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“You had better take a seat. I will grab you some water and explain.”
I told him about the computers that we needed a new streamlined approach and I had thought of his father’s business.
“That is not what I meant by what is going on and you know it.”
“Not here,” I said quietly. “After work. Maybe you’d come out for dinner with me. At least let me explain.”
“You can damn bet I’ll be coming out for dinner and your explanation better be a good one.” Garrett fired at me. “Now let me look at these damn computers, if I can concentrate while you’re around.”
Garrett
Of course, you couldn’t go to Newport without eating seafood on Newport harbor. We ordered a platter to share and a bottle of wine said to complement the tastes from the sea. And there over dinner Meredith informed me how she had left so that I could pass my course and start my career.
“Well, you should have talked to me about that before you ran. In choosing not to do so, you treated me like the kid your friend was accusing you of seducing. You just bought right into what she was saying. It angered me that you didn’t fight for us, Mer. You ran.”
Meredith hung her head, and tears glistened at the bottom of her eyes.
“I know.” She said softly. “And I’ve regretted it ever since.”
“Have there been other men, after me?” I had to know.
She nodded her head, and it almost destroyed me. “Yes. A couple. But they never were you. Not even close. You?”
“I did what you wanted me to do, Mer. I fucked my way around and got it out of my system.”
She took a sip of her wine. “I guess I deserved that.”
I relented with wanting to hurt her. We had wasted enough time. “They were never you. I never wanted to take things further because I had already found the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with,” I paused. “I just didn’t know where she was.”
“Garrett, I should never have listened to Tana. I was a fool. Though I like Rhode Island. I don’t regret moving from Brooklyn. This place is beautiful. It feeds my soul.”
I looked around me. “It looks a great place. You chose well. I saw her you know? Tana.”
Her gaze flicked up towards mine again. “You did? When?”
“A couple of months ago.” I told her and I recounted the conversation I’d had with her friend.
There she was ahead of me pushing a pram and smiling into it like the cat that got the cream. That was until she saw my face, saw that she was walking towards me. Her face showed she recognized me instantly.
“Prof. Geller.” I said. “It would seem congratulations are in order.” I looked into the pram.
“Lia,” she said.
“You must be very happy,” I told her.
“Yes, she’s perfect.” That smile at her daughter came again.
“It must be nice. To have that. A loving husband and a baby. Whereas because of you I don’t have that happiness.”
She flinched and looked around her, looking for potential escape routes if this got out of hand.
“Meredith left. I don’t know if you ever found that out because you were sick, but she just upped and left. No forwarding address. I have no idea where she lives or even if she’s okay. I would have married her. We could have been having our own family now, but you made her feel ashamed of what we had.”
“She was screwing a student. It was against the rules.” Judgment clouded Tana’s features.
“You ever screwed your husband somewhere you shouldn’t? Streamed a movie on an illegal channel? I was over the age of consent. The worst we did was screw in the classroom. That was stupid. We were carried away with lust, but we loved each other and because of you, now I’m unhappy, have been ever since she left. Anyhow, when you go home tonight, take a good look at what you have around you and feel very grateful for it, because other people’s actions can take it away, just like that.” I snapped my fingers.
Her eyes narrowed. “Is that a threat?”
