“You could say that. I’m the father of her twins,” Zach said, emotionless.
My blood boiled. I charged around the counter and stormed past him. “Let’s go, dick.”
Maybe if I walk fast enough, I can lose him in one of these winding hallways.
“Slow down!” he called, jogging a few steps until he fell in step next to me.
No such luck.
“I can’t believe you,” I snapped, spinning on my heel to face him. “This is emotional blackmail. How dare you confront me at work? Who the hell do you think you are?”
“I know that was a shitty thing to do and I’m sorry I did it that way,” he apologized half-heartedly, “but I was desperate to talk to you.”
“Oh, really? Wow.” I turned and continued down the hall, still spouting off as I went. “A few weeks of me ignoring you has you desperate, huh? Imagine what five fucking years feels like!”
He shoved his hands in his pants pockets and put his head down, deciding not to argue back anymore.
A very smart decision on his part.
We got to the cafeteria and I marched over and sat down roughly at one of the tables, crossing my arms over my chest. “Let’s get this over with, please, so I can go back to my normal, happy life.”
He sighed. “I’m going to grab coffee. Want some?”
“Whatever.” I rolled my eyes and looked over to my left. A couple was sitting together at a table quietly, holding hands. Tears poured down her cheeks as she rested her head on his shoulder. His lip trembled as he tried to remain strong for her, for whatever they were going through.
Was their child sick? A parent? Had one of them lost a sibling?
That was the hard thing about my job. You usually met people on one of the worst days of their lives. They wouldn’t remember you, but you would never forget them.
“Sugar?”
I was pulled from my own thoughts and glared up at Zach. “Don’t call me that,” I snarled.
He laughed and shook his head. “I was asking if you wanted sugar in your coffee. You used to like it that way; not sure if that’s changed.”
“I hate sugar in my coffee,” I lied, refusing to give him the satisfaction of his memory being right. “I’ll take it black.”
He set two cardboard cups down and pulled the chair out across from me. Neither of us spoke. I was not about to make this easy on him by starting with meaningless small talk. Sitting there with him was the last place on the entire planet I wanted to be right then. Research tent in Antarctica? I’d take it. Swimming with crocodiles in the Amazon? Give it to me. Crawling across a desert in Egypt? Cakewalk compared to this moment.
“So…” He sighed. “What’s your boyfriend’s name?”
I narrowed my eyes at him and leaned forward. “The only reason I’m even sitting here with you in the first place is because you wouldn’t shut your damn mouth with Darla and I don’t want everyone knowing my business. You want to feed me some bullshit about where you’ve been the last five years? Fine. Suit yourself, but my boyfriend is NOT something I’m discussing with you.”
He flinched slightly at my words and looked down at the table. An ache spread through me.
No. Fuck that ache. He deserves this.
“I deserved that,” he said.
“Finally, something we agree on.” I rolled my eyes and sat back in my chair, my arms still crossed.
“This isn’t easy for me either, you know,” he said softly. “For years, I’ve thought about what I would say to you if given the chance. Now here you are, sitting right in front of me, but my brain is paralyzed. I know that nothing I say will justify the decision I made five years ago and I’m not trying to justify it. I just want you to know where I’m coming from.”
I didn’t give a rat’s ass where he was coming from, nor did I want to hear it, but I knew that he wasn’t going to back down until I let him explain himself. In that moment, I decided to keep my trap closed and let him get whatever it was out. Then I would let him have it.
“I know you knew I was drinking back then, but you had no idea how much. I was out of control. I would go to work and put in just my eight-hour shift, even though overtime was always available. I couldn’t wait to get out of there and go drink.”
Remembering back to how much we went without because of how tight our money situation was, I gritted my teeth but let him continue.
“I didn’t even need anyone to drink with me. I would get a case of beer and just sit in my car by myself and drink. Then I would come home, you would go to work, and after I put the girls to bed, I’d drink until I passed out. It got to the point where I would have to have a beer in the morning on the way to work just so I could get through the day without the shakes.”