“Penny, I always want you.” Something crossed over his face and he turned away from me. “I’ll be done in a sec,” he said into the water.
I tried not to let it bother me as I wrapped a towel around myself. I knew he had talked to his therapist about me. James had even told me that his therapist agreed that he wasn’t addicted to me. Why was James doubting his word? Should I find a way to contact him? Maybe James needed to talk to him, to help calm down.
That desperate feeling that he had gotten when he told me to leave wasn’t addiction. Because I felt it too. It was… pain. Loss. Heartbreak. I quickly combed my hair and grabbed the blow-dryer. By the time I was done drying my hair, James had turned off the water.
He stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. I would never tire of seeing him like this. Beads of water dripped down his perfectly sculpted torso. God, he was so sexy.
He walked over next to me and ran his hand through his hair. “Do you want me to shave?” he asked.
I smiled at his reflection in the mirror. “No. I like your stubble.”
He kissed my cheek. “What color tie should I wear?”
“Um.” I turned toward him. I hadn’t thought much about what I wanted to wear. “I’ll let you know when I figure out what I’m wearing.”
“How about gray suit, black tie? Can’t go wrong with that.”
“That’s sounds perfect.”
“Come downstairs as soon as your ready. I want you to meet the security detail before we head over.”
“Okay.”
He put his hand under my chin. “Remember the first night we moved here? I had wanted to take you out to a fancy dinner. We both got super dressed up and were walking through Central Park to go to the restaurant when you convinced me you just wanted to try a New York hot dog? We ended up just spending the entire night talking and laughing on a bench. And I got mustard all over my suit jacket.” He smiled.
“Of course I remember.” My eyes had gotten teary remembering.
“I loved that night. And you looked beautiful in that dress.” He placed a soft kiss against my lips. “Wear that one.”
“Okay.”
He kissed me once more and I watched him walk out of the bathroom. I couldn’t believe he remembered what I was wearing that night. I smiled to myself. He had been wearing a gray suit and a black tie. I quickly wiped under my eyes. If I started crying again right now, I’d never be able to get ready. It seemed like all I did was cry recently. I plugged in my curling iron and did my makeup as fast as I could. When I was done, the curling iron still wasn’t hot enough.
I grabbed my phone and clicked on Melissa’s name. The phone rang a few times and then went to voicemail. My stomach sunk. “Hey, Melissa, it’s me. I just wanted to make sure you were going to be at the Tavern on the Green by 6. I know we have a lot to talk about. And we can talk about it after the dinner tonight. Please just be there. I love you. And I’m sorry about everything. I’ll see you soon. Bye, Melissa.” I hung up before I started to ramble about Tyler.
Shit, Tyler. I put my hand over the curling iron and felt the heat rising off of it. I was going to need to talk to Tyler and curl my hair at the same time in order to finish getting ready. I pressed on Tyler’s name in my phone and balanced my cell between my ear and shoulder as I started to curl the ends of my hair.
“Hey,” he said. “I was hoping you’d call.” He sighed. “So you took my advice? You two made up?”
“Yeah. Thank you, Tyler. For everything.”
“The wedding is back on then?”
“It is. Tyler, if you’re still in New York, you should come tonight.”
“No. I mean… I never went back to New York. I’m at some diner in Pennsylvania right now, actually. I just needed to drive.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. I get it. And I am happy for you. Really, Penny, I am.”
“Thank you.” I quickly wiped under my eyes again. God, don’t start crying again.
“So,” Tyler said. “The police think I stole money from James? Is that about right?”
“Yeah. But it was Isabella. Don’t worry about it, okay? We’re going to clear it up. We went to the police station to try and get her arrested and it just… they twisted everything around.” I moved the phone to my other ear so I could finish my hair.
“I don’t really understand why my name came up. Should I be worried about this?”
“No. I promise I’ll take care of it. I’m sorry you got dragged into this. I just wanted to call to make sure you knew it was going to be okay.”
“Yeah. Hey, it’s 5:30. Don’t you have to get going to your rehearsal?”
“I have a few minutes.”
We were both silent for a moment. I unplugged the curling iron.
“Penny, I said I couldn’t be your friend anymore. We can’t… I can’t do this.” His breathing sounded heavy.
“I know.” I walked out of the bathroom. I couldn’t stand to look at my reflection in the mirror. It was hard being so happy when Tyler was so sad. Because of me. “Okay. Thank you for taking my call.”
“Penny.” His voice sounded pained. “I’m sorry that I’m not going to be there. I just… I need time.”
“It’s okay. I understand.” I was blinking fast so that I wouldn’t start crying.
“Maybe one day down the road we can try this whole friend thing again.”
It was at least a small shred of hope. Time could heal this. Tyler would find someone and she would heal him. He’d know what true love really was.
“Call me when that happens. I’m going to miss you.”
“I’m going to miss you too.”
There was another awkward pause.
“Good luck tomorrow,” he said.
“Thanks, Tyler.”
“Bye, Penny.”
“Bye.” I listened to the phone disconnect on his end before hanging up. He was going to be okay. He just needed time. I took a deep breath as I walked into my closet.