I let myself glance at him. He was staring at me so intently. I wanted to marry the man he was before last night. The man who loved me unconditionally, who trusted me. I wasn't sure if that man even existed. It felt like I didn't know him at all.
James turned to his brother. "That would be great if you helped Mason out. We'll be there before it starts."
"Okay, well, that's probably my cue. I'll leave you two alone to talk. And I'll see you both tonight." The way he said it made it seem like he had no doubt that what he said was true.
"Thanks," James said.
I kind of wished Rob was staying. It was like he sucked any last remaining joy out with him as he stepped onto the elevator. He gave me a small smile and a wave as the doors closed.
As soon as we were alone, James put his hand on my shoulder.
"You know that I didn't mean anything I said last night. Penny, you have to know that."
"Then why did you say it?"
"Because you hurt me. You betrayed my trust. I thought..."
"I didn't. You just weren't listening."
"You must understand how it looked."
"Of course I do. But I also expect you to believe me instead of your ex, James. Do you have any idea how that made me feel?"
"Probably the same way it made me feel when I thought you were running away with Tyler." He let go of my shoulder and ran his hand through his hair. "Can we please just move past this? Let's just forget last night ever happened."
"No, James. I want to talk about this. From the beginning."
"The beginning? There's nothing to talk about. We both just jumped to conclusions..."
"My conclusions were very meticulously planned by your psychopath of an ex-wife."
He sighed. "Psychopath? Penny, that's..."
"Stop, okay? Would you just listen to me for two seconds? You have no idea what that bitch put me through. Put us through. Just hear me out, okay?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "Okay. I'm listening." He sat down at one of the stools at the kitchen counter and stared up at me.
I finally had his undivided attention. I sat down too, leaving one stool in between us. He was going to listen to everything I had to say. He had to. "When you left for your bachelor party, Isabella started sending me stuff. Envelopes full of pictures of you and Rachel hugging and of you and Isabella kissing. There were notes about how you'd never love me as much as you loved Rachel and how your addiction problem is a sickness and you can't control yourself. She knew how to get in my head. She must have known you were away and that I couldn't talk to you. And I was fighting with Melissa. I just...I'd never felt so alone."
"Why didn't you tell me when I got back?" He moved to the stool that had separated us before. "Baby, I would have listened to you."
"Why? Because I could show you the evidence?"
He frowned. "Penny, I said I was sorry. I don't know what else you want me to say." He put his hand on my knee.
"Don't touch me." I knew I was being dramatic, but I needed us to talk. "Please don't touch me. Let me just finish what I have to say."
He removed his hand. His silence made it seem like he wanted me to keep going.
"She sent me a box full of notes that you wrote her. Love letters. All about how Isabella was the love of your life. And that you dreamed about marrying her your whole life. You talked about how no one understood you better than her. How much you missed her when you were apart, and how beautiful she was. You talked about being ready to have children with her. And that you thought she'd be a great mother. I read them all James."
I thought he might jump in here, but he just looked down at his hands, which were clasped together on his lap.
"Isabella left a note on the box about how your love is as fleeting as your addictions. And that you were just trying to escape your reality by being with me. Because you're addicted to me."
I waited again, wondering if he'd say anything about that. He continued to look down at his hands.
"The last envelope I got was pictures of you fucking some girl. Isabella made it seem like it was from your bachelor party. I mean, she didn't say it was, but with everything else she had sent...I was doubting whether you even liked me, let alone love me. It seemed like you didn't care about me at all. She was so in my head, I don't even think I was thinking clearly anymore. I just felt so alone.
"When you came back from your bachelor party, you didn't seem guilty though. I could tell you genuinely missed me. And I thought I should let it go. Isabella was clearly just messing with me. I knew she was trying to get under my skin. I talked to Rob and he said you were just by the pool all weekend. I wanted to believe him. I wanted to believe you. And honestly, you kept talking about how you thought she had changed and how nice she had been recently. I didn't even think you'd believe me."
He continued to look down at his hands.
"I think she thought that would ruin us. But it didn't. I thought it was over. I thought we had won. But then yesterday, she sent me a message about wiring her 20 million dollars or she'd leak the photos of me and Tyler and me at my bachelorette party. I ignored it. I was done playing her games. And those photos didn't mean anything. Tyler was comforting me when I couldn't get a hold of you. He asked Melissa to be his girlfriend right after that lunch. And my friends just made me do stupid stuff at my bachelorette party. For the record, I wanted to stay in and watch a movie."
He nodded his head, but he still didn't look up at me.
"When I didn't reply to Isabella, she forwarded me pictures of you and me having sex in your office. She must have put a camera in there when she kissed you or something. I don't know. Either way, she said she'd leak them to tabloids if I didn't wire her the money. And she gave me her bank account number.
"I had already ruined your teaching career. I didn't want to be the reason you were part of a scandal again. My first thought was to tell you. I went to your office and was about to open the door when she texted me. She said if I went to you, she'd leak the photos. She was watching me, listening to me. I didn't have a choice. I was trying to protect you. So I did what she said. I had no idea the money was going into Tyler's account. James, I didn't know.
"And before I went home, she said I couldn't tell you she was involved or she'd leak the photos. That's why I just said we were being blackmailed. I couldn't tell you by who. I see now how stupid I was. That those photos weren't as important as you. I never meant to hurt you. I was just trying to protect you."
James didn't say anything. But he slowly lifted his head. He stared at me like he was seeing me for the first time.
"When you kicked me out, I didn't have anywhere to go. All I could think about was how much I loved you. I couldn't stand the thought of you going back to Isabella, because she's not good for you. You need someone who supports you and loves you and sees how great you are, even when you can't see it." Now I looked away from him. "So I went to your parents' house. Isabella never said I couldn't tell them. I told them everything. I showed them the text messages. Your father found this camera sticker thing on my phone. I think Austin put it there in the bar. Isabella really had been watching and listening to me. Your parents said they'd take care of it. I thought they would have called you. But I guess I did tell them that we had broken up. I think your mom seemed kind of relieved about that.