LAURA
“No fucking way.”
“Yes fucking way.”
“There is no fucking way that happened. Please tell me you’re making this up.”
“Girl, does that sound like something I’d make up?”
“You’re telling me he had a fiancee the entire time?” Disbelief had Bailey’s voice rising octaves higher.
The irony wasn’t lost on me that the massage we’d booked to relax had evolved into story-time for Bailey, which was stressing the hell out of her.
“Even I am still finding it hard to believe,” Balery piped in from her table. “And I’ve known for like a week now.”
Our massage therapists were for sure getting earfuls and I wasn’t sure I cared if they talked about it amongst themselves later. Let the world know what a class A cheat and player Alex was.
I was probably saving some innocent woman by talking about it. Who knew?
“But how?” Bailey asked. The confusion was obvious in her tone. “From all what Balery has said, it sounds like this man was truly in love with you.”
I shrugged as much as I could without making much movement. “Well, he’s a damn good actor.”
I’d thought the same thing too to be honest. Hell, he’d sung the words into my ear until they’d played over and over again in a fucking loop in my head. It felt like an insult-like the biggest lie ever told to even say that what we’d had had been anything but serious. But believing otherwise had turned me into the fool, so sue me for sticking with the safer option.
“For the record, I still don’t believe he was acting.”
If I could glare at Balery right now, I would, but I couldn’t so I had to settle for my words. “Don’t tell me you still think there’s something more at play here.”
“I don’t think so,” she corrected. “I know so.”
Now this time, curiosity had me almost lifting my head from my table. I stopped myself at the last minute. “Do you know something I don’t?”
Had my tone sounded threatening?
Probably at the prospect that my friend was keeping something from me. That must be it.
“No,” she said quickly, but not too quickly that it was suspicious. “I’m just saying it was all of us in that house, Laura. I saw the way he looked at you-”
“Please.” I cut her off, dragging out the word. “He was engaged the entire time. He just wanted to get in my pants and I was stupid enough to allow it. Now, I’ve got a baby to show for it.”
My statement had Bailey looking at me. “Hey, that baby is a blessing.”
I couldn’t say anything to that because I thought the same thing. The baby wasn’t planned and I certainly hated her father-yes, it was a girl-now but I was already so ridiculously attached to her. I was on my browser 24/7 because I didn’t want to do anything that would hurt her.
One could even say I was excited.
Proof being that I had gone grocery shopping yesterday but had somehow found myself in the kiddies section and ended up getting a few dresses I’d thought looked cute. I’d even gotten a toy.
A toy.
For a baby that wasn’t here yet.
I did what I did. Sue me.
After the massage, we moved on to the nail session where we took our seats to get our nails done. Everything being used on Balery and I were pregnancy friendly, down to our nail polish and even the face mask.
Balery had suggested we pamper ourselves today after everything, and I’d invited Bailey along because she for sure deserved it after weeks of holding it down at the office for me. She’d done it so well that my absence hadn’t even been noticed and things were running incredibly smoothly.
Sales were high, figures were up, we had new designs rolling in constantly, life was good.
My heart, however, still hadn’t received the memo.
Balery and Bailey-I couldn’t stop talking about how similar their names were-were talking about my lingerie design that had dropped last month and how she-Balery-wanted to order one when a familiar woman walked into the nail salon.
Tall, blonde, beautiful.
She carried herself with the same air of confidence she had when I’d first seen her standing on Alex’s front porch and I hated the way my chest tightened at the sight of her. The way my heart raced and the way my hand flexed in my nail technician’s grip. She gave me a concerned look which I ignored because I was too busy staring at Alex’s fiancee.
What were the odds that she had to come into the salon on the exact same day I decided to come in here?
Suddenly, getting my nails done didn’t seem so appealing anymore and all I could think about was getting the hell out of here.
Thankfully, all three technicians finished at around the same time so I didn’t have to spend any more time waiting for the girls. I got up quickly, walking out with Balery and Bailey in tow. They were no doubt surprised by my hasty movements but they didn’t comment on it.
Lately, we chalked up a lot of things to pregnancy hormones.
Heels click-clacked on the floor like the wearer was running, then in the next moment, she was standing in front of me. I slammed to a stop.
“Hi,” she said, her tone cherry. “Laura right?”
I blinked.
So she’d seen me after all despite how much I’d tried to prevent it. And she was talking to me. Why was she talking to me?
“You left in such a hurry that day. We didn’t even get the chance to talk.”
“Talk about what?” I asked with a frown.
Balery and Bailey moved away to give us some privacy, but they didn’t take their eyes off of me. They were protective as hell and looked ready to jump to my aid any moment, even though they had absolutely no idea what was going on.
Claire flipped her hair over her shoulder with a quick flick of her wrist, every move classy. Refined.
What was wrong with me? I’d never felt like less of myself around another woman before and it wasn’t going to start now.
“I mean you’re living with him,” she explained, laughing. It seemed forced. “You guys seem serious and-”
“Seemed. Past tense,” I cut in. “I’m not living with him anymore and you probably already knew that. Excuse me.” With those words, I turned to leave.
I wasn’t sure what her endgame was. She’d showed up, caught her fiance cheating on her, was obviously still in town which meant they’d resolved their issues, and was trying to play nice with the home-wrecker?
One of my feet was already in front of the other when I froze, that word ricocheting through me.
Homewrecker.
That was who I was. That was how she saw me. I’d never wanted to be that person but that was my harsh reality right now and there was no sugarcoating it.
Alex may have played me, but he’d cheated on her with me. She had been hurt too. Maybe even worse than me. I didn’t get to be rude to her.
I turned back around. I couldn’t believe I was about to do this, but it needed to be done. I wouldn’t be at peace with myself otherwise.
Pushing my shoulders back, I approached her. “I believe I owe you an apology for getting in a relationship with your fiance.” Her eyes widened slightly. God, how ridiculous did I sound? “In my defense, I didn’t know he was engaged, else I never would have.” Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I forced the words out. “I wish you all the best.”
I’d never been more grateful for my poker face than I was in that moment because that last statement was a huge fucking lie and it was a miracle I didn’t combust into flames for uttering it.
She looked like she was going to say something but I didn’t stay long enough to find out what it was.
Outside the building, Balery and Bailey stared at me expectantly, waiting for me to explain to them what that was about.
“That was his fiance,” I said, monotone.
I watched as realization dawned on them, followed quickly by varying looks of anger and confusion.
“What was she talking to you about?” Balery asked, glancing through the glass doors like she was contemplating going back in.
I shrugged. That wasn’t important. “I apologized to her,” I told them, fingering the strap of my bag. “For, you know… everything.”
The anger dissolved from their expressions, replaced by sympathy. It made me feel weird, the way they looked at me like they saw far more than I was comfortable with them seeing.
Balery closed the distance between us, pulling me into a tight hug that had tears gathering in my throat. “I’m sorry you had to go through that alone,” she whispered against my ears.
When I looked up, I found Bailey staring at me, unsure. She looked like she wanted to hug me too but wasn’t sure if I would allow it, so she gave me a weak smile.
Rolling my eyes, I stretched an arm towards her. “Come on. Bring it in.”
She wasted no time hurrying towards me. We were probably a spectacle standing there with our hands around each other, but I could care less.
I felt whole.
On my way home, I stopped by at Mac Donald’s to get a burger and fries to go. The teenager attending to me could barely meet my eyes as he took my order. When I saw him blush, I couldn’t fight a smile.
Guess someone had a crush. I gave him a fat tip.
When I stepped out of my apartment elevator, there was someone sitting in front of my door.
My heart skipped a beat, but I didn’t let fear get a hold of me. I opened my bag quietly and brought out my pepper spray. Gone was the time when I walked around without any form of protection. I also had tweezers in there just in case.
As I drew closer, the figure shifted, head lifting.
My mouth went dry.
Alex.