Trust Me .(61)

I stare at her retreating body and feel a hand on my shoulder. I whip around and come face to face with Holly. She sees the tears brimming in my eyes and looks around me to the woman walking away.

“Avery, what’s going on? Who was that?”

“If she is who she says she is, that’s Maddox’s girlfriend.” I can’t help it. As I say those words, the tears start to fall.

“What?” she says, confusion and anger flashing in her eyes. She grabs my hand and starts to pull me and Brooklyn towards the exit of the mall.

When we get inside her car, I break down into sobs that I’m unable to control.

“What’s wong, Mommy?” Brooklyn asks from the backseat.

“Nothing, baby. Just grown up mommy stuff.”

Holly pulls out of the parking lot, heading towards Rivers Edge. “What exactly did she say to you?” Holly asks in a low, calm voice. I recap our conversation in as much detail as I can, and wipe my eyes and nose on a tissue she pulled from her console.

“What am I going to do, Holly?”

“Do you really think what she said is true, Avery?”

“He told me Vanessa was his ex-girlfriend but that they didn’t really go out very long. She had a picture of them, Holly. A picture that was taken last night. Last night when he was supposed to be at Jack’s with Jake. She was obviously there with them. You should have seen the way she was hanging on him,” I mumble.

“I think before you jump off the deep end here, you need to talk to him. Ask him about it and make him explain. Even if what he tells you hurts and proves he’s an ass, at least you hear it from him and not some spoiled, high maintenance witch.”

I sit back in my seat, my mind still trying to process all that has happened in the last thirty minutes. The drive back is fairly quiet. Holly and Brooklyn chat happily, but my mind won’t focus enough to allow me to get into their conversation.

When Holly pulls up at my house a half hour later, she unloads Brooklyn while I grab all our bags from the trunk. I unlock the front door and tell Brooklyn to go play for a bit before we leave to go to my parent’s for supper.

Holly draws me into a big hug, surrounding me in the comfort that only a best friend can provide. “It’s going to be okay. Call him.”

“He’s working until nine tonight. Besides, I don’t think I can talk to him tonight. I need time to process all this and think.”

“Well, don’t wait too long or over think it. You need to find out what’s going on before you assume the worst.” She hugs me again before she heads out. “I love you, Ave.”

“I love you too, Holl.”

I watch my best friend leave and fight the urge to cry again. I can’t break down now. I have Brooklyn to care for and a dinner to get ready for. This thing with Maddox is going to have to wait until later.



*****



When we get to my parent’s house, I start to feel overwhelmed. Even though Jake and Nate are both working today, Will and Travis brought friends so everyone is talking and carrying on at once. I’m not feeling very sociable so I head up stairs to my old room to try to get my bearings. As I sit on my childhood bed, listening to the muffled talk and laughter coming from down stairs, I can’t help but run back through my conversation with Vanessa, again, for the tenth time. Is it true? Am I the other woman again?

After everything that happened with Drake, I was so hesitant to try dating again. When I met Kevin, I thought I could handle dating again. Kevin was from St. Charles and drove to my dad’s job sites every morning for work. I stopped in to visit my dad and Travis one morning and saw him. It didn’t take long before he was hanging around after work and staying at a hotel here in Rivers Edge. I would drop Brooklyn off at Holly’s house a few nights a week and would meet him in his hotel room. One night, after about three weeks into our relationship, I was leaving to get Brooklyn to head home. When I opened his hotel room door, a woman was standing there, tears streaming down her sad face. Turns out she was his girlfriend. She had started to suspect that something was going on with him so she had followed him that night. She watched me show up to his room and spend two hours there. This time, I was the other woman. Without even realizing it, I had been the one person I never wanted to be. I knew exactly what that girl was thinking of me, of this situation. I know what she was feeling because I went through the same thing two years before. That was the last time I went out with a guy…until Maddox.

The tears filled my eyes again at the memory. I hear a soft knock on the door but don’t say anything. Will slowly pushes the door open and steps inside. “Hey. You okay?” he asks with concern filled eyes.