Page 5 of Love or Leave (Mapleton #4)

four

A ntonio finished up his rounds and headed out of the emergency unit toward the elevators. His morning had been hellish; a lunch break was exactly what he needed. He stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the third-floor cafeteria.

It took no time for his thoughts to run away from him. Before he knew it, he was in a zombie-like state, ruminating over what he'd dealt with all morning.

The elevator stopped on the next floor. He pulled his phone from his pocket and opened the browser. He typed in a few letters and Google knew exactly what he wanted—to play online Scrabble. Nothing took his mind off other people's troubles like kicking a computer's ass in Scrabble.

He waited for the game to load as the elevator continued its climb up. When it reached the third floor, Antonio stepped off and entered the cafeteria when he heard his name.

"Tonio!" Maria waved from her window table, catching his eye.

He turned toward her, racking his brain, wondering why she was there, but he came up empty. "Did we have plans?"

"No," she said, waving him off. "I just hoped I'd catch you for lunch. I grabbed your favourites." She made a jerky gesture to a sandwich, a salad, and a fruit cup as her eyes darted around the room.

Antonio put away his phone and took a seat. "Maria?"

When she gazed up at him, her eyes shed their nerves and took on the pitiful look he'd grown accustomed to seeing in the last six months.

"Something's wrong," he said, speaking his internal thoughts out loud.

Maria shoulders fell forward and she looked away from him, gazing out the window toward the forested area beyond.

Antonio’s stomach rolled. "Tell me."

She took in his eyes and her head tilted slightly to the side. "Let me hold your hand when I tell you this," she said, reaching across the table.

He rolled his eyes and shook her off. "Is it about Fran?"

"She came over this morning," Maria said, her tone shifting. "I hate that we're neighbours."

Antonio's back stiffened. "You can't say stuff like that."

"I can say how I feel," she said, stabbing him with a glare.

Sensing a scene-making lecture coming, Antonio swiftly moved on. "What did she want?"

"To RSVP."

"Oh," he said, relief flooding his body. "So she's coming?"

"Oh yeah, she's coming," Maria said, her voice all high pitched and loud. "But she's not coming alone."

Antonio's entire body froze. "She's bringing someone?"

"Can you fucking believe that?" Maria said, sitting back in her chair and shaking her head. "I can't believe mom agreed to invite her."

"Well… I… I…" Antonio stammered, trying to gather his thoughts before they all dried up. Was Fran really seeing someone else?

He swallowed the lump in his throat. "Did she say if it's serious?"

Maria shook her head. "No, but she told me who it was, and I don't think you're going to like it."

Antonio’s heart stopped. "I know him?"

"Sort of…" Maria mumbled, her gaze flicking around the room. She was clearly stalling.

"For fuck's sakes, Maria," he said, then remembered where he was and leaned in. "Who is it?"

"Blake Hunter."

Blake Hunter. He knew that name.

"How do I know that name?" he asked, racking his brain.

Maria huffed a breath. "He's that irritating guy on the news. Does all that survivor stuff."

It all clicked. Then nothing made sense again.

"Fran is dating Blake Hunter?"

"Yeah," Maria said, shaking her head. "Princess Fran, who won't even make pasta with Nonna because it hurts to stand in her heels too long, is dating a guy who voluntarily lives in a tent."

Antonio flinched.

"You know why she's doing this, don't you?"

"Maria…"

"Don't, Tonio,” she said, her voice rising. “You always defend her."

"And you've always hated her for no reason."

Maria narrowed her eyes at him. "I have reasons. And this is another one. She's coming to our parents' anniversary party with a famous date before the ink is even dry on your divorce papers."

Antonio ignored the boulder in his throat. "Technically, there isn't ink on the papers yet, and can we really call Blake Hunter famous ?"

Maria threw her hands up again before taking some calming breaths. "So you don't care that she's doing this?"

Antonio sighed. He hated the idea of seeing her with someone else—especially someone so obviously unsuitable for her. And the idea that she'd moved on made it difficult to breathe. Especially since he hadn’t.

Well, that wasn't one hundred percent true.

He'd somewhat moved on with Sara before Fran briefly came back into the picture. But Fran wasn't to blame for that. He never should have dated Sara when his wounds were still bleeding. It had been too soon.

He forced some deep breaths and looked out the window, trying not to ruminate about everything falling apart.

Again.

"Tonio," Maria said in a softer tone.

He glanced up at her clenched half-smile.

"You can't go to this party alone."

Her words sunk in and he dropped his head into his hands. "I don't know how I fucked this all up so bad."

Maria shook her head. "It's not you. You guys just aren't meant to be."

He reared back. "Not meant to be? We've known each other all our lives. If I can't make it work with her, how will I ever…" He trailed off and let the ending of the sentence hang over them like a wet rag.

How would he ever make it work with anyone?

"Maybe you can talk to her after this weekend, but I really don't think you should show up alone. She's going to be there with that guy and it's all anyone's going to talk about all night."

"I don't want to bring someone."

"Maybe a friend? Or what about that neighbour I met?"

Antonio winced. "My neighbour hates me," he said, his mind snagging on the word friend .

"Why?"

He squeezed his eyes shut. There was no way he was going to tell his sister what he’d done. "I'd rather not say."

Maria stared at him, then shook it off. "Ask a friend, find a girl on one of the apps, I don't know, but you can't walk in there alone."

Ask a friend.

Cara needed a friend to go to a concert. Maybe they could make a deal?

He laughed at himself and shook his head. No way could he do that. Max would skin him alive.

But if they never told Max…

He shook his head at the intrusive thought.

"You thought of something," Maria said, a smile tugging at her mouth. "You have your smart face on."

"There's a girl I know, but it's complicated."

"A girlfriend?"

Antonio shook his head. "No no. She's just a friend. Barely that, actually, but she might come."

Maria flopped back in her chair. "Thank God," she said. "Bring her. Bribe her if you need to."

Antonio rubbed at his face. How had it come to this? He'd honestly expected that Fran would want to work at their marriage. Bringing Blake to his parents' anniversary party? That hadn't even crossed his mind. He was still trying to wrap his head around why they'd broken up at all.

One minute they were talking about starting a family and the next she was saying they'd be happier apart, asking him to give her space.

He tried to talk to her about why, but she always evaded the question.

He'd suspected it was because he wanted a family, and she'd never exactly been the motherly type.

But she'd always said she wanted to have kids one day. Maybe she changed her mind.

Or maybe she never wanted kids and just expected she would one day?

Or maybe she wanted a family, just not with him?

He was going deep down the hole he kept finding himself in since their separation. There were no answers in the hole. Only loneliness, self-loathing, and the crushing feeling of failure.

Maria took his hand, pulling him back into reality. "You look so torn up."

Antonio straightened himself.

"What she did was unforgivable," Maria said.

"I'd forgive it," he said, shaking his head and staring off into the distance. "In a heartbeat. I expected to be where you are at this point in my life."

He'd already had the house, and his career was finally under way. He figured he'd be announcing Fran’s pregnancy to his family that Christmas. Instead, he was living in a shitty apartment all alone, sleeping on a pullout couch, and plotting to bring a fake date to his parents' anniversary party.

Maria squeezed his hand. "Sorry, Tone."

He gave a shrug and forced himself out of his self-made pity-party hole and back into reality.

Maria was right. He obviously couldn't go alone. Everyone they knew—his whole family, his cousins, grandparents, everyone—would see that Fran had moved on and that he hadn't. He already knew how the night would go—everyone giving him the same pained look Maria had just offered.

If he showed up with Cara, no one would feel bad for him. She was stunning.

But would she keep it from her brother?

Max was Antonio's best friend these days, and he'd specifically asked Antonio to stay away from Cara. And for good reason.

But he had no intention of making a move on her. He wanted to fix his marriage.

He blew out a breath and took a leap. "Put me down with a plus one."

When Maria didn't reply, he looked up at her.

"Are you sure—"

"I'm sure," he said, cutting her off. "I'll find another time to talk to Fran, if she'll let me."

Maybe things would fall into place the way they should, anyway. Fran might see how much better off she'd be with him and remember the good times they'd had together.

He knew Blake Hunter wasn't the right guy for her. He was the right guy for her. And he could explain to Fran later that Cara was just a friend doing him a favour. Everything would work out in the end.

The only thing he wasn't sure of was whether his and Max's friendship would survive if he ever found out Antonio used Cara as a date.