Page 35 of Another Love, Another Time

Auggie

I’m so mad. Outside, I walk over to the cooler, grab a beer, pull out my phone, and shoot off a text to Logan.

Auggie: You’ve been talking to River the whole time?

I know I’m being irrational; I don’t expect to see a response from him. He knows I’m mad. He lied to me.

When River first left, I asked him repeatedly if she had reached out, and he always said no. I thought he was just as hurt as I was that she left and cut off all communication. Now, after all this time, I find out he’s always been able to reach her.

Logan: We’ll talk tomorrow.

I pull the tab of my beer can and down about half of it.

I don’t want to get drunk tonight, but I also don’t not want to get drunk.

I wasn’t planning on going home tonight, not after my earlier call.

I don’t want to have to deal with that. I already told Mackey I would be staying in his guest bedroom.

I look up and see River walk out of the house. She’s only gotten prettier in the years she’s been gone. She glances my way as a gesture to see if I’m okay. I hate that I just blew up at her.

It wasn’t her fault. She’s right; she couldn’t trust me.

I’m not going to lie and say it doesn’t hurt.

I hurt her badly. The past week has been nice, just being able to hang out with her.

We still haven’t talked about what happened, but I know we will eventually.

She said she wasn’t running anymore. I’m happy about that.

I need to be able to explain my side. I never wanted to see her hurt.

I see her coming my way, beer in hand.

“I see you’re still drinking Natty Lite,” I start casually.

“I already told Mackey not to make fun of my beer choice. Now you too.” She laughs, but it’s strained. I shouldn’t have blown up like that at her.

I grab her free hand, intertwine our pinkies, and squeeze. It’s a gesture I’ve always done when I’m apologizing. “I’m sorry I blew up at you earlier. I guess I was mad that for all these years, Logan was able to talk to you, and I wasn’t. Plus, Logan told me that he didn’t talk to you.”

“In his defense, it wasn’t right away. It was around the same time my dad passed away.”

I look down, pissed that I had let another chance to talk to her slip through my hands.

“Don’t feel bad, Aug. It was a rough time for me. I needed a friend, and you were with Melissa.”

“I wasn’t with Melissa,” I argue.

She shakes her head. “That’s not what it looked like to me.”

“I wasn’t. She rode down with us for the funeral. She was dev.”, I start to say, but she interrupts me.

“It doesn’t matter, Auggie. I was just trying to say that I needed someone. You seemed occupied. Logan was there.” She shrugs.

“So, you needed me, and once again I wasn’t there for you.” I’m disgusted with myself.

“Don’t. It’s okay. It was okay. I got through it. It’s one of those things that has made me stronger. “Don’t be mad at Logan. I don’t think he did it to piss you off,” she says in his defense.

“You’re right.” Then, we’re silent for a minute.

“You think your mom will make some of that corn dip for tomorrow?” She changes topics to break the tension.

“She usually does, but I’ll text her just in case she wasn’t planning on it.”

Mackey comes up behind her as I pull out my phone to text my mom. “Hey, Baxter. You want to play a game of cornhole?”

She gives me one more good look before she approaches the cornhole boards. Mackey turns to me and asks, “You decide what you’re going to do yet?”

“No. We still need to talk. We both need to say our piece. And anyways, she’s married, Mackey. I heard her talk to her husband. You can tell they care for each other.”

“Did you just hear yourself? You said ‘care.’”

“What are you saying?”

“You didn’t say ‘love.’”

I give him a look. “Just drop it, Mackey. I could feel the love from their conversation.”

He scoffs, holding back a laugh. “‘Feel the love,’” he mocks. “Do you know how long they’ve been married? She said they have never lived together. What kind of marriage is that?”

Mackey only knows the bits and pieces that I’ve told him when he asked. He knew from the moment he saw the two of us together that we had history. He’s a detective, for goodness’ sake.

I need to talk to River before the barbecue tomorrow. I don’t want to push her into talking, but the sooner we talk, the sooner we can get through our shit.

Melissa will be there tomorrow, and I don’t want her to be caught off guard. I mean, River should know my mom invites everyone.

~~

I wake up with a pounding headache, and my mouth feels as dry as the Sahara. I drank a little more than I thought I would. I forgot to close the curtains because the sun is shining through. I groan as Mackey’s dog jumps in bed with me and licks my face.

I didn’t get a chance to talk to River before she left. Matter of fact, I’m pretty sure I passed out before she left. After the first cornhole game, she and Mackey kept winning.

Mackey enters the room with a bottle of water and a bottle of Aleve.

“Call your attack dog off,” I groan.

“Bailey, off.” He drags his dog off me. “How are you feeling? I told you to take some Aleve before you went to bed. Stubborn as ever.”

“I know, I know. I don’t think I’ve been that drunk in a while. What time did River end up leaving?”

“She left about an hour ago.”

I shoot up into a sitting position. “What?”

“Calm down, Romeo. She slept in my bed.”

“What?” I’m out of bed, pulling on my jeans. “How could you?”

“Calm down. I wasn’t in bed with her. I slept on the couch. She got a little drunker than she thought she would and didn’t want to drive home. She called her mom and told her that she would be staying over.”

I let out the breath that I’d been holding. River is exactly Mackey’s type, but he would never do anything that would hurt our friendship.

“Sorry,” I say while rubbing my pounding forehead.

“I’m surprised you just woke up. Your phone’s been ringing since five this morning. That’s what woke River up.”

I cringe a little. “Thanks for letting me stay last night and for letting River stay. I’m going to head out. We have a family barbecue today at my parents’. I need to get home and shower. I’m sure my mom will need some help setting up. Feel free to stop by if you’re not busy. I might need backup.”

“Please tell me you’re not bringing Psycho.”

“I’m not bringing her, but she will be there.”

He purses his lips. “I’ll bring the popcorn. Don’t worry. River seems like she can handle her own.”

~~

I’m freshly showered, and I just pulled up to my mom’s house. River is already here. I can already smell the grill going.

Leaving my truck, I walk to the backyard and see my dad throwing some ribs on the grill.

“Hey, Dad,” I greet as I approach.

“Hey, Aug. You’re here early.”

“Yeah. I came to see if Mom needed any help.”

“River and Ashley are inside helping her with the sides. You know how your mom is with her sides.”

“Yeah.” I chuckle with him.

“So, River may have told us that she’s your new partner. How’s that going?”

“Surprisingly well. It’s only been a few weeks, though.”

“Have you talked?”

“Uh, yes, Dad. You kind of have to do that when you’re partners with someone.”

“I don’t mean about the easy stuff. I’m talking about the hard stuff. About the attack?” he challenges.

“Not yet. She said she wasn’t ready.” I pause for a minute before I ask my next question. “Did you know she was married?”

My dad chokes on the beer he just sipped. “What?”

“Yeah. Her last name is ‘Baxter.’ Why keep it a secret?” I ask, thinking out loud. After talking to Mackey last night, I started thinking. My dad glances around. “He doesn’t live here. He was in the Army with her. I guess they’ve never lived together,” I explain, answering his unspoken question.

“Well, when you both do talk, you’re going to have a lot to talk about. Does she know Melissa’s coming today, and vice versa?”

“No. I tried to tell her last night, but any time Melissa comes up, she quickly changes the subject.”

“Well, I wouldn’t waste any more time. You better get in there and warn her before Melissa gets here—”

He’s cut off by someone screeching, “What the fuck!” I can’t hear the rest.

“Oh, shit, son. You'd better get in there for damage control.”

I run up the deck stairs and slide the door open.

“Hey, Auggie!” Melissa runs to me and jumps into my arms. I try to stay calm. She attempts a kiss, but I’m already trying to disengage myself from her. I can tell she’s pissed; I don’t care.

I finally disentangle myself. “What the fuck, Melissa?” She’s still trying to wrap herself around me like a goddamn python.

“This is because of her, isn’t it?” I’m so dumbfounded, I can’t put words together. I have let her get away with a lot over the years, but she knows how I feel about River.

River is going to run again. I’m such a fucking idiot. I close my eyes to brace myself, and then I hear giggling erupt. I open my eyes and see it’s coming from River. She’s got to be in shock.

She turns to me, laughing, but I can see the hurt in her eyes. “Psycho.” She shakes her head. “I should have fucking known.” She storms toward the door.

My mom and her mom yell for her. Melissa says something. All I can see is River walking out the door. What if she doesn’t come back?

I run after her. “Stop, River. Let me explain. Please don’t leave.” I whisper to myself, “Please don’t leave me again.”

She stops beside my dad. “Uncle Eddie,” she starts, “we need to make a beer run. We don’t have enough fucking beer here for me to deal with that.

” She points inside the house and turns back to me.

“I’m not running, I just need to be drunk to get through this.

I need a timeout; I need to leave before I say something I’ll regret.

I told you I wanted to wait to talk, and that’s on me, but this…

” She shakes her head. Her eyes start watering.

“You should have told me she was going to be here. Take over for your dad. We’ll be back later. ”