Page 47 of Another Love, Another Time

Auggie

When I walk into the party, I know I’m running late.

I’m looking for River. I need to talk to her about a case we are working on.

Melissa has been texting me, asking me where I’m at.

So has River, but I was on a call with someone in the department.

I texted them both back that I was about five minutes from the house.

As soon as I’m through the gate, I’m looking for River.

Someone grabs my hand, and I’m pulled in another direction.

I’ve been in Melissa’s backyard before, but it’s never been this crowded or this put-together.

I’m not sure who is dragging me through the crowd until I run my eyes up the length of the person’s arm: Melissa.

I start to pull back. At the motion, she turns her head and gives me a small smile.

“Hey, slow down,” I say jokingly. “Where’s the fire?”

She answers, “I need you. You’re late.”

“Okay, okay.”

She pulls me up on a stage. I let her. Maybe she needs my help with something. Her mom is talking to the crowd. I’m not paying attention to what is being said. I’m looking in the crowd for River, but I can’t see her from where I am.

The next thing I know, I hear something about Melissa being engaged. I’m confused, not sure what’s going on. I look around for River again, and I smile when I finally find her. I see hurt in her eyes, and then, Melissa’s lips are on mine.

I’m frozen in shock for a second. I don’t return the kiss, unsure of what is going on, but when I finally come to my senses, I pull away.

I look for River, but she’s gone. I need to talk to her, but I need to find out what the hell is going on first. River had to see how confused I was.

I need to talk to Melissa alone, but before I have a chance to talk to her, Melissa and I are swarmed with friends and family who would like to congratulate us. I know my parents are here. I’ve seen a few people from work here. “How the hell am I going to explain this?” I wonder.

~~

I’m wearing a tight smile. Before another person congratulates us, I turn to Melissa and tell her we need to talk.

I excuse us from the crowd, drag her into the house, and pull her into a guest room.

I need to understand how she could have concluded that I had asked her to marry me. When I shut the door, I turn on her.

“Melissa, what’s going on?” I demand. She pulls me closer, going in for a kiss, but I pull back, putting distance between us. “What is going on?”

She furrows her brows. “What do you mean?”

“We both know I did not ask you to marry me,” I growl.

“What? I thought—”

I interrupt her. “Melissa, I’m telling you I did not propose.

If I did, it would have been clear. I would have given you a ring.

Where the hell did the one on your finger even come from?

Forget it. I don’t even want to know. I just need to know what is going on.

What did I say to make you think we are engaged? ”

I can see tears in her eyes, but they don’t seem genuine. For the first time, I can see the Melissa that River sees. The manipulator. She’s putting on a show. Now I see her for who she is. She played me, used me, and the only person I can blame is myself because I allowed it to happen.

The only girl I’ve ever imagined marrying is River. God, how am I going to explain myself to her? She’s going to think I’m engaged to Melissa. We are rebuilding our friendship, and now, this will take us backwards. I will fix this.

Shaking myself out of my thoughts, I get back to the discussion that is long overdue.

I always thought Melissa was a friend to me, but I’m starting to see what River has been telling me all these years, what Logan warned me about.

Part of me wants to give Melissa the benefit of the doubt, but something tells me she knew exactly what she was doing.

I fist my hands at my sides, trying to control my anger. “Look, I didn’t ask you to marry me.”

“What do you mean? You said you were ready to be serious. You said you were ready for the next step.”

“What the fuck?” I think. “The conversation from the restaurant. Fuck. I’m an idiot. I thought she understood. Mackey is going to have a field day with this.”

“So, I told you I wanted to get serious, that I was ready for marriage and kids, and you thought I was proposing? That was me asking you to move out. I do want those things, but not with you.” If this weren’t my life, I would think I’m being Punk’d.

She gasps and then starts bawling. “I can’t believe this. She’s ruined everything. Why did she have to come back? Everything was perfect. This is because of River, isn’t it?”

“Ah, so this is about River,” I think.

“This has nothing to do with River,” I retort. “Regardless of whether River is here or not, I would never ask you to marry me. We have only been friends and roommates, nothing more. I have been very clear on that, especially since we moved back to Hannibal.”

“I thought you wanted to be with me. Oh, God! We can’t tell anyone about this. I’ll be the laughingstock of this town. You know how people are, Auggie. Promise me you won’t say anything.”

She starts crying again, but I’m not buying it. She’s trying to back me into a corner. I’ve let her get away with so much over the years because I didn’t want to confront her or hurt her feelings, and this is the result.

She thought I would just roll over and go with this. She’s crazy. Why the hell would she think we would go from platonic roommates to planning a wedding?

Before I can say anything, she continues, “I love you, Auggie. I know you love me too. River left you, and I’ve been here for you ever since. Then, she shows up, and I’m forgotten.”

I start laughing; I don’t know why I didn’t see it sooner.

I snap, “She left because of you, because she saw me kissing you, and I fucking lied to her about it. And what do I do? I befriend you and defend you. God, I’m such a fucking idiot.

” I run my hands through my hair. At this point.

I don’t care about her feelings. Apparently, I’ll have to spell it out to her.

“I don’t love you, Melissa, and right now, I don’t even like you.

I love River. I’ve always loved River. I appreciate everything you did for me in college, but I won’t allow this anymore.

I have tried to be a good friend, but I will not go another second allowing people to think that we are engaged and planning to get married. ”

She knows the jig is up. “Please don’t do that, Auggie. You know how many people are here?” She’s starting to panic. She sees she’s not going to sweet-talk me into budging.

I hold my hands up in defense and say, “Hey, I didn’t do this.

You did. I apologize if I wasn’t clear at the restaurant, but you didn’t tell me tonight’s party was an engagement party, let alone ours.

How many times have we spoken this week?

Don’t you think that would have been something you should have informed me of if I had actually proposed to you?

What I don’t understand is why you thought I would go along with something like this.

And worst of all, you knew River was going to be here.

You did this to hurt her and try to force me into a relationship. ”

I’m disgusted with myself and with Melissa. I feel myself getting angry. I have to get out of here. Before I can leave, she grabs my arm. I look back and make eye contact with her. What I see can only be described as evil.

“If you do this, I’ll make you regret it,” she hisses between her teeth.

I stiffen but recover quickly. “There she is,” I yank my arm from her grasp and sneer at her.

This is the Melissa River always talked about, the one I’ve never been privy to.

“Oh, I have no doubt you will, but I’d rather face the consequences than pretend to want to marry you.

You can either go out there with me and tell everyone, or I’ll do it alone. Your choice.”

I have no words, no excuses. Was she that good at hiding this side of herself, or was I just that big of an idiot? It’s probably the latter. River saw it. Logan saw it. The guys on the team all saw it.

I always gave her the benefit of the doubt. I always thought she allowed me to see a different side of her. I thought she was misunderstood, but apparently, that was for my benefit only. The look she gives me sends chills down my spine.

I don’t want to be in this room any longer, but I have to get one more point across, and this time, I’ll be very clear.

“And I want your shit out of my house by the end of the day tomorrow. I’ll have Mackey and the guys over there tomorrow to supervise.

If you don’t, I’ll make sure your stuff is delivered to your parents’ house. Either way, I want you out.”

I throw the door open and stalk back out to the party. I hear her scream and throw something against the wall. I keep going. Apparently, she’s not coming with me. That’s fine. It will be easier this way.

As I walk back into the party, people try to stop me to talk. My mom is one of them. I respond, “I can’t talk right now.” I keep going, not allowing anyone to say anything to me until I reach the stage where the DJ is playing music.

I’m tired of being the nice guy. What has that gotten me? I lost five years with the most important person to me, and now, I might have lost her for good. I can’t think about that right now. Right now, I need to set the record straight, and then I’ll go to her.

I lean in to speak to the DJ. “Hey, man. Do you have the mic? I want to say something.”

“Sure thing. Here you go. Congratulations, by the way.”

I don’t respond. He’ll know in a few short seconds that there is nothing to congratulate me for, other than escaping a crazy woman. I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself.