The Running Series Complete Collection: 3-Book Set plus Bonus Novella (22 page)

The crowd at the bar thins out a little, and Emmy finally notices the bromance brewing on the other side of the bar.  “Jette, who’s that guy Derek is talking to?  He’s hot.  And he looks so familiar.”

“Nobody, just my ex-boyfriend who won’t accept the fact that I broke up with him.”  I can feel Evan’s burning gaze directed at me as I try to shake the queasy feeling ratcheting through my system.

“Jette, I know who that is.  It’s Evan freakin’ McGuire, isn’t it?  Do you mean to tell me that you just had hot, sweaty, toe curling sex with Evan McGuire, then promptly broke up with him?”

“Emmy, I told you I don’t want to talk about it.”  She sets her hands on her hips and plants her feet in front of me.  I’m going to have to give her something.  “Do you have any idea how many girls he’s slept with?  They have pictures of him all over the internet with rich and famous women.”

“Yeah, so what?  It doesn’t look like he wants any of them at the moment.  By the way he keeps looking over here at you, I’d say he’s crazy about
you
.  You lucky bitch!”  She swats me on the butt with her bar rag and busies herself serving some customers.

Derek returns to help out at the bar.  “Did he leave?” I ask.

“No, he’s hanging out with his manager for a while.  He’s very protective of you, Jette.  He wants to make sure you get home safely.”  Wait, he’s here with his manager?  I quickly scan the room and I locate them in the back of the patio.  He’s here with Adam.  Well, that’s another puzzle piece that I should have put together sooner.

Swarming around like moths to a flame is a horde of flirty girls, all trying to get Evan to notice them.  I see camera phones flashing and it makes my blood boil.

The bar starts to get crowded again, and I return to focus on making drinks.  I pour a dozen or so beers on tap, pop the cap off a dozen more bottles of beer, and make a round of Sex on the Beach shooters.  I try to focus on my job, but it’s nearly impossible. 

I look over to Evan and I see one overly ambitious girl trying to engage him in conversation.  She places her hand on his shoulder and leans in closely to his ear.  My reaction is immediate. I can feel the blood rushing to my ears and the muscles in my stomach tighten.  The feeling is mildly assuaged when Evan removes her hand from his shoulder and abruptly moves away from her.  I notice Adam intervene while Evan looks over to me.  I am overcome with a bevy of emotions.

Quite a few of the girls hovering around him are extremely pretty.  From everything I’ve read and seen, they are the exact type of girl he would typically hook up with.  But tonight, he doesn’t even seem to see them. 

As I continue to fill drink orders, my mind is preoccupied with thoughts of Evan.  Why does this have to be so damned difficult?

My next customer is a young man around my age, and he looks vaguely familiar.  “Hi, what can I get you tonight?”

“Jette, is that you?  Juliette Fletcher?”  He knows me, but I can’t place him. 

“Yeah, I’m sorry, but I don’t,” recognition kicks in and I identify the man standing before me.  “Oh, my God, Ty?  Is that you?  I hardly recognize you.”  Ty lived next door to me until we were about twelve or thirteen.  He moved away to Florida and I never heard from him again.

“Wow, it’s great to see you.  Last I heard, you moved to Colorado.  Did you move back home again?” he asks.

“I did.  I’ve been here for almost a month now.  How about you?”  God, it’s great to see him.  We were very close growing up.  He was like a brother to me.  I always suspected he felt differently, but at such a young age, it was never an issue.

“No, I’m just here for Easter.  I’ll be heading back to Pensacola on Monday.  You should stop over and see Mom.  I know she’d love to see you.”  I didn’t realize his mother was back in town.  I really would like to see them both.

Ty has aged well over the past ten years.  His jet black hair is short cropped, and he’s got the same five o’clock shadow as Evan.  Tattoos fill one arm and peek through the neck of his shirt.  He looks very badass.  I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw him riding a motorcycle home later tonight.

We exchange phone numbers and I lean across the bar to give him a kiss on the cheek before I grab him a Heineken.  I return with Ty’s beer, and for a moment, I’m happy again.  The moment is short lived when I glance over and see Evan glaring at the both of us.  Ty sees my obvious angst and turns to see what’s gotten my attention.

“Who’s that?  He’s staring at you like he owns you.  Wait, is that Evan McGuire?”  Jesus H. Christ, am I the only person on Earth who doesn’t know who Evan Thomas McGuire is?

“Yes, sorry about that.  He’s a little possessive.  Just ignore him, please.”  I really would like Ty to hang around so we can do a little more catching up.

“Listen, I’m going to go find my girlfriend.  She probably thinks I got lost.  Besides, I’d like to keep my teeth right where they are.  McGuire could seriously kick my ass.  Good luck with that!  Call me.” 

The rest of the night is uneventful.  Derek holds back from flirting with me.  He is definitely intimidated by Evan.  The DJ announces last call and the bar begins to empty out.  Among the last to leave are Evan and Adam.

Evan and Adam are walking directly towards me.  I try to ignore them, but Emmy has other plans.  She walks over and takes the bar towel from my hand.  “Go say good night.  Act like an adult, will you, please?”  The last thing I want to be is childish, so I concede.

I walk over to Adam and offer him a friendly hug good night.  Evan watches and I can see a hopeful gleam in his eye.  He knows he’s wearing me down.

He leans over and breathes in my ear.  I can feel my skin prickle from the sensation.  “Where are you parked, Juliette?”

“I didn’t drive.  Auggie dropped me off.  I was too upset to drive.  Emmy is taking me home.”  Shit, I was so preoccupied all night, I never asked her to drive me home.  I’m sure she will.

“I’ll never be able to adequately tell you how sorry I am about that.  It’s not how I wanted you to find out.”  Evan walks away and before I can process what’s happening, he’s talking to Emmy.  She nods and smiles at him.  The next thing I see is both of them taking out their cell phones.  Seriously?  I walk over to put an immediate end to this.  Evan and I broke up. 

“Emmy, it was nice meeting you.  Please call me when she gets home safely.”  They shake hands and Evan walks out the door.

Food for Thought

I
arrive home shortly after two in the morning and waiting for me are bouquets of flowers scattered throughout the house.  Eight are budding white tulips with dark green stalks standing tall and proud.  Two are purple hyacinth bouquets with a beautiful white ribbon tied around the vase, each bearing a card.

Opening the first card, I am pleased to see that it is written in Evan’s own handwriting. 

I think back to our first accidental meeting on the beach, and I believe it was exactly ten days ago.  So much has happened in that short time.  I knew at that moment that he was way out of my league, but I allowed myself to be deluded by hope.  I stopped listening to reason, and listened only to desire.  Look where that’s gotten me – miserable and heartbroken.

The second card is also written in the same handwriting.  As I read it, my heart softens, just a little bit.

I know that quote immediately.  It was spoken by Emilio Estevez in “St. Elmo’s Fire”, one of my favorite Brat Pack movies.  Evan knows me, he knows my heart.  How can he in such a short time?  In all the time I was with David, he never once made me feel the way Evan does.

Do I acknowledge the gesture with a text to thank him?  What message would that send?  What message do I want to send?  He has me twisted into knots.  It’s too late to be able to reason through this.  A good night’s sleep will give me the fresh perspective I need.

I
wake with the sun, getting so much less than a good night’s sleep.  My overactive mind kept me tossing and turning.  There’s no point in trying to go back to sleep, so I may as well get up and go for a run.

Maddy and I arrive at the beach.  I will not allow Evan to take the joy of that away from me.  There are miles and miles of ocean, so I find a part of it that will not lead me towards his house.  I grab my iPhone, my headphones, and Maddy’s leash.  As I walk towards the surf, I receive a text.  Curiosity gets the best of me, and I check the message.  Sure enough, it’s from Evan.

Resisting the urge to text him back, I plug in my headphones and start my slow jog.  Today’s run will be a brief one.  I’m just too tired.  Tired from lack of sleep and tired from worry.  Why can’t Evan just let me go?

Maybe I need to get out of my own head.  I could talk to Auggie about it, but I know what he will say.  He doesn’t want to see me get hurt, so he’ll definitely tell me to cut him loose, let him go, and move on with my life. 

I think I know what will happen if I talk to Emmy about it.  She will definitely tell me to take him back.  She’ll most likely even have some advice on exactly what I should do with him (and to him) once I do. 

I could call Reese.  She’s smart and always seems to know what the right thing is to do.  But she’s in Wisconsin and it’s an hour earlier there.  It’s way too early to call now.  Maybe later.

There is someone else I can reach out to.  I could talk with my mother.  She moved back to Bayonne last year to live with my grandmother who’s getting on in years and needs a little help.  I’ll be driving up to see them for Easter in two days, so I think I will hold off making a decision until then.

My mother and I are as different as any two people could be, but she always has my best interest at heart.  Truth be known, I never really understood my mother.  She is the kindest, gentlest, most giving person I know.  I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t think the world of her.  The only person who doesn’t like my mother is my mother. 

People tell me she wasn’t always like this.  I have some spotty memories of my mother being sociable, taking me on outings, even entertaining family upon occasion. 

Some of my fondest memories were from a time when I was very young and all three of us, my mother, my father, and I, would all go camping with another family.  To me, they were my aunt, uncle, and cousins, but in reality, they were my parents’ best friends.  We never went far, but it was like entering another world.  Each family had a camper and we’d drive to different campsites just to get away for the weekend.  We visited museums, zoos, parks, and historic villages.  We’d come back and roast marshmallows and stay out playing until late into the night.

Everything changed when my father left us.  I was still young, maybe nine or ten years old, but I remember it well.  It tore my mother apart.  She changed jobs so she could make more money to support us and she stopped seeing her friends.  I suspect she didn’t like being around other couples.  She didn’t have any single friends, so she grew closer and closer to my grandparents.

For years, my father would flit in and out of our lives, causing chaos and tension each time.  My mother never had a chance to move on because she kept waiting for him to come back for good, but he never did.  Things would start out fine, but eventually, he’d start drinking again and everything would fall apart.  My mother never once asked him to leave.  It was always his decision to go.  This vicious cycle repeated over and over again well into my high school years.  I think if she had her way, he’d still be in our lives.

That is, until I decided that enough was enough.  During my sophomore year, I was invited to the Senior Prom.  It was a big deal, even though I was only going with a friend. I was very excited.  One afternoon, my father had started drinking early and asked me where I thought I was going.  I told him I was going shopping for a prom dress with my friends.  He told me that only sluts go to the prom with boys they aren’t dating, and I must have promised him sex or he wouldn’t have asked me.