Page 46 of So Much More
“Do you love him?” she asks gently.
I take a deep breath. “I … I think I might. I think this wouldn’t hurt so bad if I didn’t.”
She squeezes me tighter. “I don’t know Randall as well as you do, but I’ve spent enough time with him lately to know there’s no way he meant to do any of what he did. He would never set out to hurt you like that.”
“I know he wouldn’t,” I admit. “This is ultimately a forgivable offense. We’ve not been dating long, and deep down, I know there’s more to the story he’s not telling me, though I’m not sure why he didn’t explain it without me asking him to. But it happened, and what’s to say this won’t be a pattern with him? I can’t live my life wondering when he’ll kiss some other random woman again.”
“No, you can’t. But you can ask him if it’s a pattern—if he’s done anything like this before. I think he’ll tell you the truth.”
Brrrring!
Melissa lets go of me so she can answer the phone. After greeting the other person, she hands the phone to me. “It’s Leslie.”
“How’d you know I was here?” I say into the phone.
“The person whose name I’ll never say to you again told me,” Leslie explains.
I allow myself to smile at her loyalty. “It’s going to be hard for you to never say his name, since you’re going to marry his brother.”
“I don’t care. I’m going to do it.” She doesn’t comment on the “marrying his brother” part, and I wonder if Ash is listening on her end.
“You can say his name,” I say. “And where are you?”
“At a pay phone outside the restaurant where we were eating lunch. I made Ash tell me why he was acting weird. Then I tried calling you but didn’t get an answer, so I called no-name man to yell at him, and now here I am. How are you doing with all this?”
“At first, I was numb. Then Melissa came and got me, and we’ve been talking about it, and I’m feeling better. Not great, not ready to talk to him, and not ready to forgive him until I know more, but better.”
“Do you need me to come be with you? Because I will.”
Tears fill my eyes. “No. I appreciate it, but you need to spend the day with Ash and your family, like you planned. Melissa has me covered.”
I smile at my new friend through my tears, and she nods and grabs my hand.
“You sure?” Leslie asks.
“Positive. Don’t think about me any more today. And tell Aunt Star she was right.”
“She won’t be happy to hear that.”
“I know.”
“Bye, friend. Love you.”
“You, too.”
Melissa hangs the phone up and asks, “Did you eat lunch?”
When I tell her I haven’t eaten all day, she heads out to grab us some sandwiches from a deli up the street. While she’s gone, I flip through the TV channels trying to find something to distract me. It doesn’t work.
After we’ve eaten and talked about many things other than Randall, Melissa asks if I want to get out of the house or stay in the rest of the day. I opt for staying in, and I suggest having a movie marathon. She runs out to the nearest Blockbuster with strict instructions from me to not bring back any romance movies, and she returns withNational Lampoon’s Vacation, Adventures in Babysitting, Ghostbusters, The Sting,andThe Muppet Movie.
She also carries a bag with other items in it I can’t see, and when I ask her about it, she says, “I have an idea. You might think it’s silly, but it might be exactly what you need. Give me a second to get it set up.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Get what set up?”
“You’ll see.”
She grabs a roll of tape out of a drawer and heads off to her bathroom with the bag, and I hear paper ripping. I have no idea what she’s up to. A few minutes later, the water runs, she lets loose with a few unmentionable words, and then she comes back into the living room wearing a soaked shirt and holding two water guns.