The One Left Behind (The One Series) (41 page)

“Your dad sounds like he was an amazing man. I wish I could have met him,” I say as I reach over and grab his hand.

“He would have loved you. Seriously, thank you for this. This is probably the best gift I have ever received. Besides you of course.”

As we are throwing the wrapping paper away, the doorbell rings. My parents are the first to arrive. We greet them and see Lexi and Catherine are pulling up the driveway over my mom’s shoulder. Ali bolts out the door to greet Lexi.

We all get settled and I’m about to get up to start cooking, but my mom and Catherine insist on doing it all. I’m not about to argue with that since I’m a little nervous to be cooking for everyone.

Pierce and my dad go out back to have a cigar and Lex and I go to the kitchen to see if our moms need any help. When we walk up, I hear them talking about wedding plans. Seeing the smiles on their faces and how happy they are touches my heart.

“Here she is! Addison honey let me see your ring again,” my mom says. I walk over and hold out my hand. “I absolutely love this ring. It looks like an antique.”

“It was my mother’s ring, and since she’s no longer with us, I guess it is an antique. But if she was alive to hear me call her an antique, she would probably hit me with her rolling pin,” Catherine says as she is washing her hands.

“Oh, how lovely. That is so sweet. Just think, one day if you have a son you can hand it down to him,” my mom says.

“Mom, can I get married before you start planning out what sex my future kids will be?” I’m a little irritated how my mom thinks she needs to plan every aspect of my life, even my future children.

A few hours later, dinner is ready and we all sit down in the formal dining room to eat. Pierce lets my dad have the head of the table and he sits beside me. We all have our own conversations going on until Lexi asks me the million dollar question that silences the room as all heads turn to me.

“So, have you set a date for the wedding yet?”

I look to Pierce since we just chose a date last night. I’m not sure if he wants to tell anyone yet. He gives my leg a squeeze and I know that is the okay to go ahead and tell them.

“Actually, we chose one last night. It will be June sixth.”

“That’s great news, congratulations!” My dad says.

“Now that we have a date, we can start planning,” my mom says as she claps her hands in excitement while looking at Catherine.

“Yes, that gives us plenty of time,” Catherine replies back to my mom.

I smile as their excitement grows. Needless to say the remainder of the evening is spent discussing wedding topics. I tell Pierce he doesn’t have to sit through all this, but he insists on staying. He assures me he wants to be part of every little detail of planning our future together.

Everyone finally leaves and I send a quick text to all my friends wishing them a Merry Christmas. I set my phone down and walk toward Pierce to join him in front of the fireplace.

“Today went well,” he says, handing me a glass of wine.

“Yeah, it did,” I let out a big sigh and take a drink of my wine. “I can’t believe how much was decided in one day about our wedding.”

“Having three hopeless romantics in the family doesn’t hurt,” he kisses me softly on the cheek. “I shared you all day and I finally have you to myself. If you don’t mind, I would like to do less talking and more kissing,” Pierce says with his sexy grin that I love so much. We spend the rest of the evening making love next to the fireplace and Christmas tree.

NORMALLY, I WELCOME the holidays. In fact, it’s usually my favorite time of the year. Not this year though. I keep thinking about Addison’s engagement and the fact that I’m going to have to eventually see her with someone else’s fucking ring on her finger. That thought alone makes me queasy.

I’m spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at my parents’ house. I haven’t told them about Addison and Pierce yet. I’m kind of dreading their reaction. It could range from crying from my mother, to swearing from my father. Either way, the last thing I want is pity. Life is shitty sometimes and unfortunately I got the shittier side of it recently.

My parents downsized their home once there were no kids living there. I walk into the ranch style home and am instantly greeted by the smell of baked goods. It’s the smell I always associate with my parents’ house, and I love it. There’s a tinge of apple in the air so I’m assuming Mom’s making her famous apple pie. Dad is sitting in the recliner reading a paper and watching TV, and Mom is in the kitchen just like I suspected she would be.

“Hey, Dad. Anything interesting going on in the world today?”

He looks up from his paper and gives me a smile. “There’s always something interesting happening, sometimes you just have to wait for it.” He gets up to give me a hug. “Glad to have you home, son.”

“Is that Colin I hear in there?” Mom comes out of the kitchen and spots me. “Come here and give your Momma a hug.” I walk over to her and she engulfs me in an embrace I have no hope of getting out of anytime soon. “Now go sit down and relax while I bring you something to eat.”

I have a seat and become lost in thought trying to decide how to tell them about Addison so I don’t realize Mom is holding out a glass of tea for me. “Colin, what is wrong with you?” I look up at her with a questioning look on my face.

“What do you mean?”

“You look so out of it, like you’re in another world. What is going through that mind of yours?” Her eyebrows are creased together as she’s clutching at the necklace that hangs around her neck.

Looks like now is as good a time as any. I take a deep breath and blurt it out hoping the faster I say it the less it’ll hurt, “Addison got engaged to that Pierce guy.” I say it in a monotone voice hoping to hide the underlying hurt I feel at having to say those words.

My mom literally gasps. Whatever she was expecting me to say, I’m sure that was not it. Dad pulls his paper down and looks at me from over the rim of his glasses.

Mom finally composes herself and says, “Are you sure? I mean it could be just a rumor.”

“No, Mom, it’s not a rumor. Pierce actually came to my office to tell me he planned to do it. He said he wanted to give me the heads up out of respect. Anyways, Addison text messaged Morgan a picture of the ring while I was over at Jeremy’s hanging out with them.” I look away from Mom because sympathy is starting to cloud her face and I really don’t want to see it right now.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I know this must be hard for you.” She leans down to give me a comforting hug. I hug her back and gently push her away so I can talk to her.

“It’s okay, Mom. Really. I’m obviously not thrilled with the news, but I’m learning to deal with it. At this point I’m just trying to move on. This might have been the closure I needed. Now, at least I’m not waiting around forever hoping her memory comes back. Maybe I’ll find happiness again eventually.” I give her hand a reassuring pat hoping to convince her, as well as myself, that everything will be okay.

“Colin, that is a great way to look at this. I’m proud of you for being a mature adult about it instead of feeling sorry for yourself,” my dad decides to put in his two cents. If he only knew the stupid things I did to numb the pain and the fact that I did nothing but feel sorry for myself, he wouldn’t be saying that right now.

Mom gives me another pat on the back before she returns to the kitchen. I gladly take a sip of the tea she gave me to relieve the dryness of my throat.

“Thanks, Dad. Anyway, enough of this depressing stuff. How have you guys been?”

“Oh, you know your mother. She always wants to run around and try this new thing and that new thing. I just want to relax and watch some football. That woman runs me ragged.”

“I can hear you!” Mom yells from the kitchen. They make me laugh. They’ve been like this ever since I can remember.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, honey. I was just telling our son how much I’m enjoying the retirement life now that I get to spend every waking moment with the love of my life.” My dad is being a smart ass and I’m sure it’s not lost on my mother.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure that’s exactly what you said. But guess what? You’re not getting any pie tonight.”

This is how the rest of the night continues. My dad pretends to think my mom’s nagging is annoying and my mom pretends to punish him with lack of treats. It feels good to be home. I should have come back sooner because I really needed this.

We eat a late dinner, hang out for a while longer and then I go off to bed. It’s been a draining week for me and I need some rest.

The next morning I wake up to the smell of bacon and eggs. I was looking forward to this. Every Christmas, Mom gets up really early to make us breakfast before she starts the turkey and everything else she makes for dinner. This ends up being like a second Thanksgiving for us and you won’t find me complaining about it. My mom is an excellent cook.

After breakfast we all exchange gifts. It’s a quiet Christmas since my sister is spending the holidays with her husband’s family this year. I bought my parents tickets to see Paul McCartney in concert. My mom squealed like a teenage girl. I’ve never seen her like that. Dad, not being the overly emotional type, only smiled and said thank you. They were huge Beatles fans back in the day and Mom never got to see them in concert and said that was one thing she always regretted. She listens to Paul McCartney a little now, but it’s the closest thing I could get her to an actual Beatles concert short of a cover band. Either way, she seemed to like it and that made me happy.

I really didn’t need or want anything for Christmas this year since I pretty much have everything. Except my girl. Mom and Dad got me a really nice leather briefcase for work with my initials carved into the gold name tag. It is really thoughtful and I’ll get a lot of good use out of it.

Christmas is pretty uneventful and quiet. We eat all day and just hung out. I planned on leaving tonight, but decide to stay the night and leave in the morning. As I am preparing for bed my phone buzzes with a message. I’m not sure who it is since I already talked to Jeremy who was surprisingly MIA by the way. I’m not sure what he is up to, but he normally spends Christmas with us. Again, I need to find out what he’s hiding. I pick up my phone and am completely surprised by the name I see flash across the screen. I slide my thumb across it to open the message.

Addison: Hey, Colin. I hope you’re having a nice Christmas with your family. I just wanted to say hi and wish you a Merry Christmas.

That was nice of her. I wanted to text or call her earlier, but thought it might be inappropriate given the circumstances.

Me: Thank you. We had a nice, quiet evening. I hope you had a good Christmas as well. Do you want to get together soon? I got you a small gift and would like to give it to you. Feel free to decline if you want to.

Addison: No, that sounds great. Just let me know what works for you and where.

Me: I don’t want to intrude on your time with your family, so do you want to get together this weekend? Maybe meet at Cup of Joes?

Addison: Sure, would Friday morning work for you?

Me: Yep. 10:00?

Addison: See you there.

I almost feel relieved. I got her something small which was hard to do. What do you give the person who used to be your fiancé, doesn’t remember ever meeting you, and now is engaged to a new man? Yeah, it stumped me too. Plus, I want to congratulate her on the engagement. I want her to know that she doesn’t have to hide it from me and that I can handle it.

The next morning I’m waiting patiently at the coffee shop for Addison. I’m a little nervous to give her this gift since I’m not sure she’ll like it. She walks through the door a minute later and she’s beaming. She’s so happy and it almost breaks my heart.

I greet her with a hello that she returns with a small smile. We talk about our Christmas with our families. Mine was quiet, which she already knew, hers was not. Hers and Pierce’s families got together to celebrate. She didn’t say, but I’m assuming to also talk about the engagement and to celebrate that as well. I’ve been trying to spot the ring, but I notice she’s been keeping her hands in her lap. I don’t know if she’s doing it on purpose because she’s afraid it’ll upset me, or if she just has her hands in her lap just because.

“Well, I got you a little something,” I tell her. I hand her a small box and she opens it up. I rub the back of my neck as she pulls out a round, silver locket on a silver chain.

“Thank you, Colin.”

“Open it up.” Inside is a picture she took of the sunset right behind her condo. It was always one of her favorite pictures. I had it scaled down to size and figured it was better for her to have than me since she was so fond of it. I know how much she loves sunsets.

“Oh my gosh, it’s beautiful. I love sunsets.”

“I know. You actually took that picture. You always said you weren’t much of a photographer, but I thought you always found great inspiration in the ocean, especially at this time of day.”