“I wouldn’t have said anything, but it creeps me out. What if she tries to crash the wedding?”
“She won’t. Jason and Lucia got a restraining order taken out against her. But I’ll deal with it. Does Tonya know?”
“No. I didn’t want to give her one more thing to stress about since she’s been handling most of the wedding stuff by herself.”
Why can’t Diane leave us alone? She was controlling when Jake and I were dating, but this takes the cake. I don’t give them a chance to discuss anything else. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Shit,” Reaf mutters. “Tonya, I was going-”
“Don’t bother.” I forget about the water I so desperately wanted, and run to my room locking the door behind me. How could he not tell me something so important? Something that could potentially cause a problem onourday?
Eight
Reaf
The night was going sowell. We cooked steaks, sat by the fire, and just hung out without a care in the world. I couldn’t have planned anything better for my bachelor party. I’m also grateful to Travis for doing a party that my kid brother, Bryce, could attend. He wasn’t too keen on coming in the first place, but changed his tune once we ate and started hanging out. But now… The night has gone to shit. I managed to piss Tonya off without even realizing it.
When she didn’t show up with Cami and Darcy, I assumed she went to bed. Jake was about to leave and I wanted to talk to him about his mom. I didn’t think that Tonya would hear any of it. I hoped to keep the whole thing from her. Now she’s in her room, and I’m not sure if I should go after her or give her some space.
“I’m going to head out,” Jake mumbles. “You might, uh, want to explain everything to Tonya before she starts thinking up a million reasons why this is a bad omen.”
“Yeah, I’ll go do that.” I start to walk out of the kitchen but stop. “You’re still good to watch Layla tomorrow while we get everything set up, right?”
“Yep. I’ll be here bright and early.” He pauses on his way out. “And, don’t worry about my mom. I’ll deal with her.”
“Thanks,” I sigh. “I guess I better go beg for forgiveness for keeping this secret.”
“Good luck,” Jake laughs, then he’s out the door.
I trudge to Tonya’s room, not looking forward to the ass chewing she’s about to give me. It’s my own fault, I know, but that doesn’t make it any easier. This is something I should have told her about when it happened instead of trying to sweep it under the rug, hoping it wouldn’t come to light. Secrets have a way of coming out, whether you want them to or not. Even if the reason for them is to spare the feelings of the person you love most.
Leaning against the door, I knock three times. No answer. It’s what I expected, but the snub still stings. “Tonya, please open the door so we can talk.”
“I don’t want to talk right now, Reaf. Just go home.” It sounds like she’s halfway between her bed and the door. If I know her the way I think I do, she’s at war with herself over the decision to open the door or not. We obviously know which option I’m hoping she will choose.
I slide down the door until I’m sitting on the floor. My head falls back until it gently rests against the door. “I’ll talk to you through the door if I have to, but I’m not going to leave. Not until you let me explain what happened.”
The soft squeaking of her desk chair rolling across the carpet makes me breathe a sigh of relief. For once, she isn’t going to be stubborn and is going to hear me out. “Okay, explain to me why Jake knows about what the hell is going on before I do.” She whisper yells, trying to keep her voice down, not wanting to wake up Layla.
Her tone of voice isn’t very welcoming, but what did I expect? I’m just lucky she didn’t slap me or run to her dad to make me leave. Anytime she feels like she can’t control a problem, Jason is who she turns to first. “Where do you want me to start?”
“How about at the beginning? That’s usually a good place.”
So, I do. I tell her about how Diane snuck up on me that first day. She told me I needed to call the wedding off so that Tonya could marry her son, the way it wassupposedto be. And, I tell her how Diane is pretty much stalking the shop, trying to put some kind of fear in me. Like that's going to work.
The door opens abruptly, and I fall backwards. Tonya leans over me, "Why didn't you tell me all of this was going on?"
I shrug, which is a lot harder to do lying down than one would think. "I came over that day to see what you thought about it, but you were at your dress fitting."
Her hands are on her hips and she's glowering at me. But, something in her softens and she reaches her hand out to pull me up. Leading me to her bed, she pats the space next to her as she sits down. "You could've told me after that. You were still here when I got home."
She is not going to like what I say next. I run my fingers through my hair trying to find the words that are going to piss her off the least. "Well, I talked to your dad about it while I was waiting on you. He suggested not telling you because we didn’t want to put any more stress on you."
I cringe in advance because I know her reaction isn't going to be good. She doesn't disappoint. "My dad knew," she shrieks. Then remembering her daughter is asleep, she lowers her voice. "You both knew and neither one of y'all thought I should know?"
"I wanted to tell you, I did, but you were already freaking out about the decorations and how everything was going to get done before the wedding. I didn't want to give you one more thing to lose your shit about."
That little bit of sympathy I saw from her five minutes ago… Yeah, that's gone. She's glaring at me as if I should figure out a way to go back in time and fix the entire situation. I don't say anything else because honestly, she's scaring me. Instead, I let her simmer in her anger. Like I said, she has every reason to be upset with me. I'm certain she is envisioning each and every way she can beat the crap out of me to let some of that frustration out. We both know she would never act on it, though.