I shook my head. "Why did you want to see me Jude?"
“Look, I am sorry about what happened the last time I was here. I guess I still have that mentality, that you’re my best friend and Dev’s sister. Then there was everything with my family.”
"I never expected anything from you, and if I was your best friend, why'd you stop keeping in contact? And all that never stopped you from fucking me." The patrons seated nearby glared at us, and for once, I didn't care.
"Tara, I've hurt you, I know."
I glowered at him.
“Just move on with your life, Jude, we’re adults. And I’m married now.”
I stood and pushed Becca out of the restaurant, leaving him sitting there alone.
Chapter 14
Jude
Present Day
Ihad no excuse for the way I treated Tara in the past. It is true what they say, that it takes a great deal of time for a man to grow up and own his balls. When she told me she was married all those years ago, I wasn’t surprised. A man would be dumb to let a girl like her go. I guess I fell into that category.
Being around her made me want to know all there was to know about her. There were so many missing pieces to her puzzle, and all I wanted to do was figure her out. She grew more beautiful by the day. Her smiles, as rare as they were, became the highlight of my days. But she still believed she knew better, and as much as it irked me, I kept my cool and focused on doing my job.
My brother was in town, and I’d just put the finishing touches on the lasagne I’d made from scratch. The bastard better appreciate it. It would only need about half an hour in the oven, enough time for me to shower.
The doorbell rang at precisely seven and in the doorway stood Ben. "Asshole!" I shouted, giving him a hug.
“Back at you! Whatever the fuck you’re cooking smells like heaven, big bro,” he walked into the apartment, dropping his bags on the floor.
He was stopping here for two days while on his study tour of the US. Ben was a proper Englishman, having spent most of his life there.
"Shower first." He said. "Then we catch up, eat, and get drunk."
I picked up his bags and led him to the guest room. “This is a nice pad,” he whistled. “I should have gone into medicine instead of tourism.”
"You get to see the world while I’m stuck in a sterile hospital, and you want to compare?" I punched his arm. "Make it a five-minute shower. I am starving."
An hour later,we'd eaten and were each on our third beer. "So, Tara, your ex-Tara, is a patient?" He asked again.
“She is not my ex, I mean there was that one time. But we never made it official.”
“Because you lost your balls.”
I scowled at him. But he was right. "Anyway, the point is she gets no visitors, not even the husband. Her kid must be a teenager now, and she's old enough to visit, too, but she doesn't. So, I have no idea what is happening with her."
“And it’s against protocol to ask her?”
"She's complicated, and I doubt she would take kindly to me being inquisitive."
We fell silent. I knew that he wanted to change the topic and that I would not like what he would ask.
"How are you, though? Besides work and your ex and all that?"
I sighed. "Better than I was, honestly. Being busy kept my mind off Aurelia."
“They’re getting married.” Ben blurted,
I had no control whatsoever over my actions. The beer bottle slammed against the glass, and I stood.
