Fiance Next Door

There’s only one way to find out.

I go up the front steps, take a deep breath and knock.

No answer.

I knock again and again but get the same result. Can Mason not hear me? Is he ignoring me?

I refuse to give up. I go around the house to the back door. It’s locked, but I know where the key is – inside an old boot between two pots. I grab it and let myself in.

I head straight to the living room, ready to throw myself at my husband. Instead, I stop in my tracks and gasp as I see Leander lying on the couch with a bloodied shirt, a cut lip and bruising around his eye.

“Leander!”

I run to his side and he opens one eye. He grins. “Hey, Aster.”

His breath smells of alcohol. He’s drunk?

“What happened to you?”

“Oh. I just had too much to drink at Happy Hermits. Then I fell.”

Fell, my ass. But Happy Hermits? So he’s been in town? I thought he was out of the country.

“You’re a sight for sore eyes,” he adds as he looks at me.

I frown. “You have a sore face. Wait here.”

I run to the fridge to grab some ice but there isn’t any. I make a quick run to the house to prepare an ice bag and grab some water and a pain reliever. Then I go back to Leander.

He looks like he’s fallen asleep. It should be okay since he was trying to have a conversation with me. That’s proof that he has no concussion. Even so, I need to ice that eye.

So I place the ice bag over it. As soon as I do, Leander grabs my wrist. Hard.

I wince. “Leander, it’s me, Aster.”

That seems to be my line lately.

“I just need to ice your eye to stop the bruising.”

He lets my wrist go. Thank goodness. He may be drunk but he’s still stronger than I am.

As I hold the ice bag above his eye, I gaze at him and the wheels of my head turn back. This man was my first crush. I used to follow him everywhere, to give him things in hopes of making him smile, to imagine us going on a date. He was cool then. Kind. Sweet, even. I never imagined him ending up like this.

Then again, I know he’s changed. I noticed it when he came home with his tattoos and piercings and his tattooed and pierced girlfriend. And it’s not just his looks. There’s this aura of bitterness around him now. And high walls. He’s not as friendly or as charming as he used to be.

What happened to him? Is it because he can’t play football anymore? But he still teaches it to kids, right? That should give him some satisfaction.

“I thought you had to go and teach some kids football,” I say.

He snorts. “Boring.”

I raise an eyebrow. What?

“I hate kids. Did I ever tell you that?”

No, he didn’t. Does he mean he never liked kids? But he used to sign the shirts and foreheads of his little fans on TV. He even had a commercial where he was playing with kids. Was all that an act?

“And I hate football,” Leander sighs.

That surprises me more. Though maybe it shouldn’t since he’s not playing anymore? Still, it sounds childish. He sounds like a child who used to like a certain video game and then started hating it when everyone else got better at it than him.

“You used to love football,” I point out. “I used to watch you play.”

“Well, football used to love me.”

I frown.

“Everyone used to love me. Now, no one loves me anymore.”

I roll my eyes. Now he really sounds like a kid.

“Not true,” I tell him. “Don’t you have a girlfriend?”

He grins. “I’ve got a few.”

Okay.

“But none of them as good as Sharon.”

At the mention of his ex-girlfriend’s name, I feel my heart sink. I thought he’d be over her death by now, but I guess not. Poor Leander.

“You know, everything I love gets taken away from me,” he says. “First, Sharon. Then football.”

There’s the bitterness.

“You still have your family, though,” I say. “And they love you.”

He laughs. Why? Is what I said funny?

“You still have your parents. You’re lucky to have them. And Mason and – ”

“Mason’s a prick,” Leander cuts me. “He’s always been. Fucking selfish and arrogant. He always thought he was better than me, and now he is. He’s the successful one now. The one with all the money and all the fame.”

My eyebrows go up. What he said is true. What surprises me is the resentment in his voice. Don’t tell me he’s always resented Mason? I thought that resentment was one-way, coming from Mason’s direction.

“That’s because Mason is doing some pretty amazing things in the field of medicine,” I say.

Didn’t Leander say the same thing?

“You know, maybe he can even find a way to help you get your knee back so – ”