Forever Together (Forever Love #2) (20 page)

"Why didn’t you come back with a baby?"

"Uh what?" That’s one way to get my attention, ask a completely crazy question.

"Jessa’s sister Courtney came back with a baby when she went to college. His names Mackenzie and
he’s the cutest little baby in the whole wide world. How come when you came back you didn’t have a baby too?"

I’m pretty sure she’s too young for the birds and the bees talk. She'll have to suffer through that when she’s older. If Mom's still using the same method she did when I was younger, in a few year’s time Bailey is gonna have to sit through Mom going through a PowerPoint presentation and putting a condom on a cucumber. Good times!

"I don’t think it’s a case of buying something at the store and getting a baby as a free gift Bailey."

"Can you bring me one next time. I promise I'll look after it. I look after Brian sometimes when Brady comes round for meatloaf." She holds her hands together as if she’s praying and puts the puppy dog eyes on. She can breathe out fire and start doing cartwheels for all I care, I’m not having a baby.

"Wait." I frown, her earlier comment sinking in. "What do you mean you look after Brian when Brady comes round for meatloaf." I know full well Brady hasn’t been round for meatloaf while I've been here so Bailey can only mean while I was in LA.

"Meatloaf Monday." She cheers. "Brian and Brady always come round for meatloaf Monday. They haven’t for a while though."

"Really? And was this when I was at school?"

"Yep." She nods her head.

I knew It! I knew something fishy was going on. Talk about family loyalty huh?!

"Thanks Bails. Hey, is Mom in the Kitchen?"

"Yeah, she’s cooking spaghetti."

I leave Bailey sitting on the marble vanity and walk out, ready to give my Mother a piece of my mind. I’m torn between jumping up and down with glee that I was actually right and grabbing a baseball bat to start making holes in walls. Oh, I knew something was going on by how friendly everyone seemed to be. I never thought the woman who gave birth to me would betray me like this though. If I wasn’t so frickin' angry i'd be hurt. Right now I can barely see past the red haze though.

"MOM!" I shout, stomping down the stairs, my feet thumping on the ground.

"In the kitchen honey!"

I storm through the empty den and into the kitchen, finding my Mom standing at the stove sprinkling salt into a saucepan.

"Mom..." What do I say now? Do I just confront her?

"Hey," She looks towards me. "You look lovely. You going somewhere nice?"

"Yeah, Brady’s taking me…" I shake my head. I’m supposed to be confronting her not getting all chatty. "I just had a really enlightening conversation with Bailey." I arch a brow and purse my lips.

"Oh yeah. It’s nice that you girls are getting along. The attic will be done soon though so you won’t have to share a room. I think your Dad said he’s finishing it this weekend."

"Did you see Brady after we broke up?"

If I wasn’t paying such close attention, I'd miss the falter in my Mom's stirring of her spaghetti sauce.

"It’s a small town."

"Yeah, but did you actually see him, have a conversation with him, have him round for meatloaf?"

"Ah." That’s it?

"Ah? Is that an ah yes or an ah no?"

"It’s an ah yes. Brady came round." She lets go of the spoon and leans it against the side of the pan, wiping her hands down her gingham apron.

"And you didn’t think to mention it?"

"Sweetie-"

"Don’t sweetie me, Mom. While I was at college you were being all pally with my ex. Where the hell is the loyalty in this house?"

"Now listen to me Cindy Martin, I know you're mad but I’m still your Mother so don’t take that tone with me. You were with Brady a long time; he was part of our family. I wasn’t just gonna abandon him because you had a tiff."

"We were broken up for six months Mom, it’s hardly a tiff!"

"Well, you're back together now." She waves her hand flippantly. "It’s all water under the bridge."

"You lied to me."

"I didn’t lie to you. I just... kept some things to myself." She shrugs. She actually shrugs her shoulders as if it’s no big deal. "Are you always truthful Cindy? Do you tell me every little thing?"

"Well, um-"

"How’s Vanessa dear? How’s college going? I’m sorry if you're upset that I stayed in touch with Brady and I’m sorry if you feel I betrayed you by doing that honey but that boy was heartbroken and so were you. Of course you pulled the Martin signature move and stuck your head in the sand, closed yourself off to everybody and practically went into hiding so I helped the one person who was willing to accept my help." I open and close my mouth, nothing coming out. "I’m your mother Cindy and despite what you think, I know you better than anybody. I know that things aren’t as peachy in LA as you make out. I know that you and your roommate aren’t best friends and I know that for the past six months instead of dealing with stuff, you took the easy way out and ran. Do you know how I know all this stuff? Because I am your mother. I know when you stutter on the phone or answer a question with a question you're lying. I know that all those missed calls and unanswered texts were because you were wallowing."

"So what were you all doing, conspiring against me? Talking about stupid little Cindy over your damn meatloaf?" My voice cracks and my eyes fill up with tears. Not because of the betrayal anymore but because my Mom just hit the nail on the head.

"Cindy... Sit down for a sec." Her voice is gentler than it was a few moments ago and I hesitate for a second before doing as she says. "Let me tell you a story. You know that me and your father met when we were teenagers. We started dating when we were both seventeen and as far as all you kids know it was all sunshine and daisies. That’s not life though. Did you know we broke up in our senior year of High School?"

I shake my head.

"Well we did. We broke up for six weeks. Back then it was a different time, when people dated they more than likely got married, especially in a small town like this. Well your Dad wanted to get married once we graduated, he was ready to open his
own
open
business up with Carl Travers."

"Noah's Dad?" I interrupt.

"Yes, they were best friends in high school. Anyway, he wanted to start a family and I wanted that too. I wanted to go to college first though. I wanted to get a good job, work in the city and experience life before we had a bunch of babies. He wouldn’t listen though, he kept pretending it wasn’t happening and putting the conversation off. Every time I’d bring it up he'd sweep it under the rug and change the subject. The thing is sweetie, there’s only so many times you can sweep things under the rug before the rug just doesn’t cover it anymore and everything is laid bare. That’s what happened with us. I’d had enough and we ended up getting into a huge fight and broke up. I thought it was easily fixable after cooling down. All we needed was to have a good talk, to communicate. Your Dad went off the radar though. He avoided me at school, was never at home when I called and spent a month avoiding me. I wasn’t done with the relationship and neither was he but he couldn’t see past his hurt feelings, couldn’t stop seeing the bad side of everything and just talk to me. We spent six weeks, both heartbroken and utterly miserable before I finally trapped him in his house."

"You trapped Dad in his house."

"Uh huh. I locked him in the bathroom and forced him to listen to me. If he hadn’t avoided me for all those weeks we both wouldn’t have spent the last month and a half upset and angry and if he'd have just listened to me and tried to talk to me at the time, we probably wouldn’t have got into the fight in the first place."

"I don’t see what this has to do with me and Brady." I shrug, purposely ignoring the similarities between my parent’s situation and my own.

"You and Brady are exactly the same. You may not have the same personalities but you do have the same flaws. You do the same as your Dad avoiding conflict and hiding from the truth until it explodes. Brady lives in a dream world and doesn’t take anything seriously until he doesn’t have a choice. Tell me something, have you been happy being apart from Brady?"

"Well... no." I sigh. 

"Do you know what he did when you two broke up? He knocked on this door and cried. He told me what happened and cried because he lost you. For weeks he called me daily, asking if I heard from you. He eventually worked up the courage and planned on going to LA to win you back until I told him you'd moved. He begged me for your new address but I felt that that would be a betrayal of your trust so I refused to give it him. While you were miserable, he was too. He waited for you to come back."

The thought of Brady pining of me and crying just as I did for him breaks my heart. I know how much pain I've been in. Has he been in the same?

"I had no idea." I say in a small voice, almost a whisper.

"Have you two talked?"

"No." I look down, avoiding the sight of my Mom rolling her eyes.

"Are you going to?"

"I-I don’t-"

"That boy loves you and I know you love him too. I listened to you on the phone and I could hear your voice, how tired it sounded. My little girl was heartbroken and I felt utterly powerless. Talk to him Cindy. See if it’s salvageable because a love like you two have doesn’t come around every day. Don’t let it go."

I sit silently as my Mom turns back
a
round to the stove and carries on as she was before I came in. Her words echo in my head. Can I really let Brady in again? Can I really risk the heartbreak? My Moms right about one thing if nothing else, a love like ours doesn’t come
a
round every day.

***

Half an hour ago I would have let out a squeal on hearing the knock at the door. I'd have been jumping up and down, giddy and excited that Brady was here. I was more than ready to have the talk with Brady, to put all my cards on the table and finally face up to everything. He just had to screw that up though. And by screw it up I mean be an hour late. Yep a whole sixty minutes late. Not a call. Not a text. Not even a frigging smoke signal all while I sat in my burgundy skater dress and grey peep toe wedges receiving looks of pity from Avery like I’m the biggest loser in the world. I’m not a violent person, quite the opposite, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t ready to go all high school on my sister and get into a catfight on the front lawn. Yes, I’m probably taking my anger
with
at
Brady out on everybody else but I’m the girl all dressed up with no place to go - I’m entitled to it.

I walk towards the door throwing evil glares at it as if it’s the problem and not the ass standing at the other side continuously knocking. I pull it open with more force than is needed, banging it into my shoulder. Seriously, how does someone hit themselves with a door? Only me. This stuff could only happen to me.

Brady leans against the door frame with a panty dropping smile on his face.

"Cinders, you look delicious." Brady smirks, his eyes blinking rapidly.              

I cross my arms and raise my eyebrows. Brian’s nestled under his arm and I struggle to ignore how hot it is. The cute little guy couldn’t be any more out of place than in Brady's strong muscled arms. They’re tanned from the Georgia sun, the dusting of hair that covers them a light blonde. I take a deep inhale in a bid to gain some composure, to not go off at the deep end and become a crying, shouting mess. I inhale what I expected to be some fresh air, the smell of freshly mown grass or even Brady’s signature Pac
c
o Rabanne aftershave. Instead, I inhale the overpowering smell of beer.

"Have you been drinking?" I ask, wrinkling my nose.

"A little." He holds his forefinger and thumb close together, stumbling a little at the movement of his arm. A little? Yeah right.

"Are you serious right now? You text me saying you're gonna pick me up and you turn up late and drunk?"

"I’m not late." He frowns. "I’m early."

"It’s seven. You were meant to pick me up at six. I've been waiting around since six for you to show."

"It’s seven?" He shoves his hands into the pockets of his jeans and pulls his phone out. "Shiiiit, it’s seven."

"Yep."

"I’m late." He slurs, eyes wide.

"Yep."

"Fuck I’m drunk." He groans, throwing his head back and squeezing his eyes shut.

"Yep."

"I fucked up." He looks at me warily, his eyes barely open.

"Oh yeah." I cock a hip and hope I’m giving him a sassy look. I've watched Liv give it to Noah and it usually works with getting him to toe the line. I don’t think Brady even knows where the line is right now though. "Why are you drunk?"

"I had a bad day."

I hold my hands out, figuring it’s best if I take Brian since he’s probably getting drunk off his ass with the fumes Brady’s letting off. My hands sink into his soft fur and I restrain the urge to nuzzle my face in it. I’m trying to set a precedent here where I’m the Cindy that doesn’t take no shit. Going all gaga over the cutest little dog in the world wouldn’t give me the right look.