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I drew in a quick breath and held it. My stomach churned its warning. As it turned out, I didn’t want to hear her story. Even feeling better about my life, after nearly three years of being angry at Alan, I didn’t want him to suffer now that I was healing.
“You want to ‘warn me?’” I asked suspiciously.
“Well, make you aware of something at least,” she replied. “I tried to get away from him, Cole, but he was so desperate when he saw me, and he wouldn’t stop complaining.”
“Go ahead then.”
“He wants you back,” she stated. “Practically begged me to speak to you on his behalf. He had me cornered and I couldn’t get away, Cole. I swear.”
“Where was Tad the whole time you were cornered?” I asked, recalling that the gallery wasn’t all that big to be discreet.
“He was basically dry-humping some twink who had a see-through, sparkly midriff top, with a pair of cut-off denim shorts. I fucking swear to you they looked like actors in one of those gross ‘70s porn flicks.”
“Shit,” I whispered. “Poor Alan,” I added, honestly feeling sick to my stomach.
“He says he’s going to find your new house, Cole,” she reported, her tone becoming urgent again. “He asked me if your phone number changed and shit,” she added. “He knows you’re in Virginia Beach, too.”
“Calm down, Marla. It’ll all be fine,” I said. “I’m a big boy.”
“I’m worried he’ll fuck up what you’ve managed to find, honey. I mean it. He’s desperate that he screwed up with you. And…” she hesitated for a second. “It’s terrible, Cole. He doesn’t look good.”
“Like sick?” I asked, concerned that he was actually ill with a disease.
“Too thin. Frazzled,” she said. “Frazzled is a word, right? He just looks unkempt, and you know how Alan is about appearances.”
I did know, having spent seven years with the man. “Let’s just forget about you running into him. I’m sure he was embarrassed that you saw what you saw. I’m positive he won’t bother you again knowing how he is about his reputation.”
There was a moment of silence before Marla cleared her throat. “You wouldn’t… well… you wouldn’t take him back, would you?”
It took me less than a nanosecond to respond. “No. Of course not. Not even if I wasn’t seeing Chad. I could never trust him again,” I insisted.
“Okay,” she said. “I thought you should know. You know, in case and all.”
“He won’t show up here, Marla. Alan has too much pride to admit he made a mistake.”
“And you’re still okay after the news?” she inquired. “Still Cheery? Happy? In love?”
I laughed out loud. “Who said anything about love, dear? You did not hear those words from my mouth.”
“I don’t need to hear the actual words,” she argued. “Your voice says all I need to know.”
“He told me he loved me last night,” I announced.
“Oh God. Don’t tell me you didn’t respond, or that you stuck your foot in your fucking mouth.”
Of course, Marla jumped directly to how I must have screwed it up. “I’d intimated earlier that I was falling in love with him,” I confirmed. “That’s the same, right?”
“Intimated?” she shrieked. “Oh, fuck, Cole! What nerd-ass dufus intimates that they’re falling in love with someone?”
“In my defense, he did ask me if I’d landed, or something like that,” I explained. “I took landing to mean, like stopped falling, landed, you know, fell in love. I did answer him in the affirmative; I had, in fact, landed.”
“You dumb shit!” she exclaimed. “Affirmative? Intimated? You geek! You need to hang up and call or text him,” she stated. “No, don’t text! Call him. Yeah, call him right now.”
“Calm down, Marla. Shit! You know I’m not good at this stuff, right?” I asked. “I effed up, didn’t I?”
“No! You’re gonna be fine. Do as I said as soon as we hang up,” she advised. “And do not think about Alan and what he’s up against. This is your time, Cole. Your time! Do you hear me?”
“Please don’t worry, kiddo. I am secure in my progress where Alan is concerned. I promise.”
