Perfectly Ever After (Pieces) (4 page)

             
Katie looked confused. “What?”

             
“Why would having a tattoo have made Carly more friends?”

             
“Oh, shit.” Katie’s eyes darted cautiously to Carly. “You didn’t tell him, did you?”

             
“No. Not yet,” Carly replied icily.

             
Katie jumped up from the floor. “Man, you know what? I am
super
thirsty. I think I’m just going to go get a drink. Can I get anyone one? No? Great. See ya in a few.” She practically sprinted from the room as Carly and I stared at one another.

             
Finally, I couldn’t take the silence anymore. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”

             
“That depends.”

             
“On what?”

             
“If you’re in a good mood or not.” Carly cracked a slight smirk, probably hoping to lessen the tension that had enveloped the room.

             
I just looked at her, letting her know that any good mood that had been present had vanished.

             
She sighed before standing and walking toward me, though stopping a few feet away. “Remember when Corinne texted to tell you I was passed out on her couch last Saturday?”

             
I simply nodded.

             
“Well, that may have been a lie.” Carly winced as she spoke, as if saying the words had hurt her.

             
My shoulders squared and I shoved my hands in my pockets. Tension radiated through my body. I could handle a lot of things. Lying wasn’t one of them. “So what’s the truth?”

             
Carly’s eyes flashed to the floor before she brought them back up to my face. “I may have gotten arrested.”

             
My jaw dropped in shock.
Arrested? Is this a fucking joke?

             
“It’s pretty funny really,” she continued.

             
I straightened again, almost challenging her to make it even remotely funny.

             
“I was really drunk, Adam. I only remember bits and pieces of what happened.”

             
“I’m sure your friends have filled in the gaps by now,” I replied tersely.

             
“Yeah, they have,” she said shyly. “Okay, here it goes. We were walking through the city, heading to another bar, when we passed one of those horse-drawn carriages. The driver wasn’t around, so I decided to climb up in his seat so the girls could take my picture.”

             
“That’s it? You were arrested for that?” Disbelief dripped from my mouth with the words.

             
“No. I was . . . um . . . arrested for operating a vehicle while intoxicated.”

             
“What?” I yelled

             
“I wanted the picture to look authentic, so I untied the horse’s reins from where the driver had tied them, and climbed into his seat. But then the stupid horse started to move. For the record, it’s way harder to steer those things than it looks.”

             
Her attempt at humor fell flat as I stared at her. “Are you for real right now?”

             
“Unfortunately, yes. The driver came running out, but the horse had already pulled me halfway down the block. Thank God those horses are trained to walk so slowly because the driver was able to catch up to us before we reached the intersection. But then he started screaming at me, and making a huge scene, so a policeman stopped. And that’s when I got arrested.”

             
It was the most ridiculous story I had ever heard. And part of me wanted to laugh. But a bigger part of me was furious that this was the first I was hearing about it. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me? You had your friends lie to me, Carly. Do you have any idea what that feels like? That my soon-to-be wife gets arrested and instead of calling for me to come help her, she lies to me about it instead?”

             
She moved closer to me, and placing them on my chest. “I’m so sorry, Adam. I didn’t even know they had lied to you until the next day. I was drunk and wasn’t thinking straight.”

             
“But you weren’t drunk the next day. Or any of the other days between Saturday and today. But you still never told me. Were you
ever
going to be honest with me?” The anger was radiating off of me. She knew how important honesty was to me, but she’d kept up the lie anyway.

             
“Yes, I swear I was going to tell you. But everything has been so crazy with the wedding, and I didn’t want to infuse one more piece of drama into this week. And it really isn’t a big deal. Once I sobered up, the police simply issued a ticket and told me to pay the fine. It won’t even go on my permanent record. I think they found the whole thing pretty entertaining.”

             
I was sure the look on my face informed her that I didn’t agree with the cops’ assessment of the situation. “You’re wrong, Carly. This is a
very
big deal.” I turned back toward the patio, not needing to see her to know that she understood why I was taking this so seriously. She was well aware of my past, and also probably had a pretty good idea of how I’d react to the fact that she'd withheld this news. As I looked outside, seething, my body stiffened as my eyes began to dart around the yard. “Where did Eva and Cage go?”

             
Carly moved to look around me. “I’m not sure.”

             
Yanking the doors open, I stepped outside. “Eva? Eva, where are you?” No answer. I scanned the backyard for any sign of them, but saw nothing. When I walked back into the house, I began searching for them. I opened the basement door and yelled down. Nothing. I walked into the kitchen, but only found Katie nervously biting her nails. Finally, I walked over to the stairs and yelled up. “Eva, are you up there?”

             
I swung around quickly, figuring she couldn’t be up there. But my body jerked to a halt when I heard her reply.

             
“Eva, get down here right now,” I demanded from the foot of the steps.

             
Seconds later, Eva sheepishly started down the stairs with that cocky punk right behind her. She stopped halfway down and leaned against the wall.

             
"Has everyone lost their goddamn minds today?” My voice was almost shrill. I took a calming breath before continuing. “You know you’re not allowed to have boys in your room. What are you thinking?”

             
Eva’s voice was quiet when she answered me. “We just went up there real quick because I had to recharge my phone.”

             
“I’m really supposed to believe that? Come on, Eva. I wasn’t born yesterday.”

             
Eva looked affronted as she met my eyes, her own anger showing in hers. “It’s the truth.”

             
“That seems to be a novel concept in this house: truth. I’m starting to think no one is capable of it.”

             
“Adam, that’s enough. Maybe Cage should head home so that we can talk to Eva about this in private.”

             
I flew around to face Carly, the words out of my mouth before I had time to think about them. “
We
don’t need to do anything.
I
will talk to
my
daughter. Besides, I’m not sure your influence is really what’s best for Eva right now.”

Once I processed the words, and registered the devastation on Carly’s face, my senses returned.
 I had never wanted to take words back so badly in my life. “Shit, Carly, I didn’t mean that.”

“Save it, Adam.
Katie,” she called and waited for her sister to appear. “We’re leaving.”

Katie simply nodded and helped Carly gather her things
before they headed out the door.

“Baby, please, don’t go.
Let me apologize,” I begged, but to no avail. She walked out of my house without so much as a look back. I sighed heavily, still staring at the door. “Time for you to go too, Cage.”

“Bye, Eva.
I’ll see you tomorrow.” I thought I heard the little prick give Eva a kiss before he came down the steps and strutted out the front door. At least he had sense enough not to say a word to me.

I roughly pushed the door shut behind Cage as he left, and just stood there for a few seconds, trying like hell to regain some control.

“Dad,” Eva started.

“Don’t,” I warned without turning around.
“Just go up to your room. You knew the rules, and you broke them. You’re grounded. And if you argue with me, Eva, I swear, not only will Cage not be coming to the wedding, but you won’t see him at all.”

All I heard was a huff from behind
 
me before she stalked back up the stairs and slammed her door.

I shook my head, wondering how everything had gone to hell so quickly.
But more importantly, I wondered how the hell I was going to fix it.

Chapter 4: “Collide” (Howie Day)

I gave Carly enough time to get back to her apartment in the city before I called her. And when she didn't answer, I hung up and called again. And again. I finally left a voicemail the fourth time, explaining that I was sorry and for her to please call me. The fifth time I called, her phone went straight to voicemail, indicating that Carly had most likely turned the damn thing off.

I went up to bed early, weary from two of the most important women in my life being supremely pissed at me. But I didn't sleep. Tossing and turning all night, I thought about what I said to Carly and how unfair it had been. Though I couldn't help but ponder the ways she'd been unfair to me as well.

For me, this whole thing came down to trust – trust that we would be honest with each other, especially if one of us was in some kind of trouble. But Carly hadn't done that. She hadn't trusted me to know that she'd been arrested. I wondered what it was about our relationship that made her feel she couldn't come to me. And I worried that her reason was something fundamental to our lives together. Something we couldn't move forward without.

Thinking sucks.

I couldn't bring myself to delve into the Cage
issue with Eva. It was something that would have to wait until after the wedding.
If
Carly was talking to me in time for us to
have
a wedding.

That thought jarred me more fully awake. I couldn't play these games.
Refusing to lie there and wonder about where I stood with Carly for one more minute, I rolled out of bed. The clock next to me illuminated the time: 3:26. I quickly pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie, and reached for a piece of paper and a pen so I could leave a note for Eva explaining where I'd gone. I crept quietly down the hall and into Eva's room. I placed the note on the bedside table on top of her phone, knowing she'd see it there. As I turned around to leave, I couldn't help but stop and look at Eva's sleeping form for a moment. I rarely got to see her this way anymore: calm, relaxed, silent. I couldn't resist leaning down to place a gentle kiss on her cheek, just like I used to do after I tucked her in when she was a little girl.

I suddenly found myself overwhelmed with the speed at which time passed. And deciding not to waste another second, I quickly left the room and headed to Carly
’s.

***

Finding a parking spot outside of Carly's building wasn't an easy feat. But after finally finding one a block and a half away, I hurried toward her apartment. I hadn't given much thought to what I was actually going to say once I got there, but I was sure something would come to me. Hopefully it'd be the right something.

I punched in the code to enter and waved to George, the security officer who guarded her lobby.

"Late night, Mr. Carter?"

"One of the latest," I replied as I boarded the elevator and hit the button for the sixth floor.

When the elevator dinged, letting me know I had reached my destination, my stomach lurched slightly. The truth was, I had no clue how our talk would play out. And that scared the living fuck out of me.

I arrived at her door and stood there staring at it for a few moments, trying to calm my breathing and convince myself that
going there had been a good idea. Finally, I rang the bell. Impatience washed through me, so I started firmly knocking on her door. "Carly? Baby, it's Adam. Can you open the door please? Carly?"

The door jerked open, and I found myself face
-to-face with a still sleepy Carly, dressed in flannel pajama pants and a white tank top. Even mussed by sleep, she was still breathtaking.

"Adam?" she whispered, breaking my trance. "What are you doing here?
It's four in the morning."