He stiffens slightly. “I didn’t force her to have it.”
It. Meaning me.
He looks past me, over at the beach as if he’s remembering something. “I did wonder about her. About you.”
Bullshit.
“If you wondered,” I say, “You would’ve checked in. Made right by her. Instead, you just pretended we didn’t exist and went on about your life.”
He’s silent.
“I wasn’t sure I should,” he says finally.
“You didn’t want to know. You didn’t care,” I correct him.
That hits where I wanted it to.
“I’m here now,” he finally says.
I laugh and shake my head. “And why are you here? What could you possibly want?”
His jaw tightens.
“You’re here because my wife and I are on every headline right now, and you saw an opportunity. What is this? A power play for your company since you’re competitors?”
“That’s not fair.”
“Oh, you want to talk about fair?” I ask.
My chest feels like it’s cracking open. I remember my mom being a shell of a person when I came back to take care of her. She never would say what happened. Nobody really knew. I remember her saying how much anxiety and panic she felt when she would leave the house.
I remember one time she was crying and said she wasn’t enough. And now this man is standing in front of me and can’t even recall what he said to destroy her that day. Because I can’t think of anything else that could have done that destruction.
“Don’t come near me again,” I tell him. “And you don’t come near my mother or my wife.”
He opens his mouth to argue, and I step into him again.
“You are useless trash,” I say clearly. “And if you set foot on Coconut Beach again, I will make sure it’s the last time.”
He studies me and nods. And for a quick second, I see a flash of something cross his face that looks like regret. It’s not there long.
“As I said,” he mutters. “Things could have been different.”
“Yeah,” I clip. “You could have been a decent person.”
He walks away toward the parking lot and doesn’t look back.
My hands curl into fists, and I wish this meeting had never happened. Mostly, I want to go to my mom’s and find out what he said to her that day. What he could have said to her to make her feel discarded all over again and close in on herself.
And I think about how I built myself into the man I am without him. My mother was always a hard worker and encouraged me to become the man I am today. I chose her, this town, this bar, and Silvie. He doesn’t get to choose when he becomes a part of my life. He doesn’t get to act like I could have been more. I am enough. And I didn’t need him to become it.
31
Silvie
I stand barefootat the window of my penthouse, looking out over the city, with glass and endless lights stretching into the city as the sun sets. My pink suit is still perfect, my lipstick is still on point, and my hair is still smooth. Although, my heels got kicked off by the door.
From the outside, I look like I have everything together. The CEO of Montclair Holdings. But on the inside, I’m a lovesick mess. I’m homesick for a place and a person who has stolen my heart. I cross my arms and realize that I don’t even want to be here anymore. And that thought surprises me. I thought this was everything I wanted. To work and keep my family’s company going. And now that I’ve got it close, I wonder if this is truly what I want. Because right now it doesn’t feel like it.
