That Girl is Mine - Part Two (5 page)

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Authors: Eve Cates

BOOK: That Girl is Mine - Part Two

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Chapter 9

Avery

“What’s this?” I ask, when Josh hands me an envelope.

“Something that I hope will cheer you up.” He smiles, watching me as I flip it over and slide my finger underneath the seal, tearing the white paper so I can look inside.

It’s been almost a week since I’ve seen Dylan, and with every passing day, every unanswered phone call, and every ignored text, I’ve begun to despair. I want him back. I want him…

But I don’t want to let Josh go…

Looking inside, I find a plane ticket. “What’s this?” I ask, pulling out the thin card and looking over the flight information. It’s a return trip to New York for this weekend.

“I figured you might be homesick and could do with a trip back home to see your mom,” he says with a smile, and my heart melts a little at this kind gesture. He makes it so hard to choose. It would be so easy if Josh was an asshole. But, he’s not. He’s a good man (He’s just not Dylan…).

“This is amazing, Josh. Thank you,” I say, reaching my arms around his neck to give him a hug, tears burning the back of my eyes, as I try to keep myself from crying with the joy of being able to see my mother again.

“Anything for you,” he replies, returning my hug and kissing the top of my head. “I just want you to be happy.”

***

The further I travel away from California, the sadder I feel. The plane trip is long and gives me time to think about everything I’ve done, and everything I know I’ve ruined. If I had’ve staying in New York, none of this would have happened. I may have never met Dylan, and while I’d be lonely, I’d still be waiting for Josh. But, would I be happy never knowing Dylan? Not that I’m happy now, it’s just now I know now.I know what it’s like to feel so obscenely attracted to a man that you can’t think for the painful joy your body sings whenever he’s around…

When I disembark from the plane and make it through security with my bag slung over my shoulder, I try to push my thoughts aside as I search for my mother in the crowd. The moment I see her waving at me through the crowd at JFK, I’m so relieved that I break into a run and practically crush her in a hug.

“I’ve missed you so much,” I cry, clinging to her, breathing in the familiar scent of her dark hair, and feeling like she is the only person who will understand me.

“You can always move home,” she replies, pulling back from me and checking me over, concern in her eyes, mother’s intuition allowing her to read me like a book. “Is everything OK. What’s happened, sweetheart?”

My face crumples, I’m not even going to pretend that I’m fine. “Oh mom, I’ve made such a mess of things. I don’t know how to fix it.”

Dylan

“You aren’t your usual self,” Roxy comments, sitting beside me at the lightbox as we both work on tattoo designs for clients. She’s working on a floral design for a memorial tattoo, and I’m working on a stencil for a black and grey portrait of a dog.

“What’s my usual self?” I ask, outlining the round head of the Rottweiler with a purple marker.

“The flirtatious guy who picks up a shitload of women, and wanders in here a little late every day, sporting a set of mirrored glasses to hide your hungover eyes.”

I scoff. “I was never like that. I never came to work hungover.”

“Ahhh,” she smiles, pauses her work to wave a finger at me. “But you’re not denying anything else. Who’s the girl who has you in knots?”

“Who says it’s a girl?”

Roxy shrugs. “You men aren’t very complicated creatures – of course it’s a girl.”

I laugh. “I don’t know whether to be offended by that, or…actually, I’ll just go with offended.”

She chuckles and returns to her drawing, staying silent for a while as she pieces together different elements in her design. Then she pauses again and takes a breath that tells me she’s about to speak. “How’s Avery?”

I stop tracing for a beat, my heart stopping as I wonder what she knows. Then I continue on as if I’m unaffected, the only evidence of my reaction a slightly larger dot in my stencil line.

“Fine, I guess,” I shrug. “Why?”

“I just don’t see her anymore. I don’t see you much outside work anymore either. We should all go out again.”

“Sure. I’ll see what I can do,” I say, before deciding it’s time for a coffee break when I notice my hand is shaking from the mention of her name.

I need her. I
need
her.

Avery

Mom hands me a fresh Kleenex, and I blow my nose. “So, you’ve managed to fall in love with two different men?” she asks, and I nod, the tears pouring from my eyes in thick streams. I didn’t realize how much I needed to talk to someone about my affair with Dylan until it all came flooding out to my mother.

“And I hate myself for it. This isn’t supposed to happen.”

She runs a hand down the back of my hair as she sits beside me on the couch in the apartment we’ve lived in since I was a small kid. “Oh sweetheart, don’t talk like that. You’re so young and full of hormones that make you all emotional and rule your decisions. This isn’t the end of the world. You will survive. Josh will survive, and I’m sure this Dylan will survive too. But, he is right about one thing, you do need to choose.”

“How do I choose, mom? How? I love them both for different reasons.”

“You don’t have space for love if your heart is full,” she says, and I turn to her frowning, not understanding.

“What does that even mean?”

“I just means that you wouldn’t have fallen for Dylan if you were really in love with Josh.”

“But I do love Josh, mom. Is that what you really think?

“Well, who do you miss the most right now?”

I stop and think for a moment, tears burning behind my eyes as I shake my head. “I don’t know,” I cry. “I miss them both.” But even as I say it, there’s one face that flashes brighter in my mind, his name resting on the tip of my tongue. I just can’t bring myself to say it.

Chapter 10

Avery

“I have a surprise for you,” Josh says when he picks me up from the airport. He took the morning off work especially, so he could meet me.

I force a smile and look up at him, feeling worn out from my travels, and an emotional weekend. We need to talk. I need to come clean and accept what I’ve done. But it can wait a little longer. Just until we get home.

“Oh Josh, I don’t need any more surprises. The ticket home to see mom was more than enough.”

He grins, slinging an arm around my shoulders as he guides me to his car. “You’ll like this, I promise.”

I slide into the front seat and listen as he makes casual conversation on the way back home. Except, he doesn’t take me home. He takes me to an apartment building and parks outside, pointing up to the third floor. “We pick up the keys on Friday. I can walk to work, and there’s a bus just over there that will take you to college.”

“Our own apartment?” I ask, looking up at the tan colored complex with its palm trees lining the gardens, and circular grass patches out front.

“Yes. I think it’s time we had our own space so Dylan can reclaim his. He spends most of his time avoiding us anyway.”

I nod absentmindedly, feeling sick to my stomach. Maybe I’ve made the wrong choice…

“Do you like it?” he asks, and I nod, not trusting myself to speak just yet. “Good.” He smiles, reaching across and taking my hand as he pulls away from the curb. “We’re going to be really happy there, Avery. You’ll see.”

***

I barely say a word on the way back home and when Josh asks me about it, I just say I’m tired from the flight. This is way harder than I thought it was going to be. I’d thought coming to a decision was the hardest part, but the difficulty is in delivering my decision – in breaking hearts. I don’t want anyone to get hurt. But there’s no way any of us can come out of this unscathed…

“Hey, man,” Josh says when he pushes the door open. Sitting on the couch is Dylan. He’s staring at the television with well over a week’s worth of stubble over his face. His eyes appear sunken, and his hair is a mess. My first instinct is to rush to him – to wrap my arms around him, but Josh has a hold of my hand…

Dylan looks up at us, and nods to acknowledge our presence. I see his eyes move downward to my hand entwined with Josh’s before he shifts them to inspect the palm of his upturned hand. He says nothing.

“I’ll, uh…I’ll just go and put my things up in the room,” I say in a quiet voice, my nerves beginning to make my stomach swirl and twist as I wonder how I’m going to get through this.

Just before I release Josh’s hand, he pulls me into a hug and kisses me in front of Dylan, way too passionately, as if he’s staking his claim or something. I almost push him away. “It’s good to have you home,” he murmurs, reaching up to run his hand down the side of my face.

Giving him a wan smile, I step back and nod, glancing over at Dylan who still has his head down – has something happened here while I’ve been gone?

As I begin to make my way up the stairs, I hear Josh talking to Dylan. “She likes the apartment,” he states. “We’ll be gone by Friday.”

Then moments later, I hear the front door slam. I rush over to the window and look down, seeing Dylan walking for his car. “No, no, no,” I say to myself. This isn’t what I wanted at all. Everything is getting way out of control.

I pull out my cell and call Dylan; I need to know he’s OK. But, I hear his phone go off within the house, and seconds later, Josh appears in the doorway of our room, holding the phone in his hand, a questioning expression on his face as he speaks.

“Would you like to explain to me what’s going on between you two?”

End of part two.

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