Chapter 10
The truck was spinning, or tilting, or spinning and tilting at the same time. Bump, bounce, bump, bounce—it was like being on a roller coaster. Magnolia leaned her head up against the cool glass of the passenger side window. “Must you hit every bump?”
“Maggie, me and Zinnia. It’s not what you think.” Dax’s voice was strained.
She held up her hand, stopping him from talking. “I don’t want to know.”
“It was after you left and we both, well, we were…”
Each word made her stomach churn. Pictures of the two of them together flashed through her mind, and it was so much worse than picturing Eric with his secretary. Bile rose in her throat. “Pull over.”
“What?”
She pressed her hand to her mouth. “Pull over, now.”
“Shit.” He jammed on the brakes and lurched the car to a stop.
Maggie leapt from the cab, took three steps and emptied her stomach of every single shot she’d taken tonight. And it had been a lot of shots. Her throat burned as her stomach heaved, trying to get out every drop. Suddenly, two hands pulled her hair out of her face, giving her all the space she needed to really let it all go, and boy, did she ever.
When the last wretch was pulled from her body, she shoved Dax away. “Don’t touch me, I said.”
He threw up his hands. “For fuck’s sake, Magnolia. I’m tryin’ to help you.”
“Help me?” She stumbled back before righting herself. Why was she so mad? Why did it hurt her so deeply to know Dax had been with Zinnia? Almost like it cut deeper than finding out about Eric. “You slept with one of my best friends.”
“It was after you left!” He threw up his arms and turned away from her.
“How long after? A day, a week? Tell me, was I even on the plane yet?” They stood only ten feet apart, but it might as well have been miles. Tall grass swayed around her feet, and for a moment she couldn’t tell if she was moving or if it was the grass. The only light was the headlights of his pickup truck and yet they stood in the semi-darkness, arguing.
When he spun back around to face her, fury was etched into his chiseled features and his brow furrowed. Then he ripped something from his back pocket. A wallet? “You want to know how long after?” He opened the wallet and pulled a piece of paper from the folds. It looked as though it had been folded and unfolded a million times, the creases looking like they held on by threads. He waved it at her. “About a week after I got this!”
He opened up and started reading. “Dear Dax, I can’t tell you how crazy things have been here, but I love college so much. I know we said we’d always be together, but—”
“Stop.” She cut him off. “I know what it says, Dax. I wrote it.”
Two large strides and he was half the distance closer to her. “That’s right. You wrote it. You left me, remember?”
Magnolia threw up her hands. “No one ever marries their high school love.”
“Maybe in your mind, but in mine you were it for me!” His voice hitched, and he cleared his throat. Crumpling the paper in his fist, he held it out in front of him. “You broke me, Magnolia.” He smacked his fist into his chest. “Maybe you didn’t picture me as your forever, but I always pictured you as mine.”
Her breath caught in her throat. “Dax, I—”
“No, Magnolia,” he interrupted. “You broke me. You left me. Now you don’t get to decide how I put the pieces of what you did back together. Yes, I slept with Zinnia.” He calmly uncrumpled he paper and folded it. “We were both drunk, and I don’t remember it. And the only fucking thing I see when I try to be with anyone else is you.”
When he shoved the paper back into his wallet and looked up at her, his honey eyes melted her from the inside out. All this time she’d been struggling to find a perfect life, when in reality, she’d already had it. “I’m so sorry.”
He waved her words away. “It’s done now, but you don’t get to be mad at me.”
She nodded. “I know I shouldn’t be mad. I’ve no right—”
“That’s true, you don’t have no right to be angry at me. You left, not me. You ended things, not me. I was here. I was waitin’. I would’ve waited a lifetime for you. So don’t you go actin’ like I cheated. I’m not your shitty ex. I would’ve never done that to you.”
His words hit her like a ton of bricks. Each one more accusing than the last. “I’m sorry.”
“Too little, too late, Maggie. Now, get back in the truck, and I’ll take you home.” Lifting his legs over the tall grass, he marched forward to get back to the road.
In her drunken state, what more could she do? Magnolia got back in the truck… looking at what had happened between the two of them in a whole new light.