All Grown Up (24 page)

On my way home
, I called Mina. She answered on the first ring.

"Where are you?"

"I'm about halfway, how far are you?" I responded, knowing we would both have gotten the call home.

"I’m already here
," she paused, "I was already here…visiting."

"Oh, okay
. Well, I'll be there soon. How is she?"

"It’s not good. She won’t talk or eat
. We don’t know what to do." She sighed, the faint sound of sadness tingeing her voice.

"I’ll be there soon
." I hung up and picked up my speed, making it in record time.

On arrival, I went straight upstairs to my old room. The sight before me crushed my heart. The pain Dom caused was nothing compared to this.

Mina lay on the bed next to a much distraught Roni.
Tear tracks stained her cheeks, a glassy glaze covered her eyes, and the pain in her face was heartbreaking.

"Oh
, fuck," I whispered. Hurrying to the side of the bed, I fell to my knees beside her. "Veronica? Hey?" I ran my hand over her cheek wiping away the tears.

"She won’t say a thing
." Mina sighed. "I’ve been trying, but she just won’t." Then tears started to flow from Mina who buried her head into Veronica’s side, wrapping her hands around her tightly. "Please, Roni…please."

My tears couldn’t be
stopped, they flowed freely. I threw myself over Roni’s listless body. Max arrived to the house that night and stayed with Roni, while Mina and I slept in my bed.

It was two days later
, I was brushing Roni’s hair when she grabbed my hand and rolled over, a pained look on her face.

"It’s my fault
." She whispered.

I shook my head
. Before I could speak, she continued. "I wished I wasn’t pregnant when I found out. I got what I wished for." Sobs ripped loudly from her. Pulling her to my chest, we rocked and cried together. Max appeared, having heard her sobs, Mina right behind him.

"Move!"
Mina shouted and pushed Max out of her way. She ran, wrapping us up in her arms, rocking with us.

"Can I get…or do anything?" Max spoke softly
, anguish on his face.

"Forgive me
." Roni mumbled against my chest.

"Oh
, baby." Max rushed the bed, pulling her away from us and into his lap. "Don’t even ask that…there is nothing to forgive." He started crying. "Forgive me, Roni, please?"

"You
? For what?" She whispered.

"For not b
eing there when….when this all—"

Roni's new sobs cut him off. H
e hugged her tighter, his mouth pressed to the top of her head. They stayed that way for hours.

Mina and I
quietly left the room, to let them grieve together. She went back to her house while I grabbed a bottle of Jack out from the liquor cabinet and a glass. I walked outside. Upon seeing the tree house, I climbed the ladder, deciding it was the perfect place to hide away.

I was sitting against old musty cushions thinking about the past, the present, and my future.
Trying to reconcile what I wanted to do about my future, specifically my marriage. I sighed deeply and finished off my glass of liquid pain relief. Pouring my second glass, loud footsteps scared me as they ascended the ladder.

"Jesus
, Mina, could you stomp any louder up the ladder? You’re going to fucking break it!" I laughed.

"Mina'
s in the house."

I
practically broke my neck with the speed I turned it to look at the doorway.

Leo

I
saw her climb the ladder and fought the urge to go after her for forty-five minutes. I learned from Mina that Roni had lost the baby, so I knew why Chloe was home. The pain I'd seen on her face when she climbed up the tree house ladder tore at me.

I resisted
, though, instead I sat thinking about everything, memories from my past igniting and traveling through to the present. It had been almost a month since Glenda had filed for divorce, leaving my future to the unknown.

Getting home late one night, I walked in to find her things gone and a large envelope on the kitchen counter. A note sat on top of it.

Leo,

I will always care for and love you, but our lives just no longer work, not together. We want different things and our schedules prevent us from being truly happy. I want to be able to find happiness and for you to
do the same as well.

Please forgive me for the way this is happening, but I know that if I see you
, I won’t move forward the way I need. The way we both need.

Be happy
.

Love
always, Glenda

I couldn’t say I'd been shocked. Not after all of the arguments in the small amount of time we were together, the time I spent working with Scarlett, and the difference in desires we both have. Caring and loving each other was never a problem. Making it work or wanting to make it work seemed to be our largest fault.

So
, I came home to my parents, having been here licking my wounds for the past two weeks. Trying to sort out my life when I learned Chloe arrived. I had no intention to go over there or even let her know I was in town. However, once I saw her go up to the tree house I could only hold out for so long. I almost wished she would come down and go back in the house before I reached the ladder, but she never did.

She thought I was Mina, shock filling her face.

"L-Leo?"
She breathed out.

"In the flesh.
" I joked. "What are you doing?" I motioned to the bottle and glass at her side.

"Oh, just trying to decompress from life
." She smiled weakly.

"Well then, do you
have another glass?" I laughed, sitting down across from her.

She
shook her head. "Sorry, but here." She poured a full glass and handed it to me.

"What about you?" I smiled
.

She winked, pulling
the bottle to her lips, drinking straight from the source. I laughed and took a large swig from the glass.

The full bottle of Jack
went rather quickly and soon we were laughing about the past, teasing each other about things from our childhood.  I talked more freely about Glenda divorcing me, and the more we talked the more slurred our words became. I also noticed the distance between us shorten more and more. We practically gravitated towards each other.

At
some point I remember being able to smell a mixture of the Jack and of her perfume. That’s about the last thing I remembered when I first woke in the pitch black darkness of the tree house.

"Chloe?"
I whispered, but she was nowhere. The bottle and a glass still next to me, I sat up, feeling dizzy and nauseous. After getting back into my parent's house, I went straight to bed.

Waking up to bright light was highly unpleasant
. Realizing that I didn’t have my shirt or pants on was a little unsettling. I didn’t remember taking them off. Slowly standing from the bed I scanned my old bedroom for my clothes, but didn’t find them. I dragged my ass into the shower and hoped the hot water would bring back last night, it did. I gasped out loud in the shower as the memories of last night resurfaced in my hung over mind.

After drying
off quickly and putting on fresh clean clothing, I headed to Mina’s room. She wasn’t there. So, I started to cross the childhood tree house crossing, when I heard a car door shut. Looking down, I saw Chloe sitting in a dark car, then I saw Domenico walk around the car and pull away with her.

"What the hell!" I
barked and sat down with my feet hanging over the side. Leaning my head against the railing, I replayed last night over and over in my mind.

Chloe

I woke in the dead of night,
to pitch black. Groaning, I sat up. My head was spinning and my mouth felt like I chewed on Q-tips for a couple of hours. Stretching, I realized that my shirt was the only thing I had on. A movement drew my attention to the practically naked body next to me. Leo lay there in only boxers.

Fuck
! Clearly, I had done enough of that! Shit! I'm a fucking hypocrite!

I
quickly slid my underwear and jeans on, stuffing my bra into my pocket. I hurried to my room and into the shower. Once finished, I climbed into my bed and forced myself not to think about what happened or how much of a whore I was.

Mina woke me in a hushed voice.

"Hmm?"

"Chloe,
Dom's here."

I sat up quickly, too quickly.

"He’s what?"

S
he nodded with wide eyes. While I'd been here I shared everything about Italy with Mina. We had shared our life in general.

"That’s right tall, dark, rich, and fucking asshole is here! Now get up before I go down there and
kill him!"

I grabbed her arm.

"Mina, don’t say anything to him please. Trust me when I say he is not the only one who is guilty." I put my head in my hands.

"He’s not? Wait, what
? Okay, crazy. You totally lost me." She crossed her arms over her chest.

I shook my head.

"I’ll be down in ten minutes." I said, quickly rushing to the bathroom to brush my teeth and pee. Throwing on some clean jeans and a t-shirt, I was ready as I would ever be.

It felt
like I was taking the walk of shame as I approached Dom. He sat waiting on the couch. The whole scene was a joke, really. Mina was glaring, Judith looked uncomfortable, and, all the while, Kenneth was talking his ear off about hockey. When Dom saw me he moved quickly to me, wrapping his arms around me.

"I have been trying to find you for days
." He sighed in relief, pulling me into a large hug. He pulled back, looking straight into my eyes. "I have never been so stupid in all my life. Chloe, please forgive me? Please believe that nothing…nothing will ever happen."

From the corner of my eye I saw
a scowl forming on Kenneth’s face. I grabbed Dom’s hand and pulled him into the kitchen so we were alone.

"Please
, my beautiful, I swear—"

“K
eep your voice down." I begged.

He looked shocked and
confused. "They don’t know?"

"Well, Mina does
." I shrugged. "I didn’t want to talk about my problems with Roni going through such a terrible time.

He sighed
. "How is she?"

"Better. She finally started eating and Max plans to take her home tomorrow." I stayed silent for a
moment. "I think we should take this discussion elsewhere."

"Okay, where would you like to go?
Home?" Desperation evident in his question.

"There is a coffee shop we can go to
." I needed coffee something fierce.

Once we got to the coffee shop and both had our drinks in front of us
, we sat in silence. Until Dom spoke first.

"Chloe
, I will never be able to express how sorry I am to have done this to us. To disappoint you."

I could feel the
tears stinging my eyes already.

"
Don’t cry, Il mio amore. I promise I can be better for you. I want to be better for you."

"Stop!"
I shouted, drawing the attention from everyone around us. My tears now flowing freely, Dom quickly knelt on the tile floor before me. He wrapped his arms around my waist, laying his head in my lap.

"Please forgive me
." He begged.

"I can’t
." I croaked.

"Oh
God, please." He begged, again.

I tried to remove his hands. I was disgusted with myself, not
just him.

He clung to me for dear life, not letting go. So
, I just spit it out in a hushed, but forceful tone. "I spent the night with someone."

Dom
drew back slowly, examining my face. I could see the fury and rage rise in his cheeks.

"When?"
He growled.

"A
fter I returned from Italy and–"

Tears pouring from his eyes, he buried himself back into my lap.

"Oh God, I pushed you to it." His cry muffled by my thigh.

"No, no, no
."

I would not let him take
the blame for my indiscretion.

"I was the one that did it, not you. Just because you did it, doesn’t mean I should have in return. I drank way too much and then we were just talking with each other and
—"