Maya was fine until Javi had to leave her to join the other bachelors. Once she was alone, she realized how completely out of place she was at an event like this. Without Javi’s warm palm on her lower back, his introducing her to people, she felt invisible again. She might as well have been waiting tables.
Carla was here somewhere; so was Geoff. But he was running errands for her, and Carla was too busy dealing with last minute details to entertain her. She didn’t know anyone else. This wasn’t her world, so she faded into the background and watched.
She kept her mind occupied taking in details of dresses that she would file away and recreate in paint. She watched several couples snipe at each other and groups of single women studying the auction program eagerly.
Maya paged through hers, noting that several guys would pique her interest if she wasn’t totally in love with one in particular.
She wasn’t expecting to see Karrie, so she didn’t say anything when the woman was suddenly in front of her.
Karrie was her opposite, so petite that Maya looked down at her. She’d purchased new breasts since Maya had last seen her, and her skin had the kind of sheen that only Botox and fillers could buy. She was a mix between a wholesome, Midwestern beauty and a Hollywood bombshell. Always done up, she wore a navy blue and aquamarine sequined cocktail dress that shimmered under the lights.
The only thing that kept her from being beautiful was the hateful look in her eyes. Maya probably deserved the hate. She’d coveted Javi and hadn’t been friendly to his erstwhile girlfriend. They’d never gotten along, and Javi had outright defied Karrie by continuing to hang out with Maya after she’d asked him not to. Nothing had happened, but she didn’t see how Karrie could have trusted that it wouldn’t.
Maya felt a stab of shame in her gut that she would have fooled around with Javi before he got engaged. And, if she was honest with herself, maybe after.
“Nothing to say after you stole my husband?”
There it was. So charming, this one. “I didn’t steal anything.”
“Not for lack of trying.”
Even though Maya was full head taller than her, Karrie managed to look down her nose at her. “You’ve added to your collection of tattoos. Classy.”
“You cheated on your husband.” Maya shrugged and somehow tamped down the urge the slug the other woman. “Also very classy.”
Karrie looked stricken, as if Maya’s words had hit her physically. Maya felt bad for a hot second before she remembered that Karrie was in town to stir shit.
“Well, that’s all in the past, now. Both of us have made mistakes and it’s time to move forward.”
Maya was confused and prickles of unease went up and down her spine.
The lights flickered and the auction started. Karrie must have had more to say because she sidled closer to Maya. Javi’s lot number was near the middle, so hopefully, his ex-wife would shove off and rejoin her friends or coven or whatever.
“You’ve finally found another shill?”
Karrie giggled, and it sounded like a squeaky chair. “No. I’m getting back together with my husband. We’re going to therapy next week. Now that he’s helped his family turn around the business, he’ll be less stressed and he can come back to me.”
Maya kept her voice low, even though she was panicking on the inside. “You’re delusional.”
Still, questions lingered. Had her time with Javi been a diversion until he could get back with Karrie? No, that didn’t seem right. Their relationship was too real. He wouldn’t have introduced her to his family if it wasn’t meant for the long term. His sister wouldn’t have asked Maya to be in the wedding if they weren’t a long-term thing. There had to be an explanation for why they were going to therapy. As soon as she’d bought Javi, she would ask him. And he’d have to answer.
Karrie didn’t move away like she’d hoped. Maya thought she should ignore the other woman until she pulled out her cell phone and set it on the high-top table next to her. “Look.”
Maya resisted. No good could come out of looking at whatever out-of-context nonsense was on the phone. But maybe there would be enough ammunition to shut Karrie up? Or maybe she would find something that Javi was hiding from her? Maybe she was being snowed?
The text messages showed that it was Javi’s number. The first message went out after she’d served the papers.
Javi: We need to talk.
Karrie: I don’t see what we need to talk about. You screwed me over in the divorce, and I’m not going to let you get away with it. Definitely not now that you’re with that cunt from the ghetto.
Javi: I’m not with anybody. Just talk to me. I’ll make an appointment with Dr. Weaver if you want. Neutral ground.
“Not with anybody,” “not with anybody,” “not with anybody.” The words rang through her head in Javi’s voice over and over. She couldn’t look at Karrie now.
She’d been living at his house, and he hadn’t been with her. He hadn’t even responded to Karrie’s calling her the c-word. She didn’t know what to make of it, but the smell of body odor, alcohol, and perfume made her want to vomit. The champagne that she’d been drinking repeated on her, but she kept it down when Javi got up to the stage.
Carla’s introduction sounded like static and she didn’t move when the bidding started. She couldn’t. But she saw Karrie’s raise her arm out of the corner of the eye. It was as if she was stuck in quicksand, she couldn’t do anything. Her mouth felt like it was filled with peanut butter. Everything slowed down.
Maya squinted at the spotlight and noticed when Karrie pushed, the bidding went up over $10,000. She wanted to scream, “Not worth it,” and run out, but she was too shocked to do even that.
She didn’t even move when Karrie won the auction and went on stage to claim her prize. Her husband. The “ex” part of the equation didn’t even matter.
The thing that finally got her to leave was the way he smiled down at her and kissed her cheek.
She wouldn’t cry. Couldn’t give Karrie and Javi the chance to see her cry. He was going back to his wife. They always went back to the wife. She’d always known it, deep down, that she was a diversion for Javi. Maya was the other woman, like her mother. She felt numb, almost like she was dying.
She made it outside the yacht club—the fucking yacht club. Something broke loose in her chest and she thought she heard an animal crying. But it was her keening like a chained-up dog.
The door opened behind her, and Javi burst through it. “What was that about, Maya?”
She reared back when he wrapped his arms around her. “Let me go.”
“Not until you tell me what the fuck happened in there.”
She didn’t want to hear him explain away those text messages, or the way he’d looked at Karrie when she got up on the stage. She just wanted to go. Right now.
She dug her fingernails into Javi’s forearm and he released her. “I’m leaving.” He reached for her arm, and she turned on him. Her tear-streaked face must have stopped him in his tracks. “I don’t want to hear it.”
“I don’t even know what you don’t want to hear.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “This, this is why I didn’t think we would work. You fly off the handle for no reason, and don’t even give me a chance to explain. You’re acting crazy.”
“I’m not crazy!” Even she could admit that she sounded crazy. And she burned with embarrassment—she’d just realized that she wasn’t any different from her mother. The tears, the yelling. And Javi stood their looking frustrated with her. She couldn’t explain to him how seeing him touch Karrie gutted her. He clearly didn’t understand. “This is a mistake.”
“You’re not doing this.” He shook his head. “This is not how this ends.”
He sounded like he was trying to convince himself. “Yes. It has to.” She had to leave so they wouldn’t destroy each other.
She spotted the car and driver that Javi had hired. It might be the last thing she ever took from him, but it was a way out. Salvation.
And Javi let her walk away. Again.
The driver spotted her staggering towards the car on her stupid heels. He wordlessly opened the door. She must have been able to get out Felix’s address before she curled up on the back seat and really let loose with the tears because, when the car came to a stop, her brother opened the door.
Once he saw her face, he didn’t ask any questions, but picked her up and carried her into the house. She had him. She might not have the love of her life, but she had something.