"Good to know I have your support," I joked.
"Do what you have to do, man. I just don't want you to end up regretting this."
"It's her. I know it is. Right now, this is where I have to be. I can't imagine a future without her. If football's still meant to happen, then it will. I'm not giving her up. That's not an option." Don sighed.
"You know what? If that's how it's gonna be, then I can't wait for the wedding," he said.
What was Don like when he was in love? The last girl he had been with was back when we were in high school and after the two of them broke up, he wouldn't even look at her anymore. I figured he could, for the right person, change and actually make them happy, but I knew he wouldn't appreciate the psychoanalysis.
"Oh, you're not invited. So you can fuck your way through Ron's bridesmaids?" He laughed.
"You know that's the only reason why single people go to weddings," he said.
He offered me another beer but I passed. I wanted to get home. Ron was coming over and I was cooking dinner that night. He tried to give me a hard time about blowing him off, but I ignored him.
It wasn't a competition, Ron did things for me that he didn't and couldn't do...and stuff I didn't want him to do, if we were being honest. I thought about maybe setting up double date or something where the two of them could meet. I didn't talk about Don to Veronica as much as the other way around, but something like that could be fun.
I had left all the groceries that I needed to cook the meal in the car. I passed by the store to buy the last couple things, wine, and dairy that would have spoiled if I left it in the car while I was at Don's, and went home. I could cook, if by cook you meant make oatmeal, ramen, rice...basically things you just added water to in order to make them not raw anymore. I was just making pasta, but I was making the cheese sauce from scratch. I had bought a rotisserie chicken at the same time as getting the wine, which I'd just carve up later.
The goal was to make it edible, and I was mostly confident that was what it was going to be by the time she got here. I wanted to be able to tell her that I was making the decision to turn down the deal before I made the call. Maybe she could be in the room as I made it. I had kept it to myself since my mind was made up already. I didn't want to take the deal. Tonight, I'd tell her everything. Nothing was standing between us again.
I was just slipping the chicken into the oven to heat up when I heard her at the door. She had a key and was walking in.
"Ron," I said, coming up to her. She gave me a small smile and let me kiss her.
"Hi," she said, pushing some hair back behind her ear.
"How was your day?" I asked. Her purse was still up on her shoulder, and her arms were crossed.
"Okay," she said, shrugging.
"Dinner's almost ready. Do you want wine?" She shook her head.
"No wine. I drove here."
"It's one glass. Besides, it's not like you have to drive back tonight."
"I don't want any wine," she snapped.
"Okay. No wine. What can I get you?"
"Nothing, Roman. I'm sorry you've already gone to so much trouble tonight."
"Trouble? What? Did you want to go out?"
"Roman," she said, looking down and taking a deep breath. "I came to end things tonight. I don't want to see you anymore." I looked at her, waiting for her to keep going, or just say something else that meant what she had just said wasn't true.
"Ron… What? What are you talking about?"
"I want to break up. I don't want to be with you anymore. It's over."
"The fuck it is. Where the hell is this coming from, Ron?"
"I shouldn't have let you back in. I had a life when you left, and you came back and acted like I should have just stopped everything for you. I did, and I wish I hadn't. It wasn't fair to me after what you did, Roman. I don't want to be with you, and I never want to see you again."
"Ron, you can't-" I reach
ed for her arm and she violently pulled away.