Shattered (Shattered #1) (19 page)

“Sorry,” she backed up slightly. “This is more important than a shower
right now.”

“Avery,” I began to sob again. “He’s leaving…and he…didn’t…even ask…me,”
I choked out.

“What? Who’s leaving? Nick?” she crinkled her forehead, and darted her
eyes around.

I nodded, “he told me last night. He’s moving. He didn’t even ask me if
I’d go with him. He just assumed that I would. I’m so mad at him right now.”

Avery smirked, and then sobered her face when I scowled, “seems to me
that the shoes on the other foot now. Doesn’t feel so good does it?”

“This is not the same thing,” I huffed, and crossed my arms. “He has a
job here. I’m here. Why would he want to leave?”

“Leah…he’s trying to make a better life for himself. Would you listen to
yourself? He wants to be with you. He wants to be the man that you see him as.
He wouldn’t have taken this job, if he didn’t think it was going to make things
better.”

I slumped down on the bed. Was she right? Was I overreacting? Could I
really do it? Leave again? With Nick? “Do you think I could do it? Leave?” I
glanced over at her.

She nodded, and hugged me, “Your dad loves you. He would support this,”
she whispered in my ear.

I wiped at my eyes, and stood from the bed. I slid my feet into a pair
of flip flops, and grabbed my purse off the floor. When I pulled my cell out, I
notice that the battery had gone dead. If Nick had tried to call me, he
wouldn’t have been able to get through.

“I need to go,” I mumbled as I dashed toward the front door.

“Go get him,” Avery giggled from behind me.

ooooooooo

As I drove through town heading toward Nick’s house, I began running the
previous night’s conversation through my head. He had looked so distraught over
the fact that I was mad at him. It had been obvious after the fact that he’d
been trying to tell me that he was leaving all night. I knew that I was going
to run out of chances of fixing this if I wasn’t careful. I’d been pushing him
away so much recently. He’d stuck by me through all the stuff with my mom, he’d
given me a second chance when I came home, even the other night when we were
fighting about Becca and his past, he’d forgiven me for that too.

When I pulled up to his house, his truck was missing. In its place was a
silver Volvo. I had no idea who’s it was, maybe Cam’s or Sarah’s. If I had been
paying more attention I might have felt the warning my gut was giving me. Something
was off, and I began to have a sinking feeling that I was too late. Could he
have left already?

I trudged up the front steps, and knocked on the door. I stepped back,
and waited as I glanced down at myself. I was still wearing the dress from the
night before. My hair was a mess, and I’m sure my eyes were red. Before I could
contemplate trying to make myself presentable, the door knob began to turn.

When the door opened, I felt all the air whoosh out of my lungs. There,
standing in one of Nick’s shirts and a pair of boxers was the one woman who I
never wanted to see come out of Nick’s house.

“Morning Leah,” Becca smiled a cunning smile as she glanced over her
shoulder. “Nick’s getting dressed.”

I didn’t know what to do. I stood rooted in place, hoping that this
whole morning was a dream. It had to be, he wouldn’t do this.

“W…wh…what are you doing here?” I stuttered.

Becca grinned, and chewed on a fingernail trying to act all innocent,
“Well you see, I found Nicky all upset last night, and I came back with him to
make him feel better. He said you were ok with it,” she cocked her head to the
side.

Before I could say anything else, Nick came out of the bedroom door
behind her. He had a towel wrapped around his waist, and his hair was wet as if
he’d just gotten out of the shower. I glanced between the two of them as my
mouth dropped open.

My hand came up as tears welled in my eyes for the hundredth time in the
last twenty four hours. I shook my head from side-to-side as I started walking
backward. This was not happening. This was not real.

I turned and bolted for my car as Nick began to stride toward the door.
I had to get away. I was stupid to think that I meant something to him. How
could he have thrown it all away like that?

“Leah wait!” he bellowed. “Stop!”

I frantically fought to get my car door open as he caught up to me, and
grabbed my arm. “Let go of me!” I screamed as I whirled around. “Don’t touch me
you asshole!”

“It’s not what you think,” he staggered back. He was standing there in
his towel barefoot, and it was the sexiest sight I’d seen in days. Anger and
desire fought for dominance in my head, but anger won out as I saw Becca
perched on the porch watching us.

“Not what I think?” I yelled. “I think it’s exactly what I think. You
got mad at me, and you fucked her,” I pointed in Becca’s direction. “She’s what
you want Nick. I can’t believe I was stupid enough to come over here and try to
work this out. I was ready to leave for you,” I shook my head, and opened my
car door. “Not anymore. I hope you two are very happy together. Goodbye Nick,”
I climbed in my car, and headed home.

As I glanced up into the review mirror, I watched Nick’s form get
smaller and smaller as I drove away. I couldn’t believe what had just happened.
How had my life gone from so perfect five years ago, to this mess that it was
now? No more…I had to make a change, and moving on without Nick seemed to be
the only way.

I cried the entire ride back to my place, but once I reached my front
door, I made a promise. No more tears for someone who didn’t want me. No more
worrying over something I had no control over. I would move on. Nick could have
Becca, he could have his stupid job, and whatever future he wanted as long as I
wasn’t part of if it. I was done…

Chapter
20

Nick

3 weeks later…

As I glanced around my half
empty house, I huffed in aggravation. It shouldn’t have been like this. Getting
away from this town, away from the ghosts that haunted my past…it should have
been a celebration.

I hadn’t heard from Leah
since she showed up on my porch that morning. I’d tried calling, and stopping
by, but she wouldn’t talk to me. I couldn’t really blame her. I’d screwed up
royally.
 
I’d be lucky if she ever talked
to me again. I had no idea how to fix the messed up relationship that was us. I
knew that if I’d walked in on her with another guy, I’d have gone mental.

“I think that’s the last of
it,” Cam sighed bringing me back to the present.

“Yeah…anything that I
missed, I can always come back for,” I nodded as I glanced around the living
room. Cam was planning to stay in Pittsford to be near Sarah and the baby, so I
was leaving the house for him.

“Sarah might move in here,
if that’s ok with you,” he placed his hand on my shoulder.

“Sure…it’s your place now,
just don’t trash it,” I grinned as I glanced over at him.

“Dude…I’m not the partying
type anymore. I gave it up…I’m going to be a dad in a few months,” Cam grinned.

“We’ll see,” I shook my
head, and moved to sit on the couch.

“So are you going to stop by
and see her before you go?” Cam turned toward me and cocked his head to the
side.

“No…she doesn’t want
anything to do with me,” I sighed. “She’s made it clear that I’m the last
person she wants to see, and I can’t blame her. I really screwed up.”

“You’ve got that right.
You’re lucky she hasn’t tried to remove your manhood.”

“She might as well have. She
was everything to me, and I managed to throw it all away,” I stood and walked
toward the front door. “You know you can come stay with me anytime you’d like.
Bring Sarah too. My new place is right on the water.”

“Sounds great Bro. I’m gonna
miss you,” he clapped me on the back in a manly hug. “Good luck!”

“Thanks,” I turned, and made
my way out to my truck. After starting the engine, and backing out of the
driveway, I turned, and glanced at my house one last time. I was going to miss
this place. I was going to miss all the memories that I’d created here, even
the bad ones…because they were what made me who I am.

I shook my head, and put the
truck in drive. As I made my way out of the town that I’d called home for the
past twenty five years, I watched Pittsford disappear in my rearview.

ooooooooo

Leah

The days had begun to blend
together so much that I really didn’t realize how rapidly time was going by.
I’d kept to myself these last few weeks. My days were spent working in the
pizza shop, and hanging out with Avery or my dad. Nick had called several times,
but after hanging up on him, and refusing to answer the door, I think he
finally got the message. Four days ago he’d cut off all contact.

I resigned from working at
the high school. There were too many memories there, and I really did need to
help my dad. He still had not hired anyone to manage the place. I sort of
wondered if he was hoping that I’d take over. He’d mentioned it before, but
only in a joking manner.

Avery was getting closer and
closer to Logan. I’d wondered how long it would be before they came out and
called what they were doing ‘dating’. Becca had stayed away after that morning
that I found her at Nick’s place. I don’t think she really wanted him, I just
think that she didn’t want me to have him. I don’t know what I ever did to her to
make her hate me so much, but she always had.

“Want to take a walk with
me?” my dad called as he rounded the corner. “It’s not that busy today, thought
I’d close for a lunch break.”

“Sure,” I sighed as I tossed
the rag I was using to wipe down tables up onto the counter.

Dad came around to the
front, and placed the sign in the window reading “just missed us, back in an
hour,” and we headed out the door.

“How are you doing with all
of this?” Dad turned a concerned eye toward me.

“With what?” I huffed.

“With him leaving soon,” he
wrapped his arm around my shoulders as we ambled along the sidewalk.

“Fine…he can do whatever he
wants now…we’re not together anymore.”

“Leah…I know you loved him.
I know you’re trying to get over him, and I also know that no matter how hard
you fight it, you still love him,” he gave me a knowing look. “It’s ok to not
be ok with him leaving.”

“Can we not talk about this”
I glanced over at Dad as we rounded the corner. I hadn’t been paying attention,
so I hadn’t noticed that we were heading right for the cemetery. I glanced up
just as we walked through the gate, “What are we doing here?”

“I want to tell you
something…something about your mom and me,” he rubbed his eyes, and began
leading me over to a bench near my mom’s head stone. I had only been back here
once since my mom had died. As I sat there glancing around, the memories washed
over me. It was hard coming here, but it was slowly getting easier.

“You see those right there,”
Dad pointed at a bunch of yellow roses that were piled on Mom’s grave.

“Yeah,” I nodded.

“Yellow means forgiveness,”
he slumped forward and placed his elbows on his knees. “They’re from me.”

“Why?” I crinkled my
forehead as I thought about everything my mom and dad had fought about over the
years and couldn’t place anything that would require flowers. “I don’t remember
you and mom fighting before she died.”

“We didn’t. We were happy
then,” he nodded and turned his head to look at me as pain flooded his
features. “When your mom and I first married, we had a lot of ups and downs.
We’d gotten married young, right out of high school. Your mom got pregnant
right after with you. We’d opened the pizza shop, and it wasn’t doing very well
at first. I’d felt like a failure. Your mom had trusted me to take care of her,
and you,” he shifted in his seat, and cupped my cheek. “One night after working
late, I decided to go out with some friends. I knew I should have gone home to
be with your mom, but I just wanted to get away from it all. In the back of my
mind, I knew I was happy, but several of my friends had me convinced that I was
missing out on something. That my life as a married father was lacking. I had
been feeling the burdens of adulthood, and just wanted to escape. We went to a
bar that night, and one beer slowly turned into ten. Women who I thought didn’t
even see me in the past began flirting and showing interest. I began
questioning everything in my life, wondering if I had settled too soon, if I
should have waited and enjoyed living the high life. The next day, I found
myself in someone else’s bed with a woman I didn’t even know wrapped around
me.”

My mouth dropped open in
shock at my dad’s confession. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You
cheated on Mom? Why?”

“Yes honey. It was only a
onetime thing. I felt so bad after it happened, that I went straight home and
told her. She was hurt of course, and there was a lot of screaming and yelling,
but I knew I still loved her. I realized that I didn’t want anyone else. She
was my perfect match,” he looked up at me with tears in his eyes. “I’ve spent
the last thirty years telling her how sorry I am that I ever questioned our
love. She’s never held my mistake over me, but I felt I owed it to her to
always remind her that I was sorry. I’ve been giving her yellow roses once a
week since it happened.”