As Juliet and I settled into my couch, both ready for a nap after champagne and full stomachs, I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my contacts until I landed on Chandler. I quickly typed out a text, trying not to overthink it.
Me:Have documents for you to sign by EOD.
There were no documents to sign, but I quickly hitsendbefore I could change my mind.
Chapter 18
Chandler
As the party bustled around me, I pulled out my phone and read Gabriella’s text again, as if trying to find some other meaning than she had papers for me to sign. She never texted me on the weekend, or outside of office hours in general. I was pleasantly surprised to see her name pop up on my phone, her contact now her name rather thanBitchzillawhich I had dubbed her weeks ago.
I furrowed my brow slightly, trying to think about which documents would so desperately need to be signed on a weekend. Nothing came to mind.
“Business as usual?” asked Greg, interrupting my train of thought as he walked over holding a beer in his hand.
“Something like that,” I said, slipping my phone into my jacket pocket, having not responded yet.
“Well, maybe you could set it aside tonight. Itisyour mother’s and my engagement party.” He took a sip of beer and glanced around the restaurant.
“I’m aware,” I muttered, gripping my tumbler of whiskey a little tighter.
I was in no mood to be subtly berated by the man my mother was intent on marrying, even though she didn’t tell me about their engagement until I pried it out of her over the phone. I was still peeved that Nathan was the one to deliver the news. Even more peeved that Greg hadn’t run it by me. I wasn’t expecting to ask for my blessing or anything, but hell, the man had been in my life for over twenty years. I figured I deservedsomething.
“Don’t look so thrilled,” said Greg sarcastically before walking away and leaving me alone in the corner of the restaurant.
I watched in silent disdain as he walked up behind my mother and wrapped his arms around her midsection. She laughed gleefully as she looked up at him over her shoulder. She looked beautiful in a modest white dress and her hair pulled up into a loose up-do. My heart swelled slightly. Shedidlook happy, which made me feel guilty for being so miserable.
She had been through her own personal hell with my father. She deserved to be happy. I just wished it wasn’t with Greg. I wondered why I resented him so much. Maybe it was becauseit was hard to trust anyone with my mother after what she had been through.
I still remembered the day when my father told her he was leaving her.Us.She hadn’t seen it coming. Neither of us had. Sure, he wasn’t around a lot. He was always working or away on business, or so he claimed. Little did we know he was in Poughkeepsie, cooped up with his mistress. She was a waitress he had met one night when he was away at a conference. Clearly, he thought she had more to offer him than his wife of fifteen years.
When my mother wouldn’t let him leaving us go, demanding answers through teary eyes and her shaking voice, he finally came clean. I heard everything from my bedroom, where I was pretending to be asleep. I was shocked to find out I had siblings out there that I didn’t know existed. Who probably didn’t know I existed either.
That was how good of a liar my father was. He had been putting on a show for years, all while raising a one-year-old boy and three-year-old girl a train ride away. I wondered if he told his mistress the same thing he told his first family, that he was away at work. I wondered if that was what he thought of us as—a job. Maybe he grew tired of his double life and finally decided to come clean, so he could live one life with the family he chose over us.
He packed his bags and left that night, leaving my mother reeling and me to pick up the pieces as a ten-year-old who didn’t have the right emotional skillset to really be of much help besides holding my mother while she cried. That was the onlynight she cried, or at least let me see her cry. The next day, she acted as if nothing had happened and made me a bowl of my favorite cereal while planning out my school supply list.
She continued staying that strong woman until this day, doing her best to raise me and keep a brave face, even when her world had crumbled beneath her feet. It was why I was so protective of her. She was unlike anyone I had ever met, and I didn’t think just anyone deserved her. Even Greg, who had been around for longer than I could remember at this point.
I should be happy for her. For them.
“You look like you might throw up…” said Nathan, sidling up beside me with a beer in hand.
“Just lost in thought,” I said, taking a sip of my drink and tearing my eyes away from where Greg and my mother were dancing to no real music at all. It made my stomach hollow out momentarily, an emptiness settling in me. It came on every once in a while. A loneliness I often willed away, but now it was nagging at me as I looked around the party at the rest of the happy couples there to celebrate.
I wished I had someone by my side. Not someone, but Gabriella. Her face popped into my mind, but I shooed it away. It was a ridiculous thought. She was nothing more than sex. Incredible sex. It would never turn into something serious. She would never be here with me and my family or keeping a spare toothbrush at my penthouse. I wondered if anyone would fill that sometimes nagging void. I had always been too focused on work to reallythink about a wife and kids, but in moments like this it was hard not to.
“Earth to Chandler…” said Nathan, waving a hand in front of my face.
“Shit. Sorry, bro,” I muttered, snapping my attention to him.
“What’s with you?” he asked, eyeing me over his large glass of beer before taking a long sip.
“This is all so sudden.” I shrugged.
“Over twenty years issudden?” he asked, raising a brow.
“I just wish she had told me.”
