Chapter Thirty-Three
Zack
Tuesday
“I’m so sorry, man. Honestly, you have no idea how terrible I feel.”
I was the one who felt like a complete and utter asshole with that statement. I tugged my fingers through my hair, and I stared wide-eyed at him. “I don’t know what to say, Lark. This is something else.” I couldn’t believe that I’d falsely accused Olivia of this; what an idiot.
“If I’d known that Carlie was only after information about you, I never would’ve even spoken to her. She just didn’t seem interested in you at all at the party; it was all about me.”
“I can’t think of Ms. Simms as Carlie, that’s too weird.” I pursed my lips together thoughtfully. “I also can’t believe she did that to me.”
“I don’t know, man; she just started asking questions while I was all…riled up.” I shuddered. I didn’t want to think of Ms. Simms and Lark in any way like that. “She wanted to know how you could afford to fund the party and donate money to the physical therapy office. She kept asking me, and I guess at some point it just came out. Honestly, I didn’t even think about it. I certainly didn’t think she’d ever do anything like that. If I weren't in Texas over the weekend, I would’ve known right away…”
“Lark, it’s okay,” I replied wearily. “I know you’d never do anything to hurt me.”
“But you’re pissed.”
“I am pissed, but not at you. Just at the situation. I’m annoyed that my life’s become public knowledge when I’ve tried so hard to keep it inside. But that isn’t your fault.”
“I’m so sorry, though, dude. This is a fucking nightmare. I wish I could do something to sort it out for you. I understand if it changes things and you don’t want to be my friend anymore.”
“No, no, of course not.” I reached out and rubbed his arm reassuringly. “You’ve been there with me from the start. I’m not going to kick you out of my life over one mistake.” There was no way I was getting rid of Lark. It was a big fuck up, but I still loved and appreciated him. “I guess I’m more freaked out how I’ve behaved.”
Shit. I slumped down on my couch and allowed my head to fall into my hands. I’d been a true asshole – just as things were getting really good, I went and absolutely wrecked it. Possibly irrevocably so.
“What do you mean?” Lark asked cautiously. “How you behaved when?”
“I’ve screwed things up with Olivia over this, and I don’t know if there’s any way to come back from that.”
He took a seat next to me, and he gave me a concerned look. “What do you mean? What happened? What did you do?”
“I accused her of selling the story, and we had a huge fight about it. She basically told me to get out of her life and never speak to her again.” I sighed loudly and shook my head in dismay. I still couldn’t believe how I’d come to her, I allowed myself to stew for far too long, and I created a mess. “I can’t blame her, either. I acted like a dick. I was just starting to fall for her really, I felt like we were on the verge of creating something real, and I fucked it by not trusting her.”
“Oh God,” Lark groaned. “I’m so sorry, that’s my fault, too. Just as your life was picking back up, I’ve screwed it all up for you. I’m such a mug.”
“It’s not your fault,” I repeated myself. “Stop saying sorry. I know you didn’t want any of this to happen. You didn’t make me behave in that way; I did that all by myself.”
For a few moments, we sat there in silence, both stewing over everything that had happened. Lark was probably lost in his one idiotic moment with Ms. Simms, and I was slowly becoming consumed with the harsh words I had spoken to Olivia in the heat of the moment. She didn’t deserve any of that attack, especially when it affected her, too, and I could see why she’d be done with me.
Olivia had already told me that she didn’t want ever to upset Meghan, that she wanted us to be very sure. She had another heart to protect, as well as her own. I’d effectively hurt two people with my stupid decision.
“Do you know what? There is something you can do, Lark.”
“There is?” He sat up straighter; his expression lit up with joy. He really wanted to make this work. “Anything, man, whatever you need.”
“I need you to help me fix things with Olivia.”
After a beat, he burst into laughter. “Are you serious? Have I not already proven to you that I suck at anything to do with women? Are you sure you want me meddling more in your relationship?”
“I can’t do it alone.” I didn’t have a plan, but I was sure with Lark by my side, we could work it out together. “And, you don’t always suck with women, do you?”
“Have you ever seen me have a real relationship?” He cocked an eyebrow at me. “Have you ever seen a woman sticking with me? Why do you think I get sucked into these toxic messes like with Car…Ms. Simms? I’m a fucking mess.”
Hmm, that was true. I hadn’t ever seen him with a girlfriend, but I didn’t think that made him unhappy. It hadn’t ever made me miserable before, so I’d assumed it didn’t take him. I was going to have to be more receptive to how Lark was feeling; I needed to pull my head out of my ass and stop worrying all about myself. The injury and the depression that followed had made me selfish and self-absorbed. I needed to stop that from ever happening again.
“Well, I guess the first thing we can do is contact the main boss at the physical therapy place, tell them all about what happened.”
“Get Ms. Simms fired?”
I shrugged. I wasn’t sure that was my end goal, but I didn’t want her to go unpunished. “I don’t know, but maybe I can help convince them to give Olivia a better job. That’s a good start, right?”
“Yeah, maybe you are right.” Lark nodded slowly, the cogs in his brains turning wildly. “You know what else? You should also go to the newspaper.” I gave him an incredulous look. Was he insane?
“No wait, just hear me out. I think you should go and use the media to spin your story, get your side across. You’ve spent so long fearing and avoiding it, and now it’s come back to bite you in the ass, anyway. Why not use it to help you? Go, share your story, promote your charity. Maybe you could even say some things to Olivia that you might not get across otherwise.”
Hmm. Weirdly, I didn’t hate the idea. Lark was right. I’d allowed the media to control me for far too long. It made sense for me to take the control back. I had something to be proud of now – I was working towards something awesome. The world needed to know about it.
“Okay.” I nodded rapidly. “Okay, yeah. I like that plan. It scares the living shit out of me, but I’m willing to give it a go.”
“Best scrub up nice then,” Lark insisted as he stood upwards. “This is going to be one hell of an important day.”
Inside, I desperately hoped that it was also the day that I made up for all my foolish errors and got Olivia back by my side. I hadn’t ever been as happy as when she was with me when we were building towards a wonderful relationship. I shouldn’t have fucked all that up because I couldn’t trust. I should’ve just spoken to her.
I would learn from this, though; if I ever got Olivia back, I wouldn’t ever make the same mistake again.
“Help me out then. Pick me out a suit or something. I mean it, Lark, I really need your help today.”
***
“Thank you,” the gruff-looking man named Mike said gravely to me. “I appreciate you meeting with me today.” He shuffled paperwork and narrowed his eyes at me. “I do apologize that you’ve suffered so badly at the hands of one of my employees, and I appreciate your honesty. It just isn’t right, what’s happened with your private data. And, I’m not happy with the misconduct with regards to Lark, as well. I’m just trying to decide what to do with that information.”
“I don’t want anything dramatic. I’m not here on some form of a revenge plan. I just think you should know what’s going on around here.”
“We can’t have this, though, especially when it comes to you. You’ve given the practice so much, you’ve donated a lot. It isn’t right.” He shook his head angrily. “I just can’t believe it. I never would’ve hired her if I’d known. And as a manager, too. Damn it.” He slammed his fists down on the desk in front of him. “Now I need to hire someone else to take over all her duties, and that’s gonna be almost impossible.”
My heart hammered in my chest now was the moment to try and bring Olivia up. “What about Olivia, couldn’t she do it?”
“Hmm, I did meet Olivia. She is a good employee, and she’s smart, too. But I don’t know…she hasn’t been around as long as the other girls. It might cause friction.”
“Hey, it’s okay. Only a suggestion.” I smiled brightly. “I just wanted to throw her name into the mix.”
“I certainly will think about it, thank you, Zack.”
“I want to discuss donating more, as well. I really do think you run a wonderful practice here and I’d love to help it grow.” This wasn’t a reaction to the whole mess with Ms. Simms, and I certainly didn’t want him to assume I wanted more influence. It just felt right. “I’m setting up a charity, for ex-military men, so maybe we can work together on that?”
“That sounds wonderful,” Mike agreed. “I definitely want to have a meeting about all of that at some point. I’ll be in touch. For now, I just want to focus on what I’m going to do here.”
“Of course, of course.” I stood up and extended my hand to shake his. This had gone well, and I felt pleased with the progress I’d made. I wasn’t sure how it would help me with Olivia, but it felt good. “It was great to meet with you, Mike. Thank you for taking the time to speak with me.”
“Anytime, Zack. I shall speak to you soon.”
I left the office to find Lark sitting patiently outside. I grinned and gave him the thumbs up to show it had all gone well.
“What next?” he hissed quietly at me. “Where do we go from here?”
“The newspaper.” I felt like I was flying like I was on top of the world. I wanted to roll with that. “I’ve got to go and give my side of the story.”
“I know I suggested it, but just before you do that, I need to know for sure that you really want to do this. Are you ready for it?”
“I am,” I replied confidently. “I really am. This feels right, Lark. This is definitely what I need to do.”
I’d even been planning exactly what I wanted to say and it felt good. I was pretty sure it’d work. If not, at least I’d tried. At least I didn’t give up. I’d never be able to forgive myself if I did.