Chapter Thirty-Eight
E=MC Hammer
After the vet, I had to get to work, so Dax and I said goodbye in the car outside the house. “I have to bartend tonight,” he said after kissing me for a good minute plus, “but that’s probably a good thing. If we’re going to do this, you need to let the other guys off the hook before we go any further.”
“You’re right,” I told him. “And I need to do it in person.” I had to give Darius his ring back, for one thing. “I’m going out to my mom’s for lunch on Saturday. I’ll talk to Rob then.”
I showed up at my mom’s house at one o’clock sharp that weekend, ready to rip off the Rob bandage. It wasn’t fair to him to string him along. He deserved to move on, as I was doing with Dax. I’d get him alone and break the news, neat and clean. He’d be fine. We’d both gone into this potential relationship with eyes wide open, and he’d understand why I needed to move on.
But when I got to Rob’s house, he wasn’t there. I’d knocked softly, so as not to disturb his mother. Instead of ringing the doorbell, I sent him a text.
He sent back,
Great. Super. A new kind of dread settling in my chest and shoulders, I tramped across his front lawn and into my mom’s backyard. There I found Mom, Rob, and Mrs. Casey all seated around the patio table.
I smiled, pretending everything was fine and normal and wonderful. “Hi, everyone.”
“Annie,” my mom said brightly, glancing at her watch. “You made it.”
“It’s one-oh-two,” I grumbled. “I’m two minutes late.” I glanced at Rob, who was smiling hard, his teeth bared in determination.
Rob jumped from his seat and took my hand. He kissed my cheek and led me over to the table, pulling out a chair for me next to him. I moved as if in a dream, taking in the spread of food my mom had laid out—bread and lemonade and lasagna and salad. I’d gone through the looking glass. I was at the Mad Hatter’s tea party.
I glanced at Rob’s mom. “Mrs. Casey—”
“Regina,” she said.
“—you look great.” I wasn’t just blowing smoke. She did look great. She wore a fashionable sunhat and big glasses and had wrapped herself in a colorful muumuu, but I could still tell that her color had improved since the last time I’d seen her. And she’d filled out a bit. Her plate was crammed with food, and she was eating it.
“Thank you, dear.” She reached for Rob’s hand. “I feel so much better these days. Thanks to Robbie…and you.” She winked.
My stomach churned as my eyes swung to Rob, who was staring hard at the table, focused on the large pepper grinder in front of him.
I straightened up, starting to get a sense of what might be going on here. “What do you mean?” I said through clenched teeth.
Regina chuckled. “Why, your engagement, silly.”
“Your what?” My mother squealed, her hand flying to her lips.
“Did she not tell you yet?” Regina said. “She and Robbie are getting married.”
Shrieking, my mom jumped up and wrapped her arms around my back, bouncing up and down, squeezing me tight. “Annie, why didn’t you say anything?”
Seething, I glanced at Rob and spoke through a plastered-on smile. “I thought we agreed we weren’t going to tell anybody until things were official.”
“What do you mean?” Regina’s nervous eyes swung between Rob and me. “I thought this was official? You said, Robbie…”
Rob glanced over at me, pleading, concern draining his face of color. He nodded slightly toward his mother, and I got it. He’d told her about us, and now she was sitting here looking healthy and happy. He was asking me not to ruin it.
I cleared my throat. “I meant—I thought we were going to wait until I actually had the ring.” I looked my mom straight in the eye. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about it sooner. We’re having it resized.”
“Understandable.” My mom scooted her chair right next to Regina now, and the two of them started squawking about showers and timelines and guest lists.
This had gotten out of hand. I stood and motioned for Rob to follow me out to the front.
“Look at the two lovebirds stealing some time alone!” my mom cooed.
My heart in my throat, I opened the gate and headed silently to the front of the house. When we were out of earshot, I hissed at him, “What the hell, Rob?”
He gestured toward the backyard. “You saw her. A day or two after I…proposed…she started going downhill quickly.” He ran a hand through his blond hair. “I really thought she was going to—” He cut himself off, blinking, his jaw working to hide a trembling lip. “I told her we were engaged, so she could die knowing I would be okay. I honestly thought that was it. I didn’t think she’d get better.”
I closed my eyes for a moment, calming myself. My own jaw was starting to hurt from all the tension of the past few days. “I understand why you told her, Rob; I do.” I wasn’t mad about that—not really. He was desperate, and I just happened to get wrapped up in it. He only thought he was jumping the gun. “But what happens now? We’re not engaged.”
“Yet.” His face lit up hopefully.
I blew out a long, shaky breath. “I have to tell you something.”
His brow furrowed. I took my time searching for the words, pacing along the front sidewalk until I came and stopped right in front of him.
I waited a few beats. “Darius proposed to me.”
He exhaled. “Shit.” Then he frowned. “And what was your response?”
“I told him I’d think about it, but Rob…” I paused. “I’m going to turn him down.”
He grinned, his shoulders relaxing with relief. “Good.”
I held up a hand. “But that’s not all.”
“It’s not?”
“There’s…someone else…” Me of two years ago—heck, me of two months ago—would not recognize the soap opera my life had become.
He shook his head in disbelief. “Someone else you texted.”
“No. Someone I met more recently and who I have very real feelings for.”
His lips parted for a moment in surprise, but he quickly morphed that into a tight smile. “Okay.”
“I slept with him.”
“You slept with this guy you have feelings for.” His voice came out measured and calm. Too calm.
“Yes,” I said, “and we want to continue seeing each other. We’re serious about giving this thing between us a real shot. I’m so sorry, Rob. I had no idea this would happen.” I chuckled. “I mean, I’d barely had a second date in years.”
Rob set his jaw, and now it was his turn to pace. I waited until he returned to me. “That’s…fine,” he said finally, his shoulders squared and strong.
“What do you mean, ‘that’s fine’?”
He stood straight, chin up. “I mean, you and I are an unconventional couple.”
I resisted the urge to remind him that we weren’t even actually a couple.
He kept looking off to the side, and I could practically see the wheels turning in his head. “These are the kinds of things that we’ll have to work out between us before we’re married.”
“You do know we’re not actually engaged,” I muttered.
His eyes snapped to me, but he caught himself quickly and lowered the temperature of his reaction. A wan smile on his face, he said, “Who’s this guy? This third guy?”
“He’s”—I shook my head, shrugging—“he’s a musician.”
Rob laughed. “A musician.”
“He’s wonderful, really,” I told him. “So smart and kind and funny—”
“You know.” Rob spoke in a slow, even voice. “A musician isn’t going to give you what you want.”
“And what’s that?” I folded my arms. I’d barely spent time with Rob since high school, and now he was an expert on what I wanted? All he thought he knew about me he got from one drunken text and two dates.
“You want stability, companionship, and commitment.” He waved his hand. “Isn’t that why we’re here right now?”
“Yes, and I think Dax—I think he will be able to give me those things.” At least I hoped he would, or that they’d magically no longer matter to me someday. Either way, we were going to try to make this work. I doubled down. “I’m sure he will.”
“Okay, Annie,” Rob said. “Maybe it will work out; maybe it won’t. But I’ve been married before, and I’m older than you.”
“One year,” I reminded him, holding up an index finger. “One.”
“My prediction is that eventually you’ll find yourself alone again and you’ll wish you’d picked stability over passion.”
“I won’t, but thanks.” This conversation took me right back to my childhood when Rob and I would play board games together and he always knew the rules better than anyone. You couldn’t tell Rob Casey anything he didn’t already know. He had that one year on me, and he still wouldn’t let me forget it. “Tell our moms I’m sorry but I had a medical emergency.” I couldn’t go back in the yard and listen to the wedding plans, but I wouldn’t bust up Regina’s healthy glow, either.
“Annie.” He placed a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be an ass. I’m very clumsily trying to tell you that I’ll be here for you, if and when you come to the decision that you still want stability.”
“Fine,” I said. “Thanks.” I couldn’t wait to get back home to Dax, where I wouldn’t have to think about these other two guys anymore.
Ugh, but I still had to get through one more of these conversations. That was the problem with juggling two guys—double the breakups.
“One thing.” Rob reached into his jeans pocket and grabbed something. “Here. Take this. In case your mom or my mom or whoever asks to see it.” He placed his engagement ring in my palm. “Just until she…”
I stared at it for a moment, like it was a toad or a hideous spider or something. Still, I’d stick to my promise. I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize Mrs. Casey’s health and well-being. I clamped my hand around the ring and shoved it down into the bottom of my purse. “Okay. Sure. Goodbye, Rob.”