Page 61 of Mariposa
“Surprise!” they both screech happily.
Adam claps his hands roughly. “Happy birthday!”
I roll my lips together, forcing a grateful smile, trying to push away the urge to dart out of the kitchen. I hate surprises, especially when I hadn’t planned to reunite with Adam so soon. I feel ambushed.
Adam strides toward me, making sure his back is toward his mother when he leans into my ear. I stiffen. My whole body crawls with guilt and resentment.
Guilty for overstepping with Kade and resentment towards Adam for breaking up with me the day I left for the course at the airport.
“My girlfriend is back home.” He pecks my cheek and runs his soft hands through mine.
Girlfriend? What game is he playing at?
“I’m going to place this here and run to the restroom really quickly. Don’t move! I need to take a picture of all three of us together!” She runs out of the kitchen and disappears around the corner into another hallway.
“What’re you talking about, Adam? I’m not your girlfriend anymore.” I snort into the shell of his ear. I take a step back, but he catches me by the forearms and brings me closer. Themaneuver blindsides me—he’s never been aggressive with me like this.
The stench of liquor on his breath hits me as he replies, “My mother doesn’t know you broke up with me. Please keep that between us for the holidays. She’s going through a lot of stress at work. Her company is downsizing, and I don’t want her to think or worry about us during Christmas.”
“Adam…” I shoot him a scowl. Brushing him off, my nose scrunches.
“Violet,” he mimics and tries to intertwine our fingers, but I pull back. The rejection causes him to frown. I turn my head away, stare at the white tiled floor, and sink my teeth into my bottom lip.
He takes a step back, granting me space. I clear my throat as I watch him with narrowed brows. He glances me up and down as his Adam’s apple bobs.
“You look…different. Still beautiful as ever.”
Unsurprisingly, his compliment doesn’t do what it used to do to my body. I don’t feel anything.
“Where are you getting stationed?”
I purse my lips.
“North Carolina.”
“Nice. So, I’ll still be able to see you anytime I want. You know I visited your grandma often while you were gone.”
I rear back.
“You did?”
“Yeah. It sucks to see her slowly wither awa?—”
How dare he talk about her like that? Narrowing my brows at him, my face turns wry.
“She’s not! She’s…” I cut him off with a shout, not knowing what to say. I still don’t want to accept that she’s dying. It’s too painful.
“Sorry…” he murmurs, throwing his hands up to his chest in a surrendering kind of way. “I just wanted to feel closer to you. I fucked up.”
“First, thank you for visiting her, and speaking of which, I want her ring back. Secondly, it doesn’t matter anymore, Adam. It’s been a year since we last saw each other.”
He shuffles backward on his feet.
“It’s been a year since we last saw each other, but only a month since we broke up,” he corrects with a slightly deluded tone to his words. A flicker of denial in his whiskey eyes. He lifts a Christmas mug to his mouth and drinks, never taking his gaze off me. I can only assume it’s the liquor laced with something else that would explain the scent coming out of his pores.
“No, Adam, it doesn’t work like that. Your timeline is severely off,” I retort.
I’ve never seen this side of him before. He’s almost desperate to win me back. Adam has always been selfish in our relationship. He didn’t attend my basic training graduation because he said he had to work, even though I gave him lots of time to plan. I found out that he was partying all night the day before. Our mutual friends told me about the adventurous drunk night he held at his house. He was too hungover the next day to come.
