“Love you, too,” I responded, kissing him on the cheek.
I quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and a sweater and grabbed my bag. I practically ran to the bus stop, too excited to wait another minute. I wanted the juicy details to prove that their marriage was over.
On my way there, I got off a few stops early and grabbed breakfast for my mom and me. If I knew my mother, I could be sure that sugary fried dough could cheer her up more than anything else. I ended
up buying a half dozen donuts for the two of us.
Then, I continued walking, enjoying the morning. Everything seemed a little brighter to me. I knew there would be a stark contrast between my disposition and my mother’s.
I didn’t want her to be miserable, not by any means. But, I knew that this was best for her in the long run. Daniel and I may have planted evidence, but it was ultimately Terry’s bad behavior that did him in. She would have found out eventually. It was just nice that it was over before he bankrupted her.
When I got to the apartment, the door was unlocked. I knocked once and let myself in.
“Hi, Mom,” I said. “How’s it going?” I lowered my voice to show my concern for her.
“I’ve been better,” she said from the couch. “Come in. I was just boxing up Terry’s things.”
“Is he coming back to get them?” I asked, feeling apprehensive. If he suspected that his son and I had anything to do with my mom’s discovery, I didn’t want to be around to be confronted.
“I don’t want to see his face ever again. I’m going to shove the box into the hallway and lock the door. He can pick his things up, but I’m not going to talk to him.”
“That’s probably for the best,” I encouraged. “Do you want to talk about what happened?”
She took a cream-filled donut from the box and took a big bite, spilling flecks of glaze onto her bright dress. “You were right about what that magazine was. You were probably right about a lot of things.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Maybe there was a better way to tell you. It’s just too bad that we couldn’t have met before the wedding.”
“This isn’t your fault,” my mom said. “I should have listened to you. I was so stupid.”
“No, this is Terry’s fault,” I said firmly.
She nodded. “In a way, I think you’re right. You have no idea how different he was once we settled in. At first, he was just the greatest. I had the time of my life with him in those early weeks. Then, he started to change. He came home late without any explanation of where he was. He would spend a lot of money and say that he was buying something for me, then nothing would ever come of it. But, I couldn’t say anything because I was afraid of looking like a fool for marrying him. I just put up with it, hoping that I could get used to his new attitude.”
“You could have come to me,” I said. “It could have saved us all some stress.”
“I know, but I didn’t want to admit that you were right, especially after I told you off.”
“So, was the porn the final straw?” I asked.
She nodded. “You know how I hate that kind of stuff. Not only does it give me the creeps, but it makes me realize that he was never attracted to me. I mean, it was stupid for me to think that any man would want a woman who looked like me.”
“Stop that,” I chided. “There’s nothing wrong with you. He’s just a creep, plain and simple. I hate to say it, but Daniel’s mom told me this would happen.”
My mom grimaced. “I guess I’m glad I’m not the only one.”
“Agnes is actually pretty great,” I said. “Maybe the two of you should get together. I think you’d get along well. I know Terry messed her up, too, but you should see how well she’s doing without him now.”
“Maybe one day,” my mom said, tossing Terry’s clothes in a box. “How is Daniel? Have you spoken to him about this?”
I bit my lip. I wasn’t quite ready to tell my mom the truth. If I did, she would understand that her heartbreak was a direct result of my relationship with Daniel. It just wasn’t a good time to break the news. Instead, I downplayed it as much as I could.
“I’ve talked to him a little,” I lied. “Mom, I really like Daniel. Actually, I kind of love him.”
I watched her face turn from a frown to a curious smile. “Really? I didn’t realize you two were that close.”
“You’re not mad?” I asked.
“As long as he’s nothing like his father, I’m happy for you.”
“He’s nothing like Terry,” I promised. “He’s really great. He’s been so supportive of me with my condition and helped me deal with the stress of your marriage and getting rid of Jake. He’s done so much for me and never asked for anything in return. I really want to make things official with him, but it’s complicated.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because your separation isn’t finalized,” I answered. “Plus, I didn’t want to make you feel bad if I started dating Terry’s son.”
She waved her hand in the air. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. Besides, I’ve already filed the paperwork for an annulment. It will be like it never even happened. It’s just a few bad months out of my life. Besides, your happiness is more important than the mistake I made with that asshole.”
“Thanks,” I said. “It means a lot.”
“Now that I think about it, the awful things I found on his laptop wasn’t the last straw,” she said, looking at the floor.
“It wasn’t?”
“No. In fact, I had only banished him to the couch. I was reevaluating our relationship when that happened, but I was willing to try to make it work. What really ended it for me was when he talked about you and Daniel.”
I raised my eyebrows. “What did he say?”
“I don’t want to go into it again, but he said a lot of terrible things about the two of you. He said that you were interfering in our relationship and that we should treat the two of you like you never existed. He said that our relationship would be the best lesson that we could ever teach you—that your happiness isn’t more important than ours.”
“Oh,” I said. He wasn’t entirely wrong about the interference aspect.
“And then, I was certain that it wouldn’t work out between us. I got the annulment paperwork that same day.”
“Have you heard from him since?”
“Oh, he’s tried to make amends a few times. He went back to his old charming ways and tried to apologize. There was no going back to him. I’ve stopped answering his calls. I don’t want to fall for his tricks again.”
“Good,” I said. “You can do so much better than him.”
She nodded. “I know I can. Next time, I’m going to be more careful. I think I’m going to take a little time to myself, but I refuse to be broken by that man. I know that’s what he wants.”
I gave my mom a big hug. “You’re the strongest woman I know. You’ll get through this.”
“It helps to have a good daughter,” she replied. “I’m fine now. Why don’t you go live your life? What do you have planned for today?”
“Well,” I said apprehensively. “I think I’d like to spend the day with Daniel.”
“Then go to him,” she laughed. “I’ll call you later this week. We can have the lunch we were supposed to have a month ago.”
“Sounds great,” I replied and gave her another hug.
On my way back to the bus stop, I pulled out my phone and called Daniel.
“It’s over,” I said. “Once and for all.”
“That’s a relief,” he replied. “How do you feel about it all?”
I thought for a minute. “Strange. I feel like I’m not sure what to do now. From the moment we realized that there was a spark between us, everything has been so chaotic.”
“Are you worried that things are going to be boring now?”
“A little, yeah,” I admitted. “Are you?”
“Not at all. There’s nothing boring about you. Besides, that was just stressful stuff. We can have good adventures, too.”
“You’re right. I’m just leaving her apartment now. I’ll be back soon.”
“Hey, Ariana,” he said. “Now that it’s socially acceptable for us to be together, there’s something I wanted to ask you.”
“Yes?”
“If you don’t want to, I understand, but you’ve basically been living at my place for the past few months. Do you just want to make it official and move all your things in? That way, y
ou don’t have to pay for your apartment and we can hang out together whenever we want.”
“Wow,” I said, a little shocked. “I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Am I moving too fast?” he asked.
“No, no, I don’t think so,” I said, a smile spreading out across my face. “Yes,” I squealed. “I’ll move in with you.”
“Awesome,” he said, “Stay where you are. I’ll come pick you up and we’ll start packing up your apartment.”
“See you soon,” I said, sitting down on a park bench. I bet the people passing by me thought I was a lunatic for smiling so much, but I couldn’t help it.
We spent the rest of the day packing up my apartment and moving it to Daniel’s house. It took a few trips, but luckily, I didn’t own a lot of stuff. He laughed at the fact that I owned so few items of furniture, but then I reminded him that we wouldn’t have to carry it down the stairs, and he changed his tune.
“I never bought that champagne,” Daniel said on our way back to his place during our final trip. “We’re almost to the house. Should I turn around and get some?”
“Why don’t you drop me off with these final bags? I can work on unpacking and you can go to the store.”
“Sounds good,” he said, turning onto his street. Our street.
He handed me a key to the front door as I got out of the car. “I guess we’ll have to have another one of these made,” he smiled. “I’ll be back in a little bit.”
“Take your time,” I said.
When I got inside the house, I dropped my bags and shut the door behind me. But, instead of hearing the click of the lock, I heard the door swing back open. I shoved it behind me again, but something was blocking the door.
When I turned around to fix the door, I saw Jake leering over me. He had a rope in one hand and a canister of bear mace in the other.
“What the—” I shrieked.
“Shh,” he hushed. “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you. I just wanted to talk to you.”
“How did you find me?”
“Your stepdad gave me this address. He said you’d be happy to see me. I came over right away, but you weren’t home.”