened between us.
"So you wanted to talk," I said, grabbing a creamer out of the bowl in front of me and pouring it into my coffee, followed by sugar. I wasn't wasting time.
She took in a deep breath. "Drew, I want to apologize."
"For?"