I put my head down and massaged my temples with my fingertips.
“Doin’ alright, hun?” The bartender asked in a tone that was way too peppy for my current mood. I wanted the dull waiter who served me my wine to come back.
I mumbled a reply to her, but when she didn’t leave, I looked up.
Jesus. Today was apparently the day for fricken reunions.
“Paige?”
She looked at me excitedly, waiting for me to speak more.
I stared at her dumbfounded. I hadn’t seen her in nearly a decade either. She looked more or less the same, with maybe ten more pounds on her, but her bleached, long blonde hair was still styled the same way, curled and running past her boobs, and she still wore too much eye makeup. She sported an antique Benny’s Box t-shirt.
“Hey, girly!” She bounced up like an excited little kid. “Max texted me you were here! I am so excited to see you! How are you?!”
I still stared at her in complete shock. How was it that time had kept going by, but it felt like nothing changed when I saw her?
“What are you doing here?”
“My lover,” she rolled her eyes, “and I own this bar!”
“You and Max?” I asked.
“Yes, girly!” She gave a wide grin, “We put it back to its former glory, just like when we were kids! You like?!”
I gave her a confused look, “I- I thought…” I cleared my throat. She was being so nice to me. “I figured you wouldn’t like me?”
“And why the hell not?!” She rolled her eyes. “A lot went wrong and we never got your side of the story.”
I felt my mouth open, but I couldn’t seem to find the right words to begin.
“We never got Grey’s side either though,” she added quietly. “He just shut down completely after you were gone. We had no idea what happened.” She gave me an expectant look, like she wanted my story. I couldn’t tell her though. Not here, not right now. If I told her, she’d tell Max, and then Grey would hear my words… I was not ready for that. No way was I ready. Maybe I’d never be?
I couldn’t help but replay her words though… Grey had shut down? Why? He was the one who chose to leave me and shoot into stardom on his own. I had to push thoughts of him from my head.
Instead, I offered her the obvious, “I have a son.”
She clasped her hands together and bounced again, “I’m an Aunty!”
I couldn’t help but laugh, only Paige would be this excited over my son and would overlook almost a decade of complete silence on my end. Tears threatened to come to my eyes for the second time today. I didn’t really have any friends. I hadn’t really trusted anyone since I had Canyon. It was always me and Canyon against everyone… Kevin was in our lives, but more often than not, we were in a silent agreement against him too. Paige had been dating Max since high school, so she’d known Grey and I for that long as well. She was probably still Grey’s friend… but she’d been mine for a time too. A really good one.
“Do you want to see a picture?” I asked hesitantly, fumbling with my phone to pick out a cute shot of him.
I showed her his freckled missing-tooth cuteness.
“Oh my God, he looks just like you Jules,” she said while studying the picture. “Even down to those little freckles! And those baby blues! Your boy’s gonna be a heart-breaker, I can just tell.”
“He is a cutie, isn’t he? He’s actually out on the ice right now.” I thought about saying I’d introduce him to her… but I was still a bit unsure of this situation.
“Max said he’s a little super-star out there,” she winked at me. “Got the inside scoop from my boy already.”
“You and Max, still going strong?”
“I mean, you could say that I guess. I think we’re one of those couples that will never get married. We’re trying to start a family, but we’ve been having trouble.”
I was surprised with how open she was with me, then again, she was always an open book, unlike myself. I remember always admiring her for her ability to be like that.
“I’m sorry,” I told her.
