“I’ LL BE RIGHT BACK,” I tell Zach as I rush out after her. Dammit. I knew this wasn’t going to go over well, but I didn’t think it would happen like this. I never could have imagined that this was how she’d find out.
I push the door open and look around. She’s walking quickly away from the bar, shaking her head. I’ve known her half of my life and she doesn’t typically avoid a fight. She’s the girl who will stand toe to toe until she feels heard. Angie only runs when she’s hurting.
“Angie!” I yell. She halts and then turns, giving me a look filled with a mixture of sadness and anger. Instead of waiting, she takes off, moving even faster. “Angie! Stop!” I rush toward her, but she keeps going. “Dammit! Quit walking away from me.”
Angie spins and glares at me. “You’re kidding me. You’re going to tell me to stop? How about you stop!” Here’s the girl I know.
“Don’t you dare.” I stand ready to defend myself. “You don’t know what I’ve been through and you don’t get to judge me.”
“Zach? Zach is who you’re dating?” As angry as she is, I hear the hurt mixed in her voice. She saw it all. Every horrible thing that I endured and all the nights I spent sobbing in her arms. “Really, Pres? After everything? Zachary fucking Hennington? I mean, why don’t you go back in time and be a damn kid again. Oh, well, you kind of are. So, really?”
I don’t know what to say. There’s so much that is fucked-up about this scenario, and I don’t know which part to avoid. I’m not wrong though. This isn’t seventeen years ago when I was a kid. We’re adults, we’ve taken our time, talked, worked through any past issues. This isn’t a fling. I love him.
“Yes. Really,” I say with care. “We’re not the same people, Angie.”
“No?” She laughs. “He’s not the same guy who left you when you needed him most? Or are you not the same girl who married my brother? Because that girl wouldn’t go back to him.”
I was trying to be careful, but she wants to bring Todd into this. I refuse to let her use him as a weapon. Her memory is a little off about who hurt me the most. “Your brother? You mean the one who saddled me with over two hundred thousand dollars of debt and then killed himself? The one who’s responsible for the reason I’m back in Bell Buckle? That one?” I ask her with disdain. “The one who left his twin boys without a father? His wife without her husband? Let’s not start going tit for tat.”
She huffs and swipes a tear. “I can’t believe this. I thought you were miserable here.” Angie starts to pace. “I thought my poor sister and nephews were stuck in Tennessee, hating life. I come here to find you making out with your ex. The guy who, according to you, fucked your entire life.”
“Stop it.”
Her whole body tenses. I can see the struggle inside of her. “I’m so upset, but it’s more that you lied to me, Presley. Me! Your best friend. The one who’s been there every step of the way. How could you?”
And here is where my own anguish lies. I hate that I didn’t give her the option to hear it from me. I was so afraid of what she would say. My heart couldn’t take her disapproval.
“I wanted to tell you, but I knew you’d react this way.” I step closer. “You’ve been my family for so long, and I didn’t want to listen to your opinion on this.”
“So you lie?”
“I didn’t lie.” I defend. “I didn’t tell you because it hasn’t really reached where we are now until after we spoke.” After the words are out, I instantly hate myself. “No.” I huff. “You know what, no.”
“No?” She looks at me with confusion.
“No!” I grow angry. “I’m not going to make this out to be something it’s not. I love him. I love him, Angie. If you love me, then you’ll understand that. Because I deserve to be loved again. I’m not supposed to live the rest of my life wishing for something that Todd took away.” I pace as tears begin to fall. “I’m not undeserving. And I’m damn sure not going to feel bad that Zach and I found something again.”
She snorts. “Did you even love him?”
I know who she means. I fight back the urge to slap her. “Don’t ever question my love for Todd.”
She’s hurting and upset, but I’m not wrong here. It took all of this to see that. I’m not cheating or dishonoring his memory. He chose death, and I choose life.
She grips her two ponytails as she screams. “Dammit, Pres! I was so happy to see you. I needed to hug you and make sure you were okay. I didn’t expect this! Had I known—”
“What?” I challenge her. “Had you known what, Angie?”
“I could’ve been prepared.”
“Do you want me miserable?” I ask with wariness.