"Yeah, my guy was a bit like that, too. But I stayed and drank and danced with them for a while, and ended up having a pretty fun time."
"You didn't uh..."
"Go home with him?" she said with a laugh. "No. But we did make out outside the club before I left. Despite all his swagger and arrogance, he was a lousy kisser, so I think he would probably have been lacking in performance in... other areas, too," she grinned.
We both laughed.
"Now tell me seriously, though," she said. "How it is that a beautiful girl like you is still single? I mean, yeah, I know that the Simon thing probably put you off guys for a while, but surely there's a decent man or two in this town?"
I smiled.
"Actually, there is..."
"Really?"
"The guy who stood me up on Friday."
"No way! Why'd you give him another chance? Come on, what kind of guy does that?"
"No, no, he had a very good reason, and he was really, really sorry about it. Like, hundred-dollar bouquet of flowers, sorry."
"Hmm, if you say so. Me, though, I wouldn't have given him a chance."
"Usually I wouldn't, but him, he's different. He's really different, in such a good way."
I couldn't help smiling broadly and feeling a delicious sensation of warmth spreading through me as I thought of him.
"Alright, alright... Well, who is this guy? What does he do? Does he at least have a name?"
"Oh, he's the new principal of JFK High, but he's young for a principal; he's only 32."
"And his name?"
I smiled again. "Everett."
Chapter Twenty-Two
Everett
I sat and ate lunch alone after spending the morning at the hospital, casting the occasional glance through the kitchen window at the house across the road. After I had received the text from Vivienne, I hoped she was enjoying her lunch with her friend, although I knew she would surely be worrying about the schemes and plots of her psychotic stalker, Simon. I had no doubt he would come around again, as he had the past few days, to stare at the house and try to figure out if she was home. I admit I wasn't crazy about her leaving with her friend for lunch under the circumstances, but she also had the right to live her life without being stuck in her house out of fear. I just wished I could be there to protect her if she needed me.
I would, of course, do my best to stop him from doing anything that might cause her harm. Truth was, I knew that if I caught him, I'd probably not be able to restrain myself. The first chance I got, I would beat him to a pulp, but of course, I couldn't be everywhere all of the time, and I already had so much on my plate with the drug problem at my school and my little girl being sick in the hospital. It was entirely possible that he would be able to get to Vivienne somehow, somewhere, and I wouldn't be able to do a single thing about it. The thought frustrated me immensely; I hated not being in control and feeling helpless. Something would have to be done with this Simon situation soon – and things would need to be done about the drug situation too, of course.
It was just so damn frustrating with all of this being out of my hands. And now, now there was something else in the mix: Liza Alvarado. At least that was something I did have control over – but it would be a struggle to exer
cise that control. As thoughts of Liza entered my mind, I felt pangs of guilt stabbing through me every time I glanced over the road at Vivienne's house.
I thought back to the days when Liza and I had been together. It had been love at first sight. I still remembered that day like it was yesterday. she had been running just in front of me on the track but at a slightly slower pace. When I caught up to her, she had heard my footsteps and glanced over her shoulder. I had looked across at her, and as soon as our eyes met, I had known she was the girl I wanted to be with. After I'd finished running, I'd waited for her to get off the track and asked her out, straight up. She'd said yes, and that had been that – we dated for a couple of years until she cheated on me.
The memories of that still stirred up intense feelings I'd buried inside me. It hadn't just been a once-off I got drunk and did something stupid thing. No, it had been a whole affair, one I learned had been going on for an entire year behind my back.
And when I found out, she hadn't even tried to make excuses. She had just shrugged and broken up with me to be with the guy she had been cheating on me with, who it turned out had been one of her med school professors.
Well, the joke was on him – she'd cheated on him as soon as she graduated with some rich banker. I guess I should have seen the gold-digger tendencies in her from the start – she had obviously been with the professor to ensure that she got good grades. I guess I had just been a fun distraction for her during her early years at college, but ultimately, all she really cared about was herself.
It took me going off, joining the SEALS and doing a tour in Iraq to get over her and realize how much better off my life was without her. It had taken me a long time to get over her and what she had done to me. But I had – and now I had found a woman whose heart was good, who was kind, loving, selfless, and generous – everything that Liza wasn't. The last thing I wanted to do was risk what I already felt was a good thing with Vivienne.
But still, I knew some old feelings were going to be stirred up when I saw Liza; it was inevitable. And I didn't want to take the chance that Vivienne would see that on my face and mistake it for more than it was. This would be the first time seeing Liza since things have ended, since she had cheated on me and left me, and I knew it was going to be weird...really weird.