Chapter 16
Three years ago…
“You have to talk to me.”
Everett stared up at his fiancée. She stood, her arms folded over her chest, her lips pursed together. “I’m sorry.” It was all he could think to say. It seemed to be all he ever said to her lately.
Rebecca threw her head back and wiped at her eyes. She had really beautiful blue eyes that shone brilliantly when she cried. Though he hated making her cry. “Are you having an affair?” She looked at the ceiling as she asked.
Everett was thrown off by the question. First, because they were standing in his office, which seemed like a very strange place to talk about infidelity. And second because, even though he wasn’t having an affair, he didn’t immediately deny it. Sometimes he felt so far away from her, he might as well be cheating.
“No. Why would you ask me that?” He knew, of course. She had every right to be suspicious.
Rebecca lowered her head. Her silky blonde hair fell over her shoulders. Her eyes were bright and rimmed in red now. “Please tell me what’s going on inside your head.”
He leaned forward, his elbows resting on the desk. “Back when I was in graduate school and we were dating, why did you want to have an open relationship?”
A tear dripped down her chin. “Do you want to have an open relationship now?” Her voice barely made it all the way through the statement.
“No. I just want to know why we did it back then.”
She let out a heavy breath and seemed to gather herself. She took a couple steps forward and sat gingerly on his desk. She did everything like that, graceful, delicate, and a little too perfect. “I was going through a bit of a wild phase, I guess. I wanted to be with you, but I wasn’t very experienced. And I thought I was okay with you doing it, too. But then when you did, I got jealous. It’s not fair, I know. But, of course we stopped it all then.”
He nodded. Not sure what else to say or how to comfort her, he reached out and took her hand.
She smiled. “I was so jealous of that girl, that artist you slept with. And I slept with an artist the same night, I know. But he didn’t mean anything and I felt like…I felt you changed after that night. Like that night with her changed you.”
She looked at him as if she were expecting a reply. But he had no idea what to say. It was true.
“Everett.” She leaned close to him. “I just want what we used to have back.”
He had no idea how to tell her that was impossible.
****
Elias looked so different. He had grown out his hair and it hung in a long, neat ponytail, still stark black and straight as a pin, though. His ever-present eyeglasses were gone, the result of laser eye surgery, allowing the mysterious brown eyes he’d inherited from his beautiful Japanese mother to shine. Elias had always been short, standing a few inches below Rebecca and a full foot below Everett. But that didn’t seem to matter anymore. Where he used to hunch over, now he held himself with grace and confidence.
This was not the same man Everett had rescued from bullies in the schoolyard back in junior high or even the same man who’d worked beside him to build a business. This was a man who was loved by a woman he adored.
“You will never know how much it means to me that you came.” Elias squeezed Everett’s neck with one hand and patted his back with the other. “I wanted you to be my best man.” Elias pulled back and looked into Everett’s eyes with sincerity. “But we were planning the wedding in the middle of the lawsuit, and I figured…”
Everett laughed. Yeah, suing him had put a damper on all that. But it didn’t matter now. He was here, staring at a man who had been such an essential part of his life, with Maya at his side.
Everett took Maya’s hand and pulled her forward. “This is her.”
It was all the introduction Elias needed. His mouth broke into a wide smile and he enfolded Maya in his arms. “Oh my God! She’s gorgeous.”
He pulled Maya back, holding her at arm’s length and examining her. She looked a little shell-shocked. “Um…nice to meet you,” she pushed out.
Everett was thankful Elias had suggested they meet up at this little café around the corner from the church. It would have been awkward to see him for the first time surrounded by others in the church Rebecca grew up in, the church Everett and Rebecca were supposed to be married in.
Elias ushered them both to a small table in the corner and sat them down on the rickety wooden chairs. “God. I appreciate this so much.” Elias wiped his hands on the pants of his tuxedo.
“Do we have time?” Everett looked at his watch. “I don’t want to make you late for your own wedding.”
“Plenty of time. I already did the pictures with the guys, they’re at the church. The girls are getting their pictures now. And we have like an hour until go time.” Elias bounced in his seat. “I am so happy to see you.”
A waitress came by and they all ordered a coffee drink. “Should have made yours decaf, E,” Everett teased as he watched his friend fidget.
“I am just so damn happy. I’m marrying the love of my life. My best friend is here, and he’s got his dream-come-true woman on his arm.”
Everett squeezed Maya’s knee under the table and smiled. “I guess it’s pretty good, then.”
Elias clapped his hands together. “Okay. Catch me up. Tell me about everything.”
Maya and Everett looked at each other. She smiled and laughed then turned to Elias. “Sure. Where should we start?”
“Tell me about how you hated Everett’s guts. I think that’s hilarious. Then tell me when you decided to stop hating him.”
“Why you gotta be a dick?” Everett teased. “Why couldn’t we start with when she realized I was the perfect man for her?”
Elias shook his head, a familiar sparkle of mischief in his eye. “You can take it, E.”
Maya looked between the two men. “I think it’s adorable that you two have the same nickname for each other.”
Everett shrugged. Elias just grinned.
“I had no idea what a serious bromance this was.” Maya kissed Everett’s cheek, leaned back in the seat, and with a great deal of delight regaled Elias with her deepest hatred of Everett.
****
It wasn’t until after the wedding, after dinner, and well into the dancing portion of the reception that Everett had any contact with Rebecca. He had Maya tucked into his arms, where she’d been most of the night, swaying out on the dance floor when Rebecca tapped on his shoulder.
Maya and Everett stopped in their tracks and stared at the graceful blonde, looking eloquent and refined in her long wedding gown.
Rebecca smiled at Maya. “Can I cut in? Just for a moment. I won’t keep him long.”
Maya’s gaze flitted to Everett. He held his breath. Then she nodded and stepped out of his hold. “I’m going to go get a drink, okay?”
He croaked out a reply, that must have sounded like “okay” because Maya turned her back and headed toward the bar. Rebecca shut out his view by stepping in front of him. “We don’t have to dance.” Her eyes were big, frightened even. “I just want to talk.”
Everett held his hand out to her. She took it, and he led her out onto a deck that sat behind the reception center. The wooden platform looked out over a small wetland. Only tiny twinkle lights provided illumination, allowing them to clearly see the way the moon reflected on the swamp in the deep, dark night.
Three women and two men were standing in a circle smoking cigarettes at one end of the deck. Rebecca left Everett on the opposite side and approached the group. She said something to them Everett couldn’t hear. All five looked over at him, then with smiles and hugs for Rebecca, left the deck.
She slowly moved back over to him, smiling the whole way. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For coming. It means a lot to Elias. And for talking to me.”
Everett leaned back against the railing, hoping a splinter didn’t get him right in the ass. “You don’t have to thank me.”
She leaned her hip against the railing beside him and cocked her head. “But I do. I’m well aware of the villain I am.”
“You’re not.”
“I am. I ran out on you with your best friend. Then I sued you for half the company. I’m…I kinda suck.”
Everett ran a hand over his head. “It’s not that simple. We both know that.” He raised his head and looked into her familiar blue eyes. “I left you long before you left me, emotionally anyway. And when you and Elias took off together you left everything you had behind, you were scared about your future. A lawyer used that to talk you into the lawsuit.”
Her mouth dropped open. “You know about the lawyer?”
Everett ignored that. She obviously didn’t know the extent of his conversations with Elias. “Rebecca, you’re not a villain in this story. None of us are. And it’s our story. So we get to define this, no one else.”
She launched herself into his arms, her head pressing against his chest, her arms circling his waist. “I’ve missed you.”
He pressed his face to the top of her head and inhaled her sweet, flowery scent.
“You were always my friend,” she said through a soft sob.
Everett tightened his hold on her. “I still am.”
They stayed like that for a while, until their moment was broken by a couple entering the deck. Rebecca pulled away from Everett and made a motion to her friends. They quickly ducked back inside.
Rebecca wiped at her eyes and brushed at her dress. “So, the girl you brought. Is that her? The artist?”
“Yeah. That’s her.”
Rebecca looked up into his eyes. “She’s beautiful.”
He nodded. “She’s afraid of you.”
Rebecca frowned. “I’m going to talk to her.”
Before he could wrap his head around that, she slipped away from him and through the door into the reception hall. Everett warred with himself. Should he stop her? Or should he stay right here and contemplate the way the moonlight reflected off the still water and let whatever happens be?
****
Maya watched the model-worthy bride march toward her. Even as her insides twisted she took a casual sip of her strong drink. She tried not to compare her own fuller figure to the thinner woman coming her way. She tried not to be tempted to calculate how many fewer dress sizes Rebecca wore than herself. And she definitely tried to forget that Everett had once chosen this woman over her.
That was all insecure bullshit. And Maya was stronger than that. So she squared her shoulders, met the woman’s bright blue eyes with her own dull green ones, and smiled.
“Hi. I’m Rebecca.” The bride slid into place in front of Maya and rested one arm on the bar beside them. The other hand was held out.
Maya shook it. “Maya.”
Rebecca took her hand back, placed it over her other arm and smiled. “It’s nice to meet you, Maya.”
“Congratulations, Rebecca.” What the hell could she say? I’m glad you’re married to Everett’s sweet friend so I don’t feel threatened by you? It didn’t really seem like a good opening.
Rebecca asked for a glass of wine and the bartender rushed to get it to her and fill up Maya’s drink. They both took long sips from their glasses and gazed at each other.
“Everett was never mine.” The statement was made in a quiet monotone. But there was so much to those four little words.
Maya shook her head as if to clear it. “Come again?”
Rebecca took a long swig of her wine, half draining the glass, then set it down sharply. “Maybe in the beginning, when we first started dating, he was kind of mine. But it was casual then. He didn’t look at me the way he looks at you now, even at the start when it was fresh and new. Then you happened. And he was yours. Even for those four years when he was faithful to me and I wore his great grandmother’s ring, he wasn’t mine.”
Maya’s shock must have been painted on her face. She was unable to move, unable to speak. Still and mute, she stared at the woman in front of her.
Rebecca put her hand on Maya’s shoulder. “Things are right now. As they should be. He has you, and I have Elias.”
Rebecca looked over Maya’s shoulder and her expression was filled with love and adoration. Maya turned her head to see Elias standing a dozen feet away at a table, talking to an older woman with a tiny dog in her purse. Before Maya could figure out how to respond to Rebecca, the bride slipped past her and headed to her husband.
Maya turned, gripping the smooth round glass in her hand. Rebecca seemed to float as she crossed the short distance to Elias and wrapped him up in her arms. They smiled at each other and kissed, long and sweet.
A hand landed on Maya’s hip and she whirled around. Her body lined up with Everett’s and he leaned in, a question in his eyes. She answered him with a kiss.
****
Talking about what had transpired at the wedding was too exhausting of a prospect. But Maya needed a safe subject to discuss as they made their way to the hotel so she wasn’t tempted to make love to Everett in the back of the cab.
“Were Elias and Carlos friends, too?”
Everett’s thumb traced patterns on the back of her hand where it rested on his knee. “Yes. But I was always closer to both of them than they were to each other.”
“I bet you weren’t a big fan of Carlos’ first wife.”
In response to that, Everett just made a noise in the back of his throat like a grunt.
“I think he and Amy are really happy.”
Everett shifted in his seat so he could see her better. “You’re friends with Amy. What’s she like?”
“She’s lovely. Super sweet. Maybe a little innocent for her age.”
Everett raised an eyebrow. “How so?”
Maya didn’t really know all of Amy’s secrets, only that she had them. She’d recently learned Carlos was Amy’s first real boyfriend and she told Everett that. His eyes grew big. Since she couldn’t explain Amy’s love life, she shifted to talking about Amy’s career. She told him how Amy was trying to find the perfect job to suit her and how his new internship program was helping her to figure that out.
Instead of being happy about the praise for his idea, he grew quiet and thoughtful. Maya wasn’t sure what she’d said wrong, but by the time they reached the hotel she knew she had to get him out of his own head.
They entered the suite in silence. Everett toed off his shoes and pulled off his tie. Maya shucked her heels near the door and moved across the room, liking the way her dress slipped between her thighs. Ahead of her, Everett’s bare back came into view as he slid his shirt off and tossed it toward the side chair.
His hard muscle rippled in waves beneath his smooth, dark skin. Maya reached out on instinct and ran her hands from his waist up his spine to his angular shoulder blades. His head dropped back and he let out a soft sigh.
“Have I ever told you how much I appreciate your body?” As if to emphasize this she slid her hands back down his sides and around to his hard, ribbed abs.
Everett turned in her arms and placed his own hands on her hips. “It can’t come close to how I feel about yours.”
“Maybe we should have a contest to see who has the greater appreciation. Say…longest time worshiping the other’s assets wins?”
“Oh, you are so on.”