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“No, I understand, MrTalbot,” I mumbled into the phone, taking the wrath of the tourism committee president with all the grace I could muster. He was lecturing me like I was a child, and it was pissing me off, but a short temper was what got me into this situation, and it sure as shit wasn’t going to get me out of it.
And, I reminded myself, I deserved it.
I was sitting at Mum’s breakfast table in my crushed suit pants and blood-stained shirt, my busted lip sore even after a night with a bag of frozen peas attached to it. I’d crashed on the couch because after the night I’d had, I didn’t want to be away from Seb, and it had been too late to take him home.
I’d watched Abbie drive away with a hollow sensation behind my ribs, regretting every word I’d said even though I’d had to say them. Shattered that she’d walked away from me when she could have stayed and fought.
Then I’d walked through the front door in my dishevelled suit and bloody face, and fucking cried like a baby.
It was a relief and a comfort when Mum hugged me and then deposited a warm, sleepy Seb in my arms. I managed to pull myself together for the twenty minutes it took to give him a bottle and return him to his bed. By then, Mum had made up the sofa for me. We sat there for an hour while I told her everything and then fell asleep exhausted.
How could it be that last night was only hours ago? It felt like forever.
Old Talbot was still raving on the other end of the phone, so I set it to speaker mode and placed it on the table, dropped my head in my hands, and closed my eyes.
Fuck. I was tired. Physically. Mentally. Emotionally. I’d begun replaying the last three weeks and rewriting the ending in my head. No grand plans to expand my business. No stupid agreements to go along with this Valentine’s Day Festival bullshit. No buying the warehouse, no hosting a poker event, no boost to my social media profile and saying nothing when things got out of hand. No punching dickheads on camera, even when they deserved it. No keeping my relationship with Abbie a secret.
Maybe no relationship with Abbie, period.
Stifling a frustrated grunt, I rubbed the heels of my palms over my dry eyes and forced myself to stop rehashing the same shit. No matter how many times I thought about it, I couldn’t bring myself to erase Abbie from my story. Or Seb. It hurt too much. A better man would be strong enough to let her go, and I so badly wanted to be a better man.
“We’re in damage control, William,” Mr Talbot barked. “The good name of Valentine Bay has been impacted by your reckless behaviour, and all the hard work that Emily has done to promote our Valentine’s Day Festival has put us in the difficult position of having to address your actions to multiple media outlets. We’re front-page news, young man, and not in a good way. I hate to say it, but I expected more from you.”
I winced once at his use of my full name, then again at the disappointment in his tone. I’d let him down. I’d let down the whole town, and this wasn’t the first call I’d had this morning. It was the first one I’d answered, and only after Mr Talbot had tried to get through three times. So many people had a stake in last night’s success, and I’d disappointed each and every one of them. I wanted to hide out here for the rest of my life.
It took me a minute to realise the phone was silent and another moment to understand that Mr Talbot was waiting for me to answer him. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember what he’d asked.
“Yeah, look,” I mumbled, “I’m sorry about what happened. I, uh…”
Mum entered the kitchen with Seb on her hip, grinning like sunshine, and I smiled. One, because his cute little face always made me feel better, and two, nobody tells you that one of the best things about having a kid is having a non-debatable excuse to remove yourself from shitty conversations.
“Listen, Mr Talbot. I have to go. Seb just woke up, and he needs me. I’ll, uh… I’ll talk to you later.”
Feeling like a dick—a relieved dick—I hung up without waiting for a reply.
I reached out to Seb, and he squirmed to get to me. Mum kissed his forehead before she transferred him to my arms. “He’s missed you, sweetheart,” she commented, moving past us on her way to the fridge.
I bounced Seb on my knee and let the comforting weight of his body and the smell of his skin soothe my exhausted nerves. “I’ve missed him too.”
Mum spared me a cautious glance as she prepared breakfast for Seb. “I spoke to Dawn earlier. She had a lot to say about last night.”
I huffed. “I bet.”
“She told me that the party was going incredibly well until your altercation with Tristan. You didn’t tell me that.”
I grunted. “Doesn’t really matter what happened before,” I replied, “only what happened after.”
I transferred Seb to his highchair and snapped a bib around his neck, then took the bowl from Mum’s hands. After testing the temperature of the food on my wrist, I spooned a small portion of cereal into Seb’s wide, eager mouth.
“You mean before the fight?”
“I mean, before I was stupid and reckless and completely cocked up my life.”
Mum shook her head sadly. “I wish you wouldn’t talk like that.”
“It’s the truth, isn’t it?” I smiled at Seb, but it didn’t erase the bitterness in my tone. “I caused a scandal all over social media and put the reputations of this community, the festival, and all our local businesses into question. I lost the investor who wanted to work with me on the brewery, and I’m in more debt than ever before. My son has no mother, and no matter how many pictures or updates I send her, she won’t answer my messages, and it makes me so irrationally mad. Oh, and I was a lousy boyfriend because I took advantage of the only woman who saw the real me and loved me anyway, and when I gave her the chance to walk away, she took it.”
Mum straightened and dropped her mug on the table with a dull thud. “What do you mean, you took advantage?”
