Chapter Twenty-Nine
Lucy
“Luce, come on. You really need to cheer up,” Brianna said.
“Don’t call me that,” I said, mumbling.
“Oh, no. We aren’t starting this again. Luce, buck up and talk to me. You’ve been miserable this entire fucking holiday. What happened?” she asked.
“You wonder why we never go to Phoenix to have Thanksgiving dinner with mom and dad?” I asked.
“Quit changing the subject. Something happened with Jason, didn’t it?” she asked.
“He just broke up with me, that’s all.”
“How did he break up with you?” she asked.
“In the middle of a restaurant full of people.”
“Asshole, strike one. What did he say to you?” she asked.
“He told me it wasn’t like him to keep around a woman for too long.”
“Asshole, strike two. Why did he break up with you?” she asked.
“Because I told him I loved him, and he didn’t love me back,” I said lightly.
I could feel my sister staring at me while I gazed out the window. I twirled my fingers up into the massive sweater I’d thrown on this morning, and I could tell my hair was collecting grease in it. I had thrown it up into a bun, but the roots of my hair were shining. That was a definite signal of something very serious to my sister.
“You did what?” she asked breathlessly.
“I had a stupid, inept moment where I blurted out something I shouldn’t have, and now, he’s gone,” I said.
“No, no, no. Back the fuck up. What did you say you told him?” she asked.
“You heard me.”
“Say it, Luce,” she said.
“Don’t call me that.”
“You’re not reverting, so get that shit outta your head. You told him you loved him, and he dumped you in a restaurant full of people? After fucking getting attached to his daughter?” she asked.
“Do you think that’s what put him off? I mean, we had a great deal in common. Loved the outdoors, and we went hunting and fishing a bunch of times. Jenna would always come over, sometimes even without him, and we’d just play around and hang out. I mean, all that’s good stuff, right?” I asked.
“Sis, this is not you, all right? So, don’t go around trying to convince yourself it is. This is all Jason’s fault, and I know exactly what we should do,” she said.
“What should we do?” I asked.
“We key his car,” she said.
I looked over at her like her head was on fire. What the hell did she mean, we should key his car? Was she fucking nuts?
“Excuse me?”
“Yep. We’ll key his car. Write ‘coward’ right into that pretty little truck of his. Then, we can throw eggs at his house. We can get some needles and put some fucking paint all up in there and redecorate the front of his fucking house. He wouldn’t know what hit him,” she said.
“We’re not doing anything like that, Bri,” I said. “I’m not doing anything that’s gonna upset Jenna. She’s an innocent party in all this, and I’m not gonna let her get hurt because you’re angry and I’m heartbroken.”
I felt my sister scoot along the couch before she rested her hand on mine. My heart ached. I missed Jason with a fury, and it had only been a few days. What could I have possibly done to have pushed him away like I did? I just didn’t understand it. He didn’t have to say it back, and I would’ve taken it back.
“I should’ve kept my fucking mouth shut,” I said, murmuring.
“Whoa. Strong words for my Lucy goose. Sis, it’s obvious those rumors were true.”
“Yeah.”
“Whoa. You didn’t fight that. What gives?” she asked.
“He said that in the restaurant. That the reason he didn’t keep women around for long was how he got his nickname. And I might have yelled at him for it,” I said.
“Oh, you’ve been holding out on me. What did you say to him?”
“I told him his bedpost was probably a standing toothpick that held the wood shavings of all the pussy he’s manipulated into his bed.”
I looked over at Bri who was slack-jawed and stunned. She blinked at me before a grin pulled at the corner of her lips, so I decided to put the topping on the cake. Just for her.
“Then, I threw my glass of iced tea at him and broke the glass at his feet,” I said.
“Holy shit, sis! You went full-on gangster on his ass. How the hell could you not have told me this sooner? Why didn’t you call the moment it happened?” she asked.
“Sorry. I was just processing, I guess. I was supposed to spend Thanksgiving with them, you know. Jenna must be so confused. And really pissed at me.”
“Lucy, you can’t blame yourself for what happened. You saw the best in him, like you do every person, and he took advantage of that. That’s on him,” she said. “Please, I’m begging you. You’ve come a long way. Don’t let him take that from you, Luce.”
I cringed at the nickname, but I didn’t correct her. She was right. I had come quite a long way since I’d opened myself up to Jason, and while it was the biggest mistake of my life, that didn’t mean it didn’t have its positive sides.
“And don’t blame yourself. This is all on him and his inability to be a decent human being,” she said.
“So, what do I do? Where do I go from here? Bri, he’s my fucking neighbor.”
“Still with the strong words, huh? Well, you do what any woman would do. You get closure,” she said.
“How do I do that when he won’t even return my calls?” I asked.
“You’ve called him?” she asked, groaning. “Luce. Come on. You live beside the man. Knock on his door every hour on the hour until someone opens it up.”
“Wait, seriously?” I asked.
“You want a man like Jason to talk? You grab him by the balls and don’t let go until he talks,” she said. “Then you key his car.”
“If I talk to him, will you promise me you won’t key his car?” I asked.
“Can I still egg his house?”
“No,” I said.
“Chuck eggs at him on the street?”
“No,” I said.
“Shank his tires?”
“No, Bri,” I said.
“Fine. You confront him, I’ll lay off the vandalism. But he still deserves it.”
“Love you, too, sis.”
I hugged her on the couch and sighed heavily into the crook of her neck. My sister was right. I needed answers, and I had absolutely none of them, and after I’d opened up my mind, body, and heart to him, it was the least he could give me in return. There was only part of me that believed he had actually gotten bored, and I still refused to believe that a man with a daughter could still act as incompetent and arrogant as he did.
In the back of my mind, my rational thought was screaming that something else was wrong.
“He gave no signs before dumping me, Bri,” I said breathlessly.
“I know,” she said, rubbing my back.
“None. It was only a couple days before that that I’d told him I loved him after we fooled around in his room, and he smiled at me. I mean, crinkly eyes and all,” I said, sniffling.
“I know, sis,” she said, pulling me closer.
“He fucked up, and I deserve the reason as to why,” I said.
“That’s the spirit.”
“I’m gonna go tonight.”
“What?” she asked.
“I’m gonna go tonight. I’ve got the balls right now, and if I sleep on it, I won’t. Even if the real answer hurts more than the one he gave me, I deserve that fucking answer,” I said.
“And again with the harsh words. He really got under your skin, didn’t he?” she asked.
“He wiggled his way into my heart, and I don’t take that lightly.”
“Then promise me one thing,” she said. “Promise me you’ll call after it's all said and done. I’ll come over if you need me to, and we can sit and cry together or whatever.”
“Just be sure to leave your eggs here,” I said. “I’m gonna go get my stuff. By the time I get there, Jenna will already be in bed, and I can confront him without upsetting her.”
“He really doesn’t know what he lost, Luce, and he’ll never find another woman who cares half as much as you do about his daughter,” she said.
“I love you, Bri,” I said.
“I love you, too. Call me after it’s all said and done.”
I grabbed my shit and headed for my car before I could talk myself out of the entire idea.