“I’m going for a run.”
“Don’t go, or I’ll think it was a dream,” she whispers with her eyes still closed. We’re more in sync than I thought.
I brush her hair back. “It wasn’t. I’m here. I’ll bring coffee. Sleep.”
“You said you loved me.” Her voice is groggy, full of sleep, and her brows are furrowed. Did she not believe me?
“I did, and I do.” My fingers crawl through her hair. “I love you, in case you need to hear it again,” I whisper. Her plump lips are parted slightly and soft breath escapes. I let out a sigh, kiss her forehead again and leave.
A ten minute run turns into thirty and before I know it I've been running for an hour and a half. Something about running that makes me feel like I can do anything. The first mile feels never ending but after I push through the discomfort, it makes me feel unstoppable. I do have to stop. The wedding is tonight and I want to spend the afternoon talking to Daisy.
I walk up to the resort, leaving the beach behind me and step up to the bar to order some coffee. Just my luck that Violeta is sitting there too.
“How’s the bride feeling today?” I ask. She immediately looks my way with pure hatred behind her eyes.
“So how long did you cheat on me?” Violeta asks loud and clear. So this is why she’s been acting upset all trip.
“I didn’t cheat on you, Violeta. Ever,” I reply.
“It’s clear you did. How many times did we argue over Daisy? Too many to count, but I was right, huh? I mean look at you two. It’s clear you’ve been a thing forever.” She gets up, puts her drink down and speedwalks to the lobby. Chasing Violeta on her wedding day is not what I expected today.
“Stop walking so we can talk.” Soirrational, always.
She turns around and crosses her arms over her chest. This is a more secluded part of the resort, at the end of a corridor so at least we’ll get some privacy.
“How. Long?!”
“You will not yell at me. I understand that you’re furious for whatever reason but you will speak to me in the same way I’ve always spoken to you. I don’t owe you anything but I’m willing to talk, emphasis on the word talk.” She’s erratic and it was one of our biggest issues when we dated. I never knew when she would be calm or when she would accuse me of shit I never did. It’s a miracle I tolerated it for as long as I did.
“Fine! How long did you cheat on me?”
“Never. Not once. The day I realized I loved someone else, I broke up with you.”
“You said there was nobody else and that we were just not meant to be,” she adds.
“And both of those things were true. I didn’t even tell Daisy how I felt about her until later. Hell, I didn’t even realize it myself until—” I stop talking. Because nobody knows what actually happened. Well, Livie does. I thought it was time to settle down. I thought it was time to think about children and Violeta pushed for marriage and a family so much I thought it was me with the problem. I bought the ring but the day I was going to propose I realized it wasn’t her hand I wanted to be holding when I was old, it was someone else’s. So instead I broke up with Violeta. Livie knew I had bought the ring so I had to tell her what happened, minus the whole I’m in love with someone else thing.
Daisy also knew I bought the ring, so when I told her about not being together anymore, she assumed Violeta said no, and I just never corrected her. Wrong of me, butbetter than to let her know how I felt about her. Now it doesn’t seem so silly, does it?
“Until when?” she asks.
I don’t want to hurt her. I may not love her, but I did care about her, and she doesn’t deserve to hurt over something she had no control over. My heart belonged to someone else. There was nothing she could do.
“Until the day we broke up. I promise, it had nothing to do with you, Violeta. But what I want to know is why you’re holding a grudge. You’re about to get married, to my cousin at that.”
She shakes her head, and a tear falls down her cheek. “I’m just so hormonal. It did piss me off seeing you two together, but just because I thought you were cheating on me. I didn’t want to be the joke.”
“You’re not a joke. We just weren’t right for each other.”
“Yeah, and this freaking pregnancy has me all unbalanced. I’m blowing everything out of proportion. I’ve treated everyone so poorly.”
“Pregnancy?” I ask, and her eyes open wide.
“Oh, shit.”
I chuckle. “Congratulations?”
“Thanks. Nobody’s supposed to know. Jaime doesn’t want to disappoint his parents, and I’m just…well, emotional.”
