“Have a seat,” he says.
“I prefer to stand,” I say, folding my arms.
“Kayla, what is this wall you have up? This isn’t like you.”
“Aldridge, let’s not do this, okay? We’ve both moved on.”
“Have we?”
I hold up my left hand, and I wish it didn’t cause such a look of hurt on his face. “Yes. Now please, what did you need to say?”
He sits back against his desk, but when he looks at me, I don’t know if he just doesn’t like the power dynamic of me towering over him or if he genuinely wants to be eye-to-eye. But when he pops back up, that’s exactly what we are:
Eye level.
On equal footing for the first time since we’ve known each other.
He shakes his head and seems to remember something, because the next thing I know, he’s taking something from his top drawer and handing it to me.
“Before I forget, Meryl asked me to give you this. She had some new photos put up in the house and thought you’d want this one.”
I open the thin, beautifully wrapped package to see a framed photo of me and Meryl at my bachelorette party in Scottsdale. We’re hugging, wearing identical mini dresses and the hugest smiles.
“She said it was too precious to mail,” Aldridge says.
I can’t pull my eyes away from how happy I look with Meryl. If I’d been even half this happy with her brother, we’d be sisters right now.
“I wanted to come clean about something that’s eaten at me for a long time,” he says, pulling my eyes up to him. He runs a hand through his perfectly sleek, short hair, and a frown takes over his smooth face. He has beautiful skin. He’s a beautiful man, manicured and picture perfect.
But unfortunately for him, I’ve lost my taste for manicures.
He takes a deep breath, like this is hard for him. And maybe it is.
“I cheated on you while we were engaged.”
If he’d told me this before he gave me the picture, I might have fist pumped and yelled, “I KNEW IT!”
But I don’t. I keep my arms folded, and I don’t blink. I just wait. And my heart aches.
Not for him. It’s for you and Meryl. Not for him.
“It only happened once, after you delayed the wedding the first time. It didn’t mean anything, but I was hurting and I’ve regretted it for years. I know I don’t mean anything to you anymore, but I needed to clear the air.”
“Okay,” I say. “Thanks for telling me.”
He blinks rapidly, his long eyelashes moving so fast, it’s like he’s trying to trap a fly with them. “That’s it? ’Thanks for telling me?’”
I smile softly. Part of me wishes I’d known this three years ago, when it must have happened. But the other part of me can’t help but put together that I’m only here right now because Ididn’tknow. And … I kind of like where I am right now. Or where I’m heading, at any rate.
“Aldridge, we didn’t work out for a million reasons, and it sounds like that was probably one of them, even if we didn’t know it. We didn’t complement each other. We couldn’t be complete with each other. I appreciate you telling me, and it makes sense, honestly. But I’m not hurt by it, if that’s what you were worried about.”
He scoffs, his head shaking like a sideways bobblehead. “You are unbelievable. You’ve changed, Kayla. You aren’t the woman I fell in love with.”
“No, I’m not,” I say, dropping my arms. “I know you loved me, butIdidn’t. I didn’t even know myself. I really like who I am now, though, and I’ve found someone who happens to think this version of me is delightful. I hope you can find the same thing.”
I give him a tighter smile, but I don’t hug him. “Goodbye, Aldridge.”
And when I leave his office, he’s speechless.
