Chapter Thirty-Two
Eliza
I walked into work on Monday with a heavy heart. Monday should’ve been a day of huge celebration for the office, and now the last thing that I wanted to do was to go in and talk about the party. I also had no idea how much everyone knew about what had happened. At that time of the night, almost everyone was still inside. There was that one couple that had seen, but other than that, I wasn’t sure. I’d gone straight home and had spent a sleepless night trying to figure out what to do. I’d called Mae the following day and had begged her not to tell John. I didn’t want it to be the one thing that everyone spoke about that week.
I walked up the stairs with huge trepidation, and the only thing that I could think about was Ian. I’d been so sure that he’d be happy to see me when I bailed him out that I’d been left speechless when he’d walked out on me. I’d gone straight to his house to talk to him, but he wasn’t there. When I didn’t see his bike, I knew that he’d gone out to clear his head. And I knew that could mean that he would be out for hours. It also meant that he hadn’t wanted me around. So I’d gone back home and tried everything to keep myself busy. I wondered what had happened to Raymond, but the thought of phoning him to find out had been even less pleasant. In the end, I spent the entire day just cleaning my apartment, which had been pretty clean to start off with.
The moment I walked through the doors at work, Paul called me over.
“Hey, I hear the party was a hit,” he said.
My smile wobbled. “Uh, yeah, it was.”
“Congrats, man. That’s cool. Listen John asked if you can go and see him as soon as you get in. Mae is already there.”
“Oh. Any idea why?”
Paul shrugged. “No idea. I’m assuming it’s about the party.”
“Okay, great. Thanks,” I said with uncertainty.
I dropped my bag onto my desk, took off my coat, and then headed off to John’s office. My heart sank. John was probably calling me in because he’d heard what had happened and wanted to fire me.
“Eliza! Good morning. Come in,” he said as I walked through his office doors. Well, he didn’t sound mad at me. That was one good thing at least.
I smiled nervously at him and Mae and sat down.
“Morning. No coffee?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Uh, no. Paul said I should come right over.”
John laughed. “I didn’t mean before you had your coffee.”
“It’s okay. I’ll get some after. Is everything okay?”
“Of course! Why wouldn’t it be? I just wanted to tell you both what a great job you did on that party. The owner called me this morning to tell me how happy she was. She told me on the night, as you know, but at least we now know she wasn’t just tipsy or something. She’s very happy, and I have both of you to thank.”
“It was so much fun,” Mae gushed.
I watched for a while as the two of them spoke, and I added my bit whenever I felt it was necessary. I couldn’t help but laugh at the two of them. Mae told me that they’d flirted all night, but neither one of them had made the move still. I knew that Mae was too nervous to be the one to say something first because John was her boss. And John was probably too nervous because Mae was his employee. But it would happen eventually. I just knew it. And something told me that it was going to be soon.
“You know, I have a feeling that our company is going to be huge in Arizona. Apparently the paper is doing a big article on it for tomorrow. Isn’t that great?” John was saying.
I’d been thinking about Ian and not really listening, and I was thankful when Mae butted in to say something back.
“Well, I better leave the two of you to work. There’s not too much going on this week so far, so you should have a quiet day.”
We thanked him and headed out. I went straight to my desk and started checking my emails, but Mae had other plans. She slid her chair over to me.
“You okay?” she asked.
I nodded my head and sighed. “I guess so.”
“Have you spoken to Ian yet?”
“Nope.”
“Seriously? You haven’t heard from him at all?”
“No. And it’s torture. Does John know what happened?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t say anything to him, and he didn’t ask. So I’m assuming he doesn’t. But maybe you should go and tell him the story before he hears it from someone else.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” I said.
“Also . . . uh, have you seen the newspaper today?”
“The newspaper? No, why? Oh no, it’s not in the newspaper, is it?”
She nodded warily. “Yeah. Looks like Ian made the front page.”
She went to get a copy and handed it to me. On the front page was a picture of Ian that looked like it had been taken years ago. He looked a lot rougher than he did now. And the headline read: BIKER GANG MEMBER ARRESTED. I read through the article and saw that they had not mentioned Raymond at all, other than as being the victim of a ‘gang member.’ They went on to mention Ian’s club and how the members were all terrible people. It was a horrible thing to read, especially because none of it was true.
“How can they do something like this? It’s not even true. And the club is amazing. They’re not bad people. Ian isn’t a bad person. And they didn’t even mention the fact that he was defending me.”
“I’m so sorry, Eliza. You know what the media is like. They’ll sensationalize anything for a story.”
“I’m going to phone them and speak my mind. I know there’s nothing that I can do about it now. The damage has been done. But I want to at least have my say. Poor Ian. He’s going to freak when he sees this.”
“It’s all Raymond’s fault. If he hadn’t come over like that, then none of this would’ve happened. Oh crap, my phone is ringing. Love you,” she said and pushed her chair back to her desk.
I looked at the paper again and shook my head. I couldn’t believe that they would do something like this. Ian had been right. They wanted to show the bike club in a bad light, and now they had a reason to do it. I shouldn’t have interfered the way that I did. I needed to talk to John about the whole thing too. I popped him an email and scheduled an appointment with him later that day.
I was just about to attempt working again when my phone rang and I saw that it was my mother. I quickly rushed outside to speak to her so that the entire office didn’t overhear the conversation.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Darling. You’re finally talking to me.”
I sighed. “Well, I’m not going to be angry at you forever. You’re my mom.”
“Do you have some time to talk?”
“I’m at work, but it’s a quiet day. So, yeah, I can talk. What’s going on?”
“I want you to tell me all about what happened between you and Raymond.”
“What? Why? So that you can tell me that I’m a liar again?”
“No. So that I can listen to the truth.”
“What made you change your mind?”
“You’re my daughter. And I should’ve believed you from the start. Not some guy that just happens to have a charming smile.”
I thought of Ian punching him in the face and chuckled slightly. “Not anymore,” I said.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, before I get to that, I need to tell you all about my relationship with Raymond. And, Mom, I promise you now, I’m not making any of this up. I wouldn’t lie about something like this. And I should’ve told you earlier. But I didn’t want to hurt you. And also, it was easier to sometimes pretend like it didn’t really happen at all.”
After that, I launched into the entire story regarding my years with Raymond. How he’d been a gentleman at the start, and how he’d turned into an alcoholic who wanted to control me. I told her everything, even when it sometimes hurt to say it out loud. I told her things that I’d even battled to think about myself. And once I was done, I said,
“And then I got a job in Arizona, and I knew that it was an opportunity to get away.”
For a while, my mother didn’t say anything, and I wondered if she’d put down the phone. Had I been just talking to myself all this time? But then I heard that she was crying.
“Oh, Mom. Don’t cry. Please don’t cry.”
“I . . . it’s just . . . I should’ve been there,” she said.
“No. I should’ve told you. And I didn’t. Mom, I’m so much happier here without him. But there’s more to tell you.”
I told her about meeting Ian, and what a wonderful friend he had been to me since moving to Arizona. Then I told her how things had taken a turn, and how the two of us had gotten closer and closer. After that, I explained how Raymond had come back and how Ian had punched him.”
“And now he’s all over the papers, and they’ve completely slammed his name into the ground. They didn’t even mention Raymond. And really, if it wasn’t for Raymond, none of this would’ve happened in the first place. It’s not fair, Mom. He was only looking out for me. Maybe he shouldn’t have hit him. But I wanted to hit him too. Raymond was drunk and pushy and horrible. He deserved it.”
“I would’ve punched him too,” my mother said.
And at that moment, I thought that my mother was going to tell me that Ian was the man for me. I thought that for the first time, she was going to look at what was good for me rather than what she thought was good for me. But I was wrong. I was completely taken aback when my mother said the complete opposite.
“I’m glad Ian was there to help you, darling. I’m so glad. But I think it’s best that you don’t see him anymore.”
“But why? He saved me.”
“No. Only you can save yourself,” she said.
I didn’t say much after that. I just said what I thought she wanted me to hear, and then I put the phone down and made my way back to my desk. For the rest of the day, I just swallowed my thoughts and buried my emotions in my work. I didn’t know what else to do. The only thing that I knew for certain was that I missed Ian Maxwell more than I ever thought I would.