Page 76 of The Other Side
“The last time I went home for Christmas was during my freshman year of college. I was terribly homesick. I was constantly worried about my mom, my relationship with my high school sweetheart, Jake, was crumbling, and my best friend—my only friend, Jenny, had been super distant, and I couldn’t figure out why.
“Jake was over at my house on Christmas Eve, and while he was in the bathroom, he got a text on his phone from Jenny.”
“Shit.” Chance grimaced, already seeing where this story was going.
“Yeah, so I guess they hooked up toward the end of our senior year, and then it turned into this big thing, and neither of them knew how to tell me, because they knew I’d be devastated, but they also were fucking in love, so they didn’t—couldn’t end things.” I sighed. “It seems naive now, but we’d been together for years. I thought I was going to marry him. And Jenny—god, I think the worst part was that when I confronted them, sheseemed disappointed that I wasn’t happy for them. But I was eighteen, still a child, and I’d had my heart broken by the two people whom I had centered my world around, outside of my mom.”
“Anyone would have been destroyed if that had happened to them. It doesn’t mean any less because it happened when you were young. Getting cheated on is incredibly painful to go through, not just because of the immediate damage, but because you end up blaming yourself. Or at least, I did,” Chance offered.
I felt my shoulders soften. Somehow, knowing he had gone through something similar made me feel connected to him through that specific kind of heartbreak.
“Do they still live in town? I hope they wouldn’t bother you.” Chance was trying to piece together my exact reasoning for avoiding my hometown.
“Oh yeah, they still live there. They have a whole gaggle of kids—they’re like this golden couple in town that everyone fawns over. Verona is small, only a couple thousand people. My high school was the same size as Montgomery. Everyone knows everyone, and everyone is in everyone’s business. I think half the town knew they were fucking before I did. And years later, everyone’s forgotten how their relationship started and how it completely changed my life, but I guess I don’t really blame any of them. Who am I to stand in the way of true love?” I hadn’t meant to sound quite so sarcastic, but it couldn’t be helped.
“You’re not meant for a place like that. You need to be somewhere where you can blend in, where you can decide when and where you want to be seen,” Chance offered, understanding me on a level I wasn’t sure anyone else had before him.
I found myself nodding in agreement. Wherever that place was, it sounded nice. I could blend in reasonably well at Montgomery, but as a teacher, I still felt like the spotlight was onme while I was giving lectures or at the front of the room, so I couldn’t quite disappear like I wanted to some days.
The fact that Chance could sense that about me continued to chip away at my walls, which he was expertly dismantling brick by brick.
“Is it really so bad that you can’t visit your mom though?”
“The problem is that my mom was just as close to Jake and Jenny as she was to me. They didn’t know in school what was going on at home, but when I almost decided not to go to college, they practically staged an intervention, and I told them everything. They were both staying in town, so they offered to check in on her, and they became like family to her.
“I wish I could hate them for what they did to me, but the truth is that I don’t know if my mom would have survived without them after I left. She was so happy when all of us were back home that single Christmas, and when I told her what happened, I think she already knew what was going on. She tried to argue that I’d find someone else and that I should forgive them.
“And I know she was just trying to keep the peace, but what I needed was for my mom to comfort me and tell me that everything was going to be okay and agree that Jake was an asshole and Jenny was a lying bitch. But she stood up for them and made me feel guilty for being upset. So now I can’t go back. They’ve made her a part of their family. When I call her, she tells me about them. She’s an extra grandparent to their children, she’s happier than she ever was when I was with her. I can’t take that from her. So I’ve just stayed away. It’s easier that way. For everyone.”
I took a long sip of my wine. It was cheap, which I was used to, but it still burned on the way down.
The soft jazz music felt stilted in the background as silence hung between Chance and me.
“I’m so sorry that happened to you, Violet. You didn’t deserve that.” He gave my hand a gentle squeeze, having moved it from my back while I was speaking.
“I just—” I paused, thinking through what I wanted to say. I looked up at Chance. “Please don’t ever use that against me. I don’t think I could bear it, not from you.”
“I would never.” He shook his head.
“I’ve only ever told one other person—but I shouldn’t have, and I can’t help how guarded I am, because the most important people in my life have let me down in such spectacular fashion that ten years later, I still haven’t figured out how to get over it.”
“Violet,” Chance breathed, then a moment later, he had scooted forward in his chair and pulled me into a hug that was so tight it rivaled only the way my mother used to embrace me. “What happened was not your fault.”
I let out a sob I hadn’t realized was bubbling up inside of me, begging to be released. Chance held me there for a while, soothing me with his warmth and the simple comfort of his arms around me.
Eventually he released me, wiping an errant tear from my cheek and tucking my hair behind my ear. “We need to make sure this is a good holiday season for you then. We have a lot of bad memories to overwrite.” He cut a piece of pie and slid the plate toward me, again sensing what I needed was a way to lighten the mood to pull me out of my dark memories.
“I’ve already got down the perfect Christmas Eve,” I admitted. It was something nobody knew because I’d always been alone to celebrate the holiday.
“Oh yeah? I want to hear all the details.” Chance grinned in between forkfuls of pie.
“Well, the perfect day always starts with sleeping in,” I began.
Chance laughed. “Of course it does for you.”
“You’re just mad because you’re a morning person not by choice,” I argued, knowing he swam early most mornings. If he was running late, I could smell the chlorine on him if I passed him in the hallways at school.
Chance shrugged at the accusation.
