“Of course I remember that night. That night has kept me going on more than one occasion.”
She smiles and tugs her eyes from mine as she looks at the note again. “You want to come over for dinner?”
I feel my brows pull together.
“It’s just that, I have this box of stuff… stuff like this, that you might want to see. And, well, you’re not eating very good here with no fridge or stove, so two birds, one stone.” She offers up that breathtaking smile and she has me. I’m convinced that just a simple smile from her could get me to do anything she wanted.
“Sure,” I say.
Her smile widens. “Okay.” She grabs a pencil off the desk and turns the note over. “Here’s my address. Say… seven?” She hands it over as she passes me by on her way to the door.
“Seven it is,” I reply, tucking the note into my pocket as I watch her walk away.
Her place is only a few blocks from mine, so after finishing up work for the day and taking a shower, I start on my journey. I can’t help but notice the way the houses are getting more and more fancy the closer I get. This has always been the nicer side of town even when I was growing up. But now, the houses have only gotten bigger, nicer, more expensive. There’s one house off in the distance that catches my eye even as far away as I am. It’s a big two-story home. The front yard is open, but there’s a brick wall around the entire back. Her black Audi is sitting in the drive, not even in the garage. I knew from the look of her car that she was used to having nicer things in life, so at least she’s got that going for her. I’m sure her life wouldn’t be anything like it is now if we had stayed together.
The green grass is perfectly manicured, mowed in a way that you can see the straight lines that form diamonds. The plants and bushes that line the house are well taken care of, but that doesn’t surprise me since she seemed to inherit her mom’s green thumb for all things living. I walk up the few steps and knock on the door. Moments later, she answers it, her blond curls blowing in the soft breeze.
“Hey, you made it,” she says around a smile as she pulls me in for a hug.
I hug her lightly but am feeling all kinds of emotion that I can’t put into words. I never imagined myself here, in the home she shares with her daughter and my ex-best friend who stole her from me.
I walk inside, and she closes the door behind me. I look around, taking in the house. The entryway is huge with a grand staircase. There’s a long hall with the kitchen and living room on either side. Everything is crisp and white, clean and classy.
“Would you like a drink?”
“Yeah, sure,” I agree, following her into the kitchen.
The kitchen is no different. It has a breakfast nook with a small table. There’s an island in the center of the room with white granite countertops. All the appliances are a shiny stainless steel. There are a set of double glass doors that look out onto a beautiful patio and in-ground pool.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I’m not much of a cook, so I ordered in.”
“Any hot meal is a good meal for me,” I say, taking the glass of wine she offers.
“Would you like to come sit on the patio? It’s my favorite place in the whole house.” She opens one of the glass doors and walks out with me following along behind her. There’s a table to the left with a pink box on the top. We both sit down, and she pushes the box closer to me.
“Go ahead. Open it.”
My hands are shaking as I raise them to take off the lid, and I hope she doesn’t notice. If she does, she doesn’t mention it as I set it aside to find her prom corsage on top.
I gently pick it up, careful not to crush it as I set it aside. “I can’t believe you kept this, or that it hasn’t completely fallen apart by now.”
Under it are a stack of pictures from our past. I go through them, noticing how beautiful she was, how young I looked. There are pictures of us together starting at the age of fourteen up until I left at eighteen. After I flip through them, I find more pictures, but I’m not in any of these.
“I decided that I’d take pictures of things I wanted to talk to you about. At first, it was meant to only last a year. I was going to bring you all of these photos when I joined you at college to show you how I’d spent our year apart, but when that didn’t work out, I started taking them anytime something happened that I wish you could’ve seen, things I wished you’d have been in my life for.”
I nod as I listen to her words and look at the pictures. There are pictures of her and Tom together, and it makes my stomach tighten in anger, so much that the acid within starts to bubble up into my throat. I toss the pictures back into the box, sick of looking at them already.
“What’s the point of this, El?” I don’t mean for the words to come out as sharp as they did, but now they’re out there and I can’t get them back. Her back straightens, and the expression on her face shows nothing but surprise at my hard tone.
Nine
Ella
“What’s the point in all this, El?” he asks, seeming a little more tense than he has been in the days prior. “Is the point to show me how great your life is? Because trust me, I see it.” He motions toward the pool and house.
My mouth drops open, but I’m speechless. How dare he think that I’m the type of person who would consider myself better than anyone. And for what? Because I have a nice house? Car? He doesn’t know that the down payment on this house was a wedding gift from my mother. He doesn’t know that I paid it off with the money I got from her insurance. This house wasn’t bought for me by Tom, which is another reason he isn’t trying to take it in the divorce. My nice car wasn’t just given to me either. I worked and saved for that car, and I’ll be proud of myself when I make the final payment in two years. None of this was just given to me, and if he thinks it’s made up for the hell I’ve lived all these years, he’s dead wrong.
“Fuck you, Logan,” I breathe out in exasperation, shaking my head. “If that’s what you think me, why are you even here?”
He just sits, looking at me with his back stiff and his mouth held in a straight line.
“I didn’t ask you to come here to rub anything in your face. I invited you over here because I wanted to show you this box. It’s something I’ve thought about doing since the moment you left. And you know, I thought it might be nice to catch up, get to know one another again, but honestly, I’m not sure if I even like the guy you’ve grown into. The old Logan never would have said something like that to me.”
He lets out a long breath and dips his head forward. “I’m sorry, El.” He shakes his head, clearing it. “It’s just that…” He stands and starts to pace in front of me. “Being back here, it’s fucking with me and I knew it would. I knew the moment I stepped foot back in this town, all this old shit that I’ve put off for too long would take me down. And then running into you and finding out the truth about Tom and now seeing the way you guys lived, it’s just overwhelming. I mean, I’m mad that Tom fucked me over and stole you right out from under me, but then I see all this and think, maybe you made the better choice. I never would have been able to give you all of this.” He seems broken, sad.