Love Entwined (22 page)

Just then I felt a cool breeze on my back as the door to the restaurant opened and closed.

Katie looked up and her jaw immediately fell to the ground. “Oh shit,” she said.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, fearful that she was going into early labor. “Do you need me to call Greg?”

“No, no. The baby’s fine.”

“What is it then?”

“Don’t look now but Bentley just walked in with Staci and Tanner,” she explained.

I knew she told me not to look, but it’s like in a slasher movie when the killer comes on the screen—you know you shouldn’t look, but you can’t stop yourself. I slowly turned and immediately regretted my decision. They looked like such a happy family. Tanner laughing in front of them as Bentley and Staci walked in holding each other’s hands. I turned back to face Katie, suddenly not feeling well at all.

“Ireland, are you OK? You’re white as a ghost.”

“No, I think I’m going to be sick,” I said, stuffing the ultrasound photo back in my purse before running to the restroom.

I splashed some water on my face and took a few calming breaths before walking back out into the restaurant. Just when I thought my day couldn’t get any worse, I spotted Bentley at the table talking with my best friend. I momentarily scanned the room for an exit, but sighed in defeat when I realized we were seated next to the only door.

“Hi Ireland,” Bentley said hesitantly as I approached the table.

“Hi,” I said, giving him a small wave before sitting down in my chair.

“I’m surprised to run into you on this side of the city,” Bentley said, trying to make small talk.

“Do you remember where I live,” I asked, cautiously.

“No, Greg filled me in a bit.”

“Oh. Yeah, well I was just at a doctor’s appointment. Katie was craving some pasta so we stopped for lunch.”

“Oh, I hope everything’s OK.”

“Yeah, just a routine appointment. Everything’s great,” I said, eyeing Katie to make sure she wouldn’t let anything slip about the pregnancy. I wasn’t ready to deal with everything today—especially with Staci and Tanner sitting less than ten feet away from us.

Just then our waitress walked over with Katie’s plate of pasta. “Aren’t you eating?” Bentley questioned.

“She’s not feeling well,” Katie blurted out.

“I thought you just said you were feeling fine,” Bentley questioned, furrowing his brow.

“I am. She just meant I’m full. I ate a big breakfast,” I said, trying to cover her blunder.

“Oh OK,” he said, skeptically.

“How are you doing?” I asked, quickly changing the topic away from me.

“Pretty good. My doctor should be clearing me to go back to work next week. I finally have limited use of my hand,” he explained, waving his fingers. “It’ll probably take some time for Greg to catch me up on all the accounts, but I need to get back to the grind. Staying cooped up inside all the time is torture.”

“Yeah, I bet.”

“How’s work? Greg told me that you’re a counselor?”

Bentley really didn’t remember anything about me. I swallowed back the lump in my throat before answering, “Um, yeah. I work mainly with orphans,” I said, as Staci walked over to us, slinking her arms around Bentley.

“Jamie, baby, our table is ready,” she cooed in his ear, not even paying any attention to me.

“Ok, baby, I’ll be right there.”

“Tanner is getting hungry. We probably shouldn’t keep him waiting.”

“Yeah, OK,” he said. “Wait, you’d think I’d forgotten my manners in the accident too. Ireland this is Staci and Tanner, my wife and son. This is Ireland. She’s an old family friend.”

“We’ve met,” Staci said, dangling her hand in front of my face. I couldn’t help but notice the huge diamond that was once again secured on her ring finger. Tanner gave me a small wave from behind his mother.

“Right, I should’ve known,” he said, shaking his head.

“It’s OK,” I said weakly.

“All right, well we’ll let you two enjoy the rest of your lunch. Ireland, we should catch up sometime. Maybe grab a coffee?”

“Coffee?” I muttered, lowering my head so he couldn’t see the fresh tears that were forming in my eyes. Flashes of our first date playing in my mind
. Parallel parking, Bentley’s corny pickup lines, ruby slippers . . .

“I’m sorry. Was it something I said?” Bentley said, gently placing his hand on the back of my shoulder.

“No.” It was all I was able to squeak out before Staci interjected once again.

“Jamie. We’re making this poor hostess wait for us,” she whined.

“OK, I’m coming,” he told her, before turning to face me once again. “Seriously, Ireland. Call me sometime. I’d love to catch up,” he said, pulling a business card from his wallet and handing it to me.

“OK,” I said, fingering the card as he turned to walk away.

Just as we were paying our bill, Staci returned to our table.

“Oh hey, look it’s the bitch,” Katie said. “We don’t want to hear what you have to say, Staci, so you can just turn and walk away.”

“Trust me, I don’t want to make small talk with either of you either,” she sneered. “I just came to give Ireland a little warning. You better rip up that business card—or else.”

“Or else what, Staci?” Katie chuckled.

“Just don’t call him. He’s happy. We’re happy. Just leave it be,” she said, swiveling back around.

“I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but I think Staci is right. He’s happy. I need to let it go,” I said, standing up from the chair.

“You have to tell him about the baby, Ireland,” Katie whisper-yelled across the table.

“Shhh. Keep your voice down,” I said, ripping up the business card and throwing it on the table.

“I might take you a little more seriously, if I didn’t know his digits were permanently stored in your mind.”

Rolling my eyes at her, I said, “Can we just leave, please. I need to go home and take a nap. I’m so tired.”

“No, you’re not getting out of this so easily. I’m serious, Ireland. Bentley needs to know the truth! You know he’s going to be devastated when he finds out!”

“Please, just drop it, Katie. I don’t want Bentley to come back to me just because he thinks it’s the right thing to do. Staci tricked him into marrying her and that’s the last thing I want. I want Bentley to be with me because he loves me and remembers what we share. Not because he feels forced into it.”

“I get it. I really do,” Katie said, sympathetically. “But, the man deserves to know he’s going to be a dad again. He should be able to experience this with you.”

“Just let me do this my way!”

Biting her lip, she responded, “I told Greg.”

“You did what? Why would you betray me like that, Katie? I trusted you!”

“He’s my husband, Ireland. We don’t keep secrets from each other. He knew something was bothering me, and I couldn’t keep lying to him. You’ll understand some day.”

She was right. I couldn’t hold this against her. I couldn’t make her choose between her husband and me. “I’m sorry for getting upset. It’s not fair for me to be mad at you.”

“Thank you,” she said with a slight smile.

“Is he going to tell Bentley?”

“He feels the same way I do. But he’ll wait for you to tell him. Neither one of us are going to wait forever though, Ireland. If you don’t tell him soon then we eventually will.”

“I’ll tell him.”

“When? You know he’s still sitting right over there?”

“Not today. I’ll do it soon. Now I’m done with this lecture. I’m exhausted and would like to go home—please.”

“Fine, I remember how exhausting the first trimester was. Now I just crave sex—like all the time,” she said, rubbing her belly.

“Oh my god,” I laughed. “Just take me home.”

“What? It’s true,” she shrugged.

Bentley

T
anner and I had just picked up a steaming pepperoni pizza from Vince’s and were heading back to my place for a weekend of male bonding—also known as a weekend filled with playing as many video games as humanly possible.

“Dad, what’s this?” Tanner asked, reaching between the SUV’s seat to pull out a platnium chain with an attached pendant. The chain was knotted several times as if it’d been crushed between the cushions for several weeks. Tanner hesitated before opening the tiny heart locket.

“There are two pictures of you and Ireland inside,” he told me, sadness in his voice.

I wasn’t sure why but with just the mention of her name, I felt my heart skip a beat. I hadn’t seen her, or talked to her in weeks. Not since that day she’d left me with my wife and son in the restaurant.

“She must have left it in here, huh Dad. Do you think we should take it to her?” Tanner asked.

“I don’t think Ireland wants to see me, Son,” I said, pulling the Range Rover into the garage and putting it into park.

“Do you think she misses us?” his question surprised me.

I didn’t really have an answer for him. We hadn’t really talked about my relationship with Ireland—the one I remember nothing about. I guess I’d never really thought about the time that Tanner had probably spent with her.

“Did you like Ireland, buddy?”

“Yeah, I mean she’s not my mom, but she was cool to hang out with. I really gave her a hard time at first, but then she kicked both of our asses at Madden.”

I chuckled, “That doesn’t surprise me. She did learn from the best, you know.”

“I know,” he said with a smile. “You both told me all about it. I wish you could remember.”

“I wish I could remember, too,” I said with a touch of melancholy in my voice.

“Dad, I’ve got something to tell you. I hope you aren’t mad at me.”

“You know you can tell me anything, Son.”

“I should’ve told you more about how much Ireland meant to you after you woke up. I just wanted you and Mom back together so bad. I really did like Ireland, but I missed our family. I wanted everything to be the way it used to be.”

“It’s not your fault, Tanner. Your not telling me had nothing to do with my memory coming back. I wanted to try and make things work with your mother, too. Turns out, it’s just not meant to be with us. I know that must be hard for you to understand,” I said, patting him on the shoulder. “Why don’t we go inside and eat this pizza before it gets cold?”

“I think I knew you and Mom wouldn’t work though,” he practically cried. “I should have told you. I just should have told you!”

“Tanner, was it something specific you should’ve told me?”

“You loved her so much, Dad. You wanted to marry her. You wanted Ireland to your wife,” he yelled. “The weekend before your accident, you sat me down and we had a serious talk. You asked me if it was OK with me if you married Ireland. I told you it was OK, Dad.”

“Things were different then, buddy. I know you didn’t mean any harm by it.”

“You asked me to be your best man, Dad. I didn’t act the way a best man should have acted,” he sighed, handing me the locket he’d been clutching in his palm. “I let you down. I let Ireland down. You told me you loved her, Dad. And, I know she loved you, too.”

I opened the locket and on the right was a picture of the two of us in one of those photo booths. She was wearing a wine-colored gown and I was in a matching vest and white button-down shirt. From our wardrobe, I could only assume we’d been at Greg and Katie’s wedding. Greg told me that’s where I’d run into Ireland again.

I felt terrible telling my best friend and business partner that I didn’t remember anything about his wedding, but sadly it was true. All I knew about the last year of my life was what people had tried telling me—hoping that I would remember for myself. But, even after all of the stories, I was coming up blank. Suddenly, in a flicker, I saw myself in what looked like a movie reel playing out in slow motion.

I was in the middle of a conversation with Katie’s brother, Tim, when I saw Katie come out of her bridal suite with a gorgeous blonde wearing a strapless wine-colored dress. Our eyes locked and she took my breath away. I knew her from somewhere. I just couldn’t place it. The sudden expression on her face made me think that she knew me too.

She was intoxicating and I had to know who she was—how she fit into my life. Excusing myself from Tim, I walked toward Katie and the mysterious bridesmaid. She looked very rattled and I wanted to make sure everything was all set for the wedding. After all, I think those are the duties of the best man.