A Broken Forever(95)

She let out a snort, shaking her head. "Not yet, my love. But if you don't tell me what the hell is going on I just might."

I focused my attention onto the wood table top.

"And don't feed me a line of bullshit, Grey. I'm your best friend so I know when you're lying. Sometimes I let it go because I figure you'll reach out to me if you need to, but you haven't. I get bits and pieces of the story and then it's one extreme after another. The last time you told me about Stefan it was because you wanted me to get rid of everything here. You needed to forget him and his existence. Then yesterday, you about broke the door off the hinges to get outside. Where, turns out, Stefan was waiting for you with lunch. What the hell is going on?"

Behind her forceful tone I heard the compassion and genuine concern.

"I'm sorry, Kace. I know I've been incredibly flaky lately."

"Only since the day you say Stefan's picture in the magazine. It's all been because of him. I get that you had a past, you were married, and divorced. It was clear to see yesterday that you once were incredibly in love. Until recently I didn't even know you had been married let alone that it was to a man we all fawned over."

Her force softened and out came the true reason for all the tension between us. Kacie was afraid for me. I saw it behind those compassionate eyes, and in every reaction she has had lately.

"It's not fair that I've kept everything from you for so long, Kace. Stefan wasn't just my first love there … " I paused, searching for the right words to describe all that we were together. "There is much more behind our life together that I haven't shared. He broke me, but because he was already destroyed into a million pieces. When we split it wasn't because it was right. It was because I saw no other solution to survival. Honestly, if what tore us apart hadn't happened, we would be blissfully married still."

Kacie bit back all she wanted to say, letting me continue. "I love Richard and I love my life now but that doesn't change things. It is very difficult to just walk away from Stefan and close every window of contact. It was one thing when I hadn't seen him for years and tried to block out any memory of him. But I thought it was what I had to do. When we were dress shopping my brother talked to me, and I decided I couldn't just pretend none of my past was real. It's confusing and a bit scary but I have to have him in my life." 

There it was. The truth. Stefan and I needed to be in each other's lives, and maybe that meant as the best of friends. Either way, fate didn't keep throwing us together because we were meant to stay apart. Anxiously I waited for Kacie's reaction to my honesty.

"What happened, Grey?" She was searching for the catastrophic incident that altered the course of our destiny. That was one thing I couldn't share yet. When I finally did speak about the event that broke us, it first and foremost had to be to Richard.

"Please don't hate me for saying this, but I can't tell you. I swear to you, I will. It's just that the only people that know are those directly involved, and I need to tell Richard first."

She nodded her head, understanding my wishes. Reaching her hands out she closed mine in her grasp.

"If you ever need me. Just please tell me. When I don't know the past you share all I see is this dude screwing with my best friend's head. I'll never just stand by for that. Just knowing a little more has helped change my opinion of him."

"Really?" I asked hopefully.

"Of course, I'm not some crazy bitch that gets pissed for no reason. I want you to be happy and if having Stefan in your life as your friend is what you need-then so be it. Besides, your brother rarely leads you astray, and if he supports it then I have no reason not to."

I turned my hands in hers to give a loving squeeze. "That means more to me than I could ever say. And I promise from here on out I will keep you informed."

"Please!" She said with a laugh.

We both stood and met in the middle, embracing each other in a giant squishy hug.

"You know I love you, Grey! Just talk to me more and I swear to ease up on the bitch face where Stefan is concerned."

Giggles burst out of me as I kissed her cheek. "Don't worry, he probably enjoys it. And I love you!"

In the middle of our hug Tyler and Kari burst in.

"Awe!" They let out in a sarcastic sigh.

"Are we done fighting girls?" Tyler used his deep commanding voice, only making all of us laugh.

"We're much better!" Kacie replied, returning the kiss onto my cheek.

"Bout damn time!" Kari burst out. "Now let's go rock out some hair!"



The tension in the air evaporated, and now I was able to honestly be myself. Not just the persistently gloomy person everyone knew, but the person I was able to be when Stefan was in my life. As hours passed by I had to pry my eyes from the clock that made me increasingly antsy. Just after 1:00pm I was ready to throw my best pair of shears directly through the middle, so it could no longer antagonize me.