Promise Me (25 page)

"Sabrina, look, I know I shouldn't have said anything to you at the restaurant and I sure as hell know that I shouldn't have said anything to you at the reunion," his says as his voice gets quieter at the mention of the reunion. "It's taken me ten years to realize that I've made some pretty shitty decisions in my life, but in the end, I know that I'm the one who made them."

It's then that I see it in his eyes as he flashes them my way. The authenticity he's trying to express through his apology. It's funny how words can perfectly relay how you feel. They can be the exact thing you need to hear or know at any particular moment. But sometimes, it's the person delivering those words that makes all the difference in the world. Their eyes shine with whatever emotion they are trying to convey. It can be love, hate, happiness or anger. In Chris' I see nothing but regret.

I still don't trust him
or
like him but even I can't be this cold. I guess when it comes down to it I have to let it go, and I mean let it
all
go, even if it means forgiving the one person who broke me.

His head bows down but he keeps his eyes on me when he breaks the heavy silence without any agenda. "I'm so sorry I hurt you, more than you'll ever know."

And I feel it. I feel his apology really run through me. There is a part of me that knows that the last couple of days with Tyler has played some part in letting go of my anger towards him. So his apology is more than I had hoped it could be, and it's what I needed from him to completely move on. I'm not sure if he needs to hear the words I'm about to say more than I need to say them to him, because I truly mean it.

"I forgive you."

"Thank you. I don't think I deserve that, but I'm glad to hear it."

A wisp of a smile appears on his face at the same time I hear my dad's voice clamoring behind the front door and getting closer. There goes the thought of being able to relish this poignant moment. As much as my mom thought it was somewhat amusing when my dad said he would kill Chris if he ever saw him again, I know he wasn't joking. Now it's of critical importance to keep him breathing and my dad out of jail, so I need to get him out of here.

"No offense Chris," I mumble, "but you should probably leave now."

I step forward to force him to walk with me down the front porch steps. He looks confused when we reach the final step, that is, until we hear my dad's booming voice as clear as a bell and that's when it registers why I'm in a rush. Thankfully, Chris' car is parked on the street and he's in it in no time. He lowers the driver's side window while starting the engine and looks over my shoulder to make sure there is no threat.

"Thanks, Sabrina."

"For what?"

He exhales before saying, "For letting me get that off my chest, finally."

Surprisingly, it's not difficult for me to respond because I mean it wholeheartedly. "You're welcome."

With that he pulls onto the street and drives away and not a moment too soon. The front door swings open behind me and I turn around to find my dad in his barbeque cooking apron waving a pair of tongs in his hand.

"What are doing out here? The food is in the backyard not the front yard."

I shake my head and smile up at him while walking across the front lawn and back up the steps. When I try to go around him, he grabs hold of my hand with the one that isn't making clacking noises with the tongs.

Even with his usual quiet demeanor, my dad is pretty damn good at telling it like it is and I love that about him. I guess you can say that growing up I was kind of a "daddy's girl". He's always been so patient with me and we were thick as thieves until the day I moved away. Although I've been away from home for years and I see my parents when they come to visit me -which is often enough- I know the distance has put a strain in our relationship. And as much as I can point a finger to Lisa and Chris for what they did as an excuse for staying away for so long, I really only have myself to blame. I should have never let them come between me and my only family. So, right then and there I make a promise to myself to come home more often instead of making my parents make the trek to Miami.

"Is everything okay?"

My dad's brow creases with worry as he studies my face. Instead of answering him, I hurl myself into his arms and hug him so hard that he's the one who's choking for a change.

"Everything's great, Daddy," I say between a laugh and tear. "Never been better."

He pats my back with his free hand and I let go of him only to have him wipe a tear that got away down my cheek.

"Why are you crying then?" He asks full of concern.

"I'm just so happy to be home again."

Never one to be able to handle my tears, he smiles and kisses my forehead before saying, "I'm glad you're home too, baby girl."

Just as I'm about to find my voice, he speaks up again.

"Even if it's just for a little while, I'm happy having you back here."

How I don't completely lose it after my dad says that to me, I don't know. All I can manage to say back is evidently enough for him… proof positive by the big smile on his face.

"Me too, Daddy."

I wipe the corners of my eyes when he starts clacking together the tongs and we both chuckle. "Come on. Let's get back inside before your mother burns down the backyard just so she can get her steak medium well."

He swings the front door open for me and we make our way to the patio where my mom is turning the knobs on the grill just as he suspected. I grab a bottle of beer from the outdoor cooler then take a seat while my dad winks at me before sneaking up on mom.

"Woman," my dad shouts playfully. "If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times… the grill is my domain. Please step away and let me work my magic."

I watch them from my seat as she smacks him on his arm before he grabs her by the waist and plants a big wet one on her cheek that makes her giggle in delight. I look on and smile because I'm so deliriously happy with not only how everything has gone so far on this trip: from Tyler to what just happened with Chris, but for this… right here, right now. Being home with my family, I've missed
this
. More than I thought. And one thing's for certain, I'm never going to miss out on this again.

Home sweet home. I took a cab from the airport instead of calling Julia so I could beat her here. I texted her earlier in the day before my flight left to see if she wanted to have dinner tonight. She agreed, too eagerly, I might add… chomping at the bit to get more details on the whole Tyler situation.

God, I miss him terribly already. I knew when I left him standing there on the sidewalk, that it would kill me. And now that we have so much more distance between us, it makes that pain of missing him more palpable. Because I know he's not a quick drive away and vice versa. But, like he asked of me before I left, I'm keeping the faith or at least I'm doing my best damn impression of it.

I only have an hour before Julia gets here so I take a quick shower to wash away the travel scum and plunk down onto the couch to veg in front of the TV.

"Lucy, I'm home," Julia says in the absolute worst Ricky Ricardo voice of all time, but it still cracks me up.

I mute the TV while she drops her purse, laptop bag, and keys in the foyer and hustles over to the couch. Kicking off her heels, she props her feet up on the coffee table and studies my face for a second or two before I see a smile creep up at the corners of her mouth.

"You had sex," she says coolly.

How the hell can she tell I had sex? Is there a giant sign on my forehead or something? I open my mouth to answer her but she stops me.

"Wait, don't tell me the details just yet." She stands up, almost tripping over herself in the process to go get her purse and rummage through it until I hear her say, "Ah-ha!"

With a pen and her checkbook in hand, she comes back over to the couch and starts to write.

"I'm just going to round up to the nearest hundred," she says to herself then tears off a check and hands it to me.

I look down at the check and almost burst out laughing when I see that it's made payable to me in the amount of four hundred dollars. But the best part is the memo portion, it says:
For finally getting laid
. And with a smiley face, no less.

"I appreciate it, but I can't take the money." And I hand her back the check but she puts up her hand to intercept it.

"Seriously, you're cashing that check," she says and pushes my hand away. "A bet's a bet."

I tilt my head to give her the fake evil eye and resign myself for now that she's not willing to budge on this. But, I'm so not going to cash this check. I'll tear it up later when she's not looking or never deposit it. Either way, it's not happening.

"So, dinner?" I ask, trying to change the subject.

"Hell yes! Give me twenty minutes to get ready."

We arrive at LuLu's in The Grove and grab a seat on the sidewalk since the Miami tropical weather is cooperating tonight. The waiter arrives at our table and takes our drink order while we look over the menu. Julia and I decide on some appetizers instead of a full on meal when he brings us our drinks and finally leaves us alone for a stretch. Taking a taste of my drink, I notice the flowers on the table between us. The vivid yellow and orange hues bring to mind the flowers that Tyler gave me while I was staying with him. I'm beaming at the memory and lost in thought until Julia clears her throat to get my attention.

"I have to say, girlie, I've never seen you this happy. You're almost glowing," she says before taking a quick sip of her mojito. "Now, before you tell me what happened, please say you have at least one picture of him for me to properly fantasize about. Because that high school one isn't quite cutting it anymore."

"It's your lucky day," I taunt and then fish through my purse to find my cell phone. I pull up one of the two pictures I have of Tyler. The first one is him during one of the times we were lounging in his kitchen. He has on his old pair of black sweatpants and that's it. His dark brown hair is a perfect mess and it looks incredibly sexy and his smile is...

"Wow! He can make an old lady's panties melt with that smile," Julia says loud enough for the people behind us to start chuckling.

"Shhh, Jesus, everyone can hear you."

I go to reach for my phone but she already has scrolled over to the next photo which I didn't want her to see. Tyler had taken my phone after he took a photo on his and snapped a picture of us together in bed. The sheet covers me, just barely, but it's obvious that neither of us is wearing any clothes.

"Well, well, well," she announces and pops her head up to look at me, "seems like someone went from having no sex at all to taking porn shots."

The guys in the seat behind Julia whip their heads around to look at us as I'm dying of embarrassment. Seriously, can she not find a filter for her mouth anywhere?

"Oh my God, Julia, would you please keep your voice down," I mumble and bury my head in my hands to deflect the looks we're getting from the guys behind her.

She leans forward so that only I can hear her, "Sabrina, I've known you for seven years and you're like a sister to me. I only want the absolute best for you. So don't mistake me busting your chops for anything other than I'm over the fucking moon for you right now. Okay?"

Shit. She had to go and throw out the sister card. I lift my head from my hands and say okay as her attention goes back to my phone in her hands when it vibrates.

"Someone's got a text from the sex God," and she's back to her normal self, just like that.

I snatch the phone away from her before she has a chance to read it out loud.

Hope you got home safe. I'll call you later tonight...xo

I text him back when the waiter comes over with our food.

Safe and sound. Looking forward to it ;)

"Wink face? Come on, just put 'Love, Sabrina' and call it a day," she says as she starts to nosh on some truffle French fries. "It's written all over your face... you are head over heels in love with him."

I wrinkle my nose at her and she laughs because she's got my number on this one.

"What about you?" I ask, casually trying to move the topic of conversation in another direction. "What happened to this last guy you met on Match?"