Page 17 of A Chance at Forever
“We can create new days. Better days. Days that will last our whole lives. I love you, and I want to marry you.”
This was worse than she’d ever imagined. “You’re not listening, Jeff. I can’t love you in return, and I definitely can’t marry you. It wouldn’t be fair.”
Jeff pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. “Is it because of him?” He showed her a picture of her and Alan taken at the premiere ofHamilton. “Alan Richmond?”
Victoria blanched and refused to look at it. “Yes.”
“I know you, Tori. What did this guy do to you? It had to have been pretty bad because you ran from New York and deactivated all of your social media accounts.”
She couldn’t tell him the truth. Unable to meet his penetrating gaze, she said, “I never liked being on social media. I had to use it when I became the president of Research and Development. Now that I’m teaching again, I don’t want my students trying to find me online.”
“I understand, but you haven’t answered my question. What did Alan Richmond do to you?”
“Well, if you must know, he cheated on me. Plain and simple. Go on. See what he’s saying about me on his social media.” Victoria tossed the challenge, hoping it would have the opposite effect.
“God, no. I don’t want to know. The guy’s a fool, Tori. You’re better off without him.”
“I don’t want to lose your friendship, Jeff. It means the world to me.”
“You won’t. It means the world to me, too. I can’t say I’m not disappointed by being shot down, but I get it. We’re not destined to be together as husband and wife.”
The sadness on his face and in his voice evoked compassion and regret. “I used to dream about it, you know. Playing house with Jonica and Mia when we were kids and pretending you and I were married. Everything seemed possible then.”
Jeff rewarded her with a soft smile. “Yeah, it did.”
“You had to know before I left that we’d grown apart. You had to have felt the distance between us.”
She saw the truth in his eyes. “I hoped that time and distance would help us figure things out.”
Victoria touched his shoulder. “Want to talk some more over a piece of peach cobbler? Maybe figure things out?”
The tension and sadness eased between them, and Jeff managed a light laugh. “Sure, why not?”
She cut two huge squares and filled a couple of bowls with the cobbler and vanilla ice cream. They cleared the air as they ate, relaxed, and enjoyed the rest of the summer evening.
When Victoria escorted Jeff to the front door, he said, “There’s a concert in the park Saturday night. Want to go with me?”
“As friends?”
“As friends.”
“All right. I’d love to. Oh, hey, I wanted to ask you something. Who owns the house next door?”
“Rusty Sinclair. You know, the NFL Hall-of-Famer who led the Broncos to three consecutive Super Bowl wins? He retired from the game and settled here to coach the Bears. Rusty also teaches biology and chemistry. He’s something of a genius from what I hear. Everyone loves him. I’ve met him on a few occasions hanging out with Steve and Danny. Nice guy. Steve said he usually spends the summer in Colorado. He should be home soon, though, for pre-season football practice. He’s taken our losing high school football team and turned it into a contender for the state championship.” Jeff descended the steps and waved. “Good night, Tori. I’ll see you Saturday.”
Rusty Sinclair! Victoria collapsed onto her recliner.Rusty Sinclair. Pro-football quarterback, three-time Super Bowl champion, high school coach and science teacher, andmaster player. He’d played at hiding where he resided and what he did for a living. He’d played at pretending he didn’t recognize her name when theyclearlyhad friends in common who hadobviouslymentioned her at some point. He’d played at saying he was a sports fan when hehada ton of sports fans. He’d played her for a fool. If she had known she would be working with Rusty and living next door to him, she would have thought twice about returning home. She didn’t want to have anything to do with him. Now that she knew the truth, she could finally put him out of her mind.
*
It didn’t work.Victoria observed Rusty’s house for signs of his return. She convinced herself it concerned her insofar as she itched to give him a piece of her mind. To occupy her time, she drove to a nursery between Marysville and Yuba City and bought several bushes and flowering trees she wanted to plant in her yard. Of course, her eyes drifted toward the silent Victorian next to hers as she dug holes and dropped the plants in them. Disgusted with herself, she cooled off in the lake and sunbathed on the dock. After dinner she watched TV and read her book before retiring for the evening.
On Saturday morning, Victoria strolled into town with Bud trotting at her side. He gravitated toward every kid riding a bicycle, roller skating, or skate boarding, and they showered him with attention. Bud lapped it up, almost dancing a jig with happiness. When they came upon a group of girls playing hopscotch on the sidewalk, he sat right in the middle of their game. They shrieked with laughter and convinced him to move off the squares. He grinned at the girls with a teasing glint in his deep brown eyes, and Victoria laughed at him.
“You’re such a big flirt, Bud.”
As Victoria and Bud approached the town square park from behind the courthouse, it bustled with activity for the concert later in the evening. She saw the handsome, young mayor of Marysville, Andrew Bower, helping to set up a sound system in the gazebo and waved at him when they made eye contact.
Andrew Bower graduated from Marysville High School four years ahead of Victoria. After he completed his undergraduate degree from UCLA, he attended law school and came home to open his own practice. When his father, the former mayor of Marysville, suddenly passed away two years ago, the town council appointed Andrew interim mayor.
