Читать книгу and I Believe - Jodie Richard-Bohman - Страница 20

I was still in a fantastic mood from Liz and my “girls’ day” earlier today, and was even pleasant to Aaron when he picked the girls up for the weekend. While it was still hard to see the girls leave, I didn’t feel as sad and lonely as I did the last time. Instead, I took a nice long hot bath then freshened up.

A little tease here and a little spray there and my hair was looking as good as it did this morning. There was a good song on the radio that I was humming to as I rooted through my shopping bag. I couldn’t contain my excitement as I put on my new jeans and shirt and slid my feet into my brand new pair of black wedge pumps. Pleased with what I saw in the mirror, I remembered that there was one last thing I needed to do. I reached back into the bag and wrapped my hand around a small jewelry box. My heart melted when I slid the sterling silver smoky quartz eternity ring that I bought earlier today onto my left ring finger.

It’s time for a new beginning!

“It’s about time you came out of hiding,” I heard yelled at me when we walked into Creekside.

It had been a couple of years since I had last been in this bar, but the old familiar feelings came rushing back to me. The front door still creaked when it was opened, and the nonstop chatter amongst the people sitting around the bar sounded the same as it did way back then.

“I know, I know,” I laughed, as Liz and I walked over to the table where Tina, Shelly and some of our other friends were sitting.

“All I’m going to say is we love you, and we miss you, and you better not avoid us anymore, or I will kick your little butt,” Shelly joked. “Now, we have a lot of catching up to do and beer to drink, so let’s get this party started.”

“Woo-hoo!” I said, taking a seat next to Tina.

We were all sitting there talking and catching up when Tony, the owner of the bar, walked over to our table.

“Oh my gosh. Long time no see,” I said, getting up to give him a hug.

“I know. I had to do a double take when you walked in,” he said, hugging me back. “I heard you stopped by.”

“Yeah . . . I was going to come inside but chickened out.”

“Surprise, surprise,” he laughed.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked, amused.

“Girls can’t go into bars by themselves or to the bathrooms by themselves or . . .”

“Okay, okay, I get the point,” I joked. “Here, have a seat and tell me what you’ve been up to these last ten years.”

He took a seat beside me and we talked for the longest time about everything we had been up to. He mentioned how he had heard through the grapevine that Aaron and I were separated, but other than that, nothing more was said about it, which was a major relief. Tony was one of my best guy friends in high school, and it was just great to talk and reminisce about all of the happy times in our lives, instead of the sad.

By nine o’clock the bar was packed, and the party was in full swing. All of us girls were on the dance floor, dancing and singing to the music and having a great time. My sisters also joined us, and Kristie and I were trying to do our “hound dog” dance we made up when we were little. We did all of the right moves just like we did way back then, until it came to the part where I had to throw her over my shoulders and swing her around in a circle. We have grown some since then, okay maybe a lot since then, and I was struggling to fling her up on my shoulders. We were both laughing so hard that I almost dropped her, so we skipped that part and danced normally again.

There was a break in the songs, and I walked up to the bar to get us girls a round of beer. While I waited for the bartender to take my order, I noticed some guys walking in the front door. My eyes instantly went to this tall, good-looking and awesomely built guy with dark blackish-brown hair and tanned skin. His head was turned to the side talking to another guy, but as soon as he faced the bar, his dark brown eyes met mine. A big smile came to his face, and he instantly made his way through the crowd to me.

“Well, well, well . . . the famous Kate Stewart, or should I say Kate Turner?” he said, leaning down to give me a hug.

“Oh my gosh—Matt Richard! What a nice surprise. How have you been?” I asked, giving him a hug back.

“Great, and how about you?” he replied, leaning forward and giving me a kiss on the cheek.

“I . . . can’t complain,” I said slowly, raising my eyebrow and looking up at him surprised.

With a grin, he winked and pointed to my shirt. I looked down and started laughing out loud. I had completely forgotten what it said.

“Nice to see some things haven’t changed . . . You are still the same ornery guy who used to torment me every day in art class.”

He threw his head back and laughed at that one. “Well, can you blame me? It wasn’t every day a class of freshman boys got to be in the presence of one of the hottest senior girls.”

“You’re still full of it,” I started to kid him but was interrupted by my friend, Tina.

“Come on. We’re all thirsty and ready to dance,” she said, grabbing the beers.

“I guess I have to go. It was great seeing you again,” I said.

“You too,” he said with a smile.

We girls danced for the next hour before another one of my friend’s started yelling “table dive, table dive.” This was something we did when we were in college. We would get about six to eight people and make two rows. Each person would stand across from someone and hold each other’s hands. Then you would stand up on the table and dive onto all of their arms, hoping they didn’t drop you.

I was standing next to the table, but it was full of beer bottles, so instead I pulled up a bar stool and climbed up on top of that.

“Everyone ready?” I asked, and they all nodded. “Okay –One, two, three and jump,” I shouted as I dove into their arms.

They caught me, thank goodness, and then safely put me back down on the ground. Sitting there shaking his head at me was Tony.

Oh no, I thought as I walked toward him.

“The last time I saw a crazy girl do that was about eleven years ago at her bachelorette party,” he said.

“And if I recall right, I did a bar slide after that,” I said.

“Oh no, no. We don’t need any of that going on tonight,” he laughed.

Wanting to take a break, I sat back down at the table and was talking to Shelly when Matt came walking towards us with two beers in his hand. He pulled up a bar stool and handed me a beer.

“Hey there,” I said with a big smile. “What’s this for?”

“This is for making me one of the coolest guys in underclassmen history.”

“Really? And how did I do that?” I asked, amused.

“You asked me to dance with you at prom, and it isn’t very often that a freshman boy gets to dance with the prom queen.”

I sat there thinking back to my senior year and then started to laugh. “I completely forgot about that. Weren’t you on the student council and collecting tickets that night?”

“Yeah, and we danced right after you were crowned queen and made out with the king.”

“I did not make out with the king.”

“It’s your story, and you can tell it however you want,” he said, patting my leg.

“Whatever. If I remember right, I had just finished having a very traditional queen/king kiss when your mom came to pick you up. I asked her if I could have one dance with the kid who tormented me every day of my senior year.” I then chuckled out loud. “I will never forget the look on your face when I did that. For the first time ever, you were speechless and almost looked horrified. But eventually you loosened up and even dipped me when the song was over.”

“What in the heck was I thinking? I was a little squirt back then and could have easily dropped you. I was already petrified of the senior guys, especially after you threatened me, saying you would have them beat me up if I pulled any more pranks on you.”

“Well, can you blame me? All I wanted to do was work on my college portfolio, but you and your friends wouldn’t leave me alone. You all were like a swarm of bees and pestered me from the time I walked in until the time I’d leave.”

“Sorry about that . . . We were kind of mean to you.”

“Kind of?” I asked, raising my eyebrow up at him, and he smiled back at me with this innocent grin on his face. “Seriously though, you guys weren’t that bad and when the jokes weren’t aimed at me, I kind of liked hanging out with you. You were all funny and definitely made me laugh a lot.”

“Whew! That’s a relief to hear. I was worried you might still be plotting your revenge on me. So before you change your mind, I say we call a truce,” he said, putting his beer bottle up.

“Truce,” I said, tapping his beer bottle with mine.

“So what brings you out tonight?” he then asked. “I had to look twice when I walked in and saw you. You haven’t been up here in years.”

“I know,” I started to say. “Since having kids, I have kind of turned into a hermit.”

“What do you mean turned into one? Weren’t you always one?”

“Ha-ha,” I said, jokingly slugging his arm.

“I’m just kidding,” he said. “So, speaking of kids, how many do you have now?”

“I have two daughters. Jenna, who turned ten in November, and Mia will be three in April.”

“Wow, a little bit of an age difference there.”

“Yeah, I spaced them out so I would always have a built-in babysitter,” I joked.

“So where’s Aaron tonight?” he casually asked, obviously not knowing we were separated.

“Well,” I started to say, but then paused. “The truth is Aaron and I are going through a divorce.”

The second the words left my mouth, his brown eyes widened and his jaw dropped. “I’m so sorry. I swear I had no idea or I never would have asked,” he apologized.

“Oh, no, please don’t be sorry. This just happened a month ago, so you wouldn’t have known.”

“Wow, I’m in complete shock. Never in a million years would I have guessed something like this would ever happen to you two. Are you doing okay?” he asked with a concerned look on his face.

“To be honest, this last month has been pure hell, but things are slowly getting better. This was something I never saw coming, so I was completely blindsided when it happened. But thank God for my family and my friends. Mom and Dad instantly offered for me and the girls to stay in the apartment above their garage, and my sisters and friends have just been plain great. Even though I was angry at the world and tried to push them away, they were still there for me.”