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“You think Lenny might be your future husband? Maybe it’s worth fighting through?”
Junie collapsed back onto the couch again, “No. He was pretty adamant that I was out of line and I’m not willing to continue like this. I told him to take a few days and think about what he wants.”
“What did he say?”
“He said he didn’t need any time, that he wants me.” One tear, followed by another, and another, made their way down Junie’s pink cheeks.
“So, that’s good, isn’t it?”
She shook her head, “I told him if he wants me, he can’t continue to have Vanessa interfering in our life together.”
“What did he say?”
“He said he couldn’t abandon her, so I broke it off with him.”
Her tears came faster now, and I pulled her into my arms. “I’m sorry, Junie. Maybe he’ll see the light.”
She shook her head against my shoulder. “No, people don’t really change, Willa. This is who he is and I’m not starting off a marriage with a person-sized problem between us right from the beginning.”
Three days later, despite Lenny’s numerous messages, Junie had not relented. I’d never seen Junie so defeated. I feared she’d finally given up on ever finding anyone and go on a man-hiatus for good this time. I’d tried to talk to her, but she had quickly shut me down.
Usually when a man had let her down she readily bounced back, disappointed but with her heart intact. With Lenny, she was different. They had hit it off so perfectly right from the start. He’d never once made any indication that he wanted her to change her ways until Vanessa showed up. As Junie said, if Lenny was her Superman, Vanessa was his kryptonite.
Wednesday afternoon, the door of the office opened, and Vanessa walked in, perfectly coiffed as usual. I saw her first and quickly glanced at Junie who was buried beneath the work on her desk.
I stood and smiled politely. “Hello, can I help you?”
I heard Junie snort behind me. “What do you need Vanessa? Surely you can’t be here to hire my company for your wedding invitations? We don’t typically do those. Perhaps I could make an exception for Lenny seeing as…”
“Stop,” Vanessa spoke firmly, her palm held up, in a demand or a plea it was hard to tell, “you need to talk to me.”
“I,” Junie pressed her forefinger to her own breastbone, “need to talk to you?”
Vanessa nodded. “You do. You’re about to make a colossal mistake that I can tell you from experience that you will regret.”
Junie opened her mouth to respond but Minty was there by her elbow, quietly urging, “Talk to her. Take her in the back and talk to her. Sweetheart, you will always wonder.”
“I’ll give you five minutes,” Junie snarled, “I’ll say one thing for you, you’ve got the ability to get people to give you their time down to an art.”
Junie stood and swept her arm out for Vanessa to go first.
“Junie,” I murmured urgently, “tone it down! Hear what she has to say before you decide if you’re going to eviscerate her.”
Junie’s pain-filled eyes met mine, accusing me of betrayal as well.
I shook my head, “I’m all about you. Hear what she has to say, for you, not for her. If she tries to apologize and asks for understanding I’ll eviscerate her myself.”
Junie caught up to Vanessa and offered for her to take a seat at our worktable at the back of the room, declining to take her into the lunchroom in the back.
Vanessa sat and arranged her purse on her lap. “This won’t take long. I was wrong. I came back here on a mission, and I didn’t take Lenny’s very real feelings for you into consideration. I should have. He’s in love with you.”
Junie stood stiffly with her arms crossed over her chest, taken aback by Vanessa’s honesty.
Vanessa whispered, “He is not a perfect man, but he’s as close as a man can get. Don’t punish him for having a big heart that was easily manipulated.”
Junie started to shake her head, but Vanessa cut her off before she could speak, “I’ve seen him, you haven’t. He’s broken. And I can see it is long past time for me to accept defeat. He loves me. He will always love me, but he’s in love with you. He’s afraid he’ll fail you like he thinks he failed me. He didn’t fail me. He’s never failed me. If he’s never failed me and we were never meant to be more than friends, imagine what he’d give to you.”
Junie stared down at the floor. From my seat where I was shamelessly watching and listening, I saw Junie’s tear hit the floor, and heard Minty’s tiny mewl of dismay.
