“What do you mean you accidentally got her pregnant?” I spat. “Like that makes it better?”
Mark held out both hands like a clueless zookeeper trying to calm a furious animal. “I love you, Remi. I had a slip up.” He took a step toward me. “We can work this out.”
I backed up as far as the countertop of the kitchen would allow. “Oh no. We’re not working anything out.” I gripped the ring on my finger and twisted. The metal cut into my skin as it ripped over my knuckle. I hadn’t taken it off since the day Mark had proposed. I held out the circle of metal that had once signified unending love. “Why don’t you give this to your slip up and ask her to marry you?”
“You don’t mean that. I was drunk, and Kerri was there.” He blocked my exit from the kitchen. Behind him, a little black muzzle and golden-brown eyes peered around at me, Mark’s favorite work shoe in his mouth. The pup hunched over and let his head fall, obviously upset by our raised voices, and gnawed the leather in earnest.
Mark’s words sunk in and I jerked my attention away from the destructive puppy. “Wait, Kerri? As in Kerri, your assistant?”
His darting eyes gave him away before he spoke. “We were working late—”
I cut off his pathetic explanation. “As in the Kerri that I specifically asked if you were sleeping with?” I’d seen the way she looked at him. And the way he looked at her. It was hard to ignore when we all worked in the same office. But he’d patently denied anything between them, and being my stupid, trusting self, I’d believed him.
Anger bubbled up with the acid in my guts. I threw the ring at Mark as hard as I could. My aim was true, and the diamond bounced off his eyebrow, leaving a bloody cut, then clattered to the floor. I guess the gaudy two-point-five carat rock had some use besides showing Mark’s ego. He’d made a point of telling everyone how much it had cost.
“Hey,” Mark exclaimed and covered his eye with his hand. A dribble of blood traced down his face.
“How long has this been going on?” Why didn’t I trust my gut?
“A while,” he hedged.
“How long?” I ground out the words.
“Six months, maybe a little more.”
The words doused any embers of love still hidden in my heart. Right when I’d started to suspect something was up. I pointed at the door. “Get out.”
“Remi,” he protested. “Just let me work this out.”
“I said, get out.” I picked up his favorite beer mug, a souvenir from our trip to Germany, and cocked my arm back. “Now.”
He backed toward the door. “Okay, okay. I’ll let you calm down a little and we can talk later.” He paused in the doorway and flipped his blond hair in an oh-so-familiar move I used to find drool-worthy, but now it intensified my urge to break something over his head. “We were meant to be together. You’ll see that.”
The beer mug shattered against the door as it closed behind him. I hadn’t even realized I’d thrown it. I stood and clung to the counter to stay upright as my world tilted. My brain couldn’t process more than fragments of thoughts. Mark. Another woman. Not just any other woman, Kerri, who’d claimed to be my friend.
She’s pregnant.
Had there been other affairs?
Then, an even worse thought increased the flood of upset.
My God, how am I going to face everyone at work? We worked in a small marketing firm. Everyone knew everyone. And the death of our relationship would be at the top of the office gossip.
I slid down the cupboards and crumpled to a puddle on the cold tile floor. With my palms pressed against my eyes, I refused to give in to the tears that wanted to pour out of me in a waterfall. Soft whimpers and a wet nose broke me from the darkness that surrounded me like a blanket.
“Hey, little man.” I opened my eyes and picked up the fuzzy ball of black and brown fur that was intent on climbing me like a jungle gym. Warm slobber accompanied the tongue bath. “Gunner, no. Stop.” I pushed his head down. He snuggled into my chest and rolled over to show me his round belly. At four months, the dog was still in the cute puppy stage. I rubbed his tummy and his head flopped to the side, his tongue lolling out.
The dog was Mark’s—a present to himself disguised as worry over me being at home by myself at night—when he was working late, or rather, when he was getting Kerri pregnant.
Keeping a puppy with our work schedules hadn’t been easy for the last two months. I got up to take the dog out in the middle of the night. I ran home on my lunch breaks to take him out. Our house didn’t have a fenced-in yard, so walks and trips to the park took up much of my free time.
Now Mark would take Gunner when he came to get his stuff and I’d be truly alone. I hugged the puppy to my chest and let reality sink in.
“You broke up?” my mom gasped. “You were so happy. We paid the deposit to the caterer yesterday.”
Though I’d tried to say the words, tried to tell her. I couldn’t get the truth of the situation out. I leaned back in my chair and resisted the urge to pound my head against the table. Other patrons on the patio would probably notice. We were enjoying a break from the onset of the Colorado winter. A beautiful day in the sixties after snowstorms was one reason I swore I’d never move out of the state.
“I’m sorry, Mom. I would have called you, but I was in shock myself.” After Mark’s news, the last two weeks at work had been a nightmare, worse than that, absolute torture. I couldn’t count the conversations that ended abruptly as I walked up, the pitying stares, the pats on my shoulder. Even my boss had asked if I needed to take time off.
I grabbed Gunner’s leash before he made his way over to the table next to us, likely following the smell of a bacon burger. I pulled him back. Although he was only twenty pounds, he was getting stronger, and my muscles strained. “I’ll pay you back for the deposit.”
“You know that’s not what I’m worried about,” she said, and frowned. “Why do you have his dog?”
“It’s important to socialize him. At least that’s what the breeder said.” I twisted as Gunner looped around the legs of my chair and tangled us both in the leash. “Besides, he was in his kennel too long yesterday while I was at work.”
She reached across the table and put her hand on my arm. “You look terrible, honey. What aren’t you telling me? Why did you break off the engagement?”
I hadn’t told my mom about Mark accidentally getting someone pregnant for good reason. My brothers and dad might accidentally kill him, on my mom’s orders. “He said he couldn’t go through with the wedding.” Total lie. “I was just as shocked as you.” That part’s true at least.
She set her credit card on the bill for lunch and brushed her perfectly styled hair away from her face. I adjusted the mess of a bun on top of my head and tucked a few strands that had escaped behind my ears as I wondered when I’d showered last—maybe my stench was the reason people were avoiding me at work? When had I fallen so low?
Gunner jumped up on my leg and tried to reach the French fries left on my plate. At least I didn’t have to worry about the wedding diet anymore. I held out a fry to him and he gobbled it down in one bite, then licked his chops and waited for another, fully playing the I’m-a-cute-puppy card.
“You shouldn’t feed him from the table.” Mom shook her head. “Besides, the grease might upset his stomach.”
The thought of Mark having to deal with puppy diarrhea made me hand over another French fry, or three. Gunner was thrilled.
“Now tell me exactly what happened with Mark,” Mom insisted. “What were his exact words?”
I have something I have to tell you. I kinda got someone pregnant, accidentally. Those words had been playing on repeat inside my brain for the last week. How do you kind of get someone pregnant? “I don’t remember, Mom.” I grabbed my purse and unwrapped Gunner’s leash from my chair. “And I have to go. Mark is picking up his stuff today and I have to give him Gunner.”
The thought of having my only companion gone and being alone in the big house left me with mixed emotions. On one hand, sleeping in and not going for three walks a day sounded great. But tears pricked my eyes at the thought of handing over the unruly puppy. Pain in the butt that he was, he was so sweet.
“You’re leaving? Do you want me to be there with you? I can call your dad or Jeremy.”
“No,” I gasped. The last thing I needed was for my brother to see the fallout and feel the need to step in as the protective older brother. “Sorry, I have to get back to the house.” I stood.
“Isn’t this all happening a little fast?” She grabbed her own purse as if to follow me, but had to wait on the bill. “You’re together for three years and then in two weeks he’s moving out?” Her face froze to marble. “Did he cheat?” Her jaw clenched. “I’m calling your brother.”
“We can talk about it next time, Mom.” I tried to run from the table and pulled Gunner, who’d decided to sit on the concrete behind me instead of following. “Sorry.” So not sorry.
I made it back to the house and spotted Mark’s truck out front and a rental truck in the driveway. Nausea threatened to bring the lunch back up for an encore performance. Besides at work, we’d spoken once in the two weeks since he’d broken the pregnancy news.
He’d wanted to let me know that he and Kerri had moved in together and were going to give the relationship a shot. Boy, was that a big turnaround from his claims that we were meant to be together.
The sound of his voice and the news they were now officially a couple had left me curled up in bed, this time in tears. Gunner, hearing my distress, decided the best way to handle the situation was to grab mouthfuls of my hair and tug until I paid attention to him. Rubbing his soft fur had calmed me down a bit.
The next day Kerri had been waltzing around the office like a princess at a ball. Was it bad to want to hit a pregnant woman? Definitely. No hitting. But I’d brought in doughnuts every morning for the rest of the week—a particular weakness of Kerri’s. Call me passive-aggressive. I needed some bit of joy in my life.
Mark and his best friend appeared from the side of the house, a TV balanced between them. My sad, sappy feelings mutated to anger in a second flat.
“Hey.” I stormed over. “I bought the TV.”
They paused, balancing the enormous TV on their legs. “As a Christmas present to me,” Mark said.
“You’ll be getting back all the presents you gave me, trust me.” I barged inside and grabbed every present Mark had given me. It was easy considering they were all jewelry—diamond earrings, a matching tennis bracelet, an emerald necklace—my birthstone. I hated green. Every holiday, birthday, or major argument, I could count on a small box with a bow.
I stared at what our relationship amounted to, all in the palm of my hand. It was probably over thirty thousand dollars worth of jewelry. And I’d never wear a single piece again. I hadn’t ever liked flashy jewelry to begin with, only wearing them to please Mark.
I stormed back out of the house and held out the fistful of diamonds and gems.
Mark blinked, having secured the TV to the side of the moving van while several other men carried various furniture that we’d picked out together. “Those were gifts for you. Keep them.”
“You think I want anything you gave me?” I laughed. “Kerri would like them.”
He held up his hands as the other guys moved away from our argument. “I know I hurt you, Remi.” His voice was all soft and sincere. What a joke. “I’m truly sorry. I can put the TV back if it means that much to you.”
Steel infused my spine. He didn’t get to comfort me. He didn’t get to make himself feel better. Like he was the bigger person in the situation. Lifting my chin, I stepped away. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t want anything. Take every damn piece of furniture in the house.” I held out Gunner’s leash. He sat by my feet and stared at Mark. A low puppy growl sounded in his throat. “He’s had a walk today.”
Mark eyed the dog like he was a piece of gum stuck to his shoe. “I can’t take the puppy.”
My gaze jerked back to his face that I once found so handsome but now reminded me more of a worm—actually, that insulted worms. “What?”
“Kerri doesn’t like dogs.” He shifted his weight. “So, you get to keep him.”
My jaw dropped. No words formed. I glanced down at the fluff ball attached to my leg as my insides twisted into a knotted mess.
He nibbled on my jeans.
I’d said I’d miss him. But taking care of him was a full-time job.
“Or take him to the pound,” Mark said. “Whatever makes you happy.”
“The pound?” I spat and picked Gunner up, every protective instinct in my body on high alert. His warm muzzle nuzzled my neck. I had no idea how I’d manage taking care of the pup. But I’d figure it out.
I sat in a nearly empty house. The jewelry that Mark had refused to take back lay on the coffee table, the single remaining piece of living room furniture. As I examined the seemingly random furniture that Mark had left, a pattern emerged—they all had chew marks on them from Gunner.
The pup lay on his back, absently gnawing on the single barstool that sat at the island counter. His teeth, sharp as a piranha’s, shredded the wood with ease. I didn’t have the energy to correct him or even care. I stared back down at the note I’d found after Mark left.
I’ll have the real estate agent see about getting the house on the market.
Gunner barked and snagged the paper out of my hand, ripping it into shreds.
“I second that thought,” I said and gave him a ruffle behind his ear. “And don’t worry. No way am I taking you to the pound.”
Gunner lifted his chin, his eyes solemn, as if he knew I was being serious. He licked my chin and lay across my chest with a contented sigh. “It’s you and me, buddy.”