“So, that phone call yesterday,” I begin, “Yes, Emma was my wife. Technically, legally, she still is, although hopefully not for much longer, because I haven’t seen her since before, I left New York.”
They both listen in intent silence, and I go on. “And actually, that was kind of why she was calling, was to get my address for divorce papers.”
“Oh,” Brendon said softly.
Hazel flashes him a brief look that positively screams “I told you so.”
I don’t give them our whole history, but I give them a brief rundown of how things had ended, explaining both what I’d known before and what Emma had filled me in on when we talked. I don’t share every last bit, deciding to leave some of the worst things Emma had said out of the description. If I’d been telling the tale a week ago, that lingering bitterness would have led me to share it all, to paint her as the demon I’d viewed her as for so long, but now that I knew everything, I’d let that piece of me go.
She’d been a broken girl who needed to find herself, and while she’d wrought havoc on my life, I honestly couldn’t say that I’d take any of it back, because every step I’d taken had led me here. To them.
The hardest part is telling them about the arrest and its impact. Most people look at me like an absolute monster upon hearing that I have a charge for domestic violence on my record. I know that they don’t know the story, they weren’t there that night, but sometimes the looks of disgust in their eyes make me wonder if I really am a monster.
Which is why it meant so much for Emma to have acknowledged that night. She was the only other person in the world who knew the truth of what had happened, and it’s a comfort to know that I hadn’t just skewed the story my way in my head.
Because that was the thing that had screwed me up the most, more than losing my career or my hometown, but the fact that I no longer trusted my own judgement. By confirming that things had gone the way I remembered, Emma had given me a peace of mind I hadn’t realized I needed.
Even the abridged version of the story is a lot to go through, but finally I’m finished and my mouth falls closed. They’re both quiet for a moment, then Hazel says: “Well, there goes my theory.”
I lift a brow. “What was your theory?”
“That you had some kind of stalker you skipped the country to get away from and she found you again,” she says sheepishly, “Don’t laugh at me too hard, it made perfect sense in my head.”
“It made perfect sense when you explained it to me, too, baby, don’t worry,” Brendon adds.
I’m chuckling a little, but thinking about it from their perspective, with the limited information they had, it actually isn’t a completely unreasonable conclusion to come to. “It’s really not a bad theory,” I assure her, “But definitely not the case.”
“I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions, Chip,” Brendon says, “I should have let you explain, like you said. You’ve given us no reason not to trust you.”
I shrug. “I also haven’t given you that much reason to trust me, either, if I’d shared some of this with you before, things might have been different.”
He shakes his head. “You shouldn’t have had to. I mean, we’ve literally known each other for a few days, you don’t owe us your life story.”
I guess he’s got a point. It feels strange to think that it’s only been a few days, honestly, it’s felt like so much longer somehow. “Well, either way, I can forgive you for what you thought. In your shoes, I’d have thought the same thing.”
“So, are we all okay?” Hazel asks, “Air’s all cleared, no more hard feelings anywhere?”
Brendon and I exchange a look, and smiles spread across both of our faces as we nod. “Yeah, we’re good,” I say.
“Good. Then in that case,” she sighs, “I think we have some other things we need to talk about.”
Chapter Twenty
Hazel
“Okay,” Chip says, sitting on the couch beside us, “What exactly is on your mind?”
“Well, first of all…this all seems a little intense for a trio of people who were just ‘fooling around’, am I right?” I begin, trying to ease into it to calm my nerves a little.
Chip smiles sheepishly. “Yeah…that’s for sure.”
Easing into this isn’t working, I need to rip the band-aid off. I take a deep breath.
“So I guess I’ll just be the first one to come right out and say it, but, Chip, I have feelings for you,” I say, then look at Brendon, hoping he’ll join in.
And he either catches the hint or was already planning to chime in, because he nods. “And I’ll be the second one to say it. I know it probably sounds crazy, but there’s something here we just can’t deny.”
Chip nods. “I know,” he says, “Well, not about the way you two felt, not for sure, although a man can hope,” he smiles, “But I think some part of me has known from the start that this was something different. Something special.”