Page 115 of Another Love, Another Time
“Good to hear, but I don’t think that will be necessary. I’ll let you know if we do.” He looks at River. “I think we are all done here. I’ll let you know, River.” He nods. There’s a hidden meaning to his words that I don’t understand. She nods in return and gets up from the chair.
As we walk back to our desk, I ask her, “What was that?”
“He had questions about last night. I answered them,” she answers simply.
“No,” I start, but I realize that whatever it is, she doesn’t want me to know. I have to respect that until I can earn her trust again. I’m grateful she trusted me with the knowledge of who attacked her, and I need to trust that she made the right decision not turning the guy in.
I went to school with JD since elementary, and I would have never guessed he could have been capable of doing something like that to River. I still want to beat the shit out of him, though.
We reach our desks, and the guys start acting like they’re in a boxing match. River just shakes her head and laughs. Mackey comes up to her side and puts his arm around her. A stab of jealousy hits me even though I know he would never go there.
“Now I know why Baxter calls you ‘Rhondy.’” Mackey laughs at his own joke, and River follows along. She doesn’t try to remove his arm. “She fucking deserved it, though.” Mackey looks down at her. I feel my hands fist on both sides.
She nods. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that. It felt good.” She chuckles.
“Are you in trouble?” he asks.
She shakes her head. “No. It was considered self-defense since she was on my property without my permission. The captain spoke to some of my neighbors, and they confirmed that they heard me telling her to leave. Plus, Auggie confirmed my statement.”
He lifts the arm off her shoulders, and I feel like I can breathe again. He raises his hand up for a high five, and she returns it. “I’m predicting a lot of pats on the backs and high fives today,” he says with a smirk. “There are a lot of people who don’t like her.” Finished, he walks back to his desk.
“You ready?” I ask her.
“Yeah. Let me run to the restroom. I’ll meet you in the truck,” she tells me.
~~
We’ve been running around all morning, following up on leads. We work well together, bouncing ideas off one another. She hasn’t brought up last night, but we really haven’t had time. Most of our conversations pertain to the leads we’ve followed up on.
We both start getting hungry, and she wants to stop at Java Jive for lunch. It’s one of her favorite places to stop when we are out. Of course, she argues with me when I pay for our meals. Whenwe pick out a table to sit at, she tells me she has to run to the restroom.
While sitting at the table, I’m shocked to see someone from high school, one of Melissa's ex-boyfriends. He was with her the night of Logan’s bonfire, the one she said had cheated on her. After that night, he gave me dirty looks at school, which never made sense if he had cheated on her. Seeing him today is one hell of a coincidence, especially after everything that came out last night.
He catches me looking at him, and his eyes widen. I don’t think he’s seen me since high school either. I think I heard he moved away for college.
He’s talking to a girl who looks to be our age, but I can’t see her face. He gets out of his seat and walks over to my table.
“Hey, Auggie. Long time no see.” He gives me a big smile.
“Hey, man. It’s been a while. Since high school?”
He shakes his head like he can’t believe it but laughs. “Yeah. It’s been at least since then.” He’s silent for a minute, like he’s contemplating something. “You know, I wasn’t a big fan of you in high school.”
I furrow my brows. “I knew you didn’t care for me, but I never knew why.”
“You didn’t? I thought it was obvious.” He gives me a moment to think. He finally has mercy on me when he says, “The morning after Logan’s bonfire, I saw Melissa get out of your tent. I had been looking for her all night. She had picked a fight with me the night before, and by the time I went after her, I couldn’t find her.” He shakes his head again. “Turns out I should be thanking you.” He laughs.
I explain, “She told me she caught you cheating on her with one of her friends, and she needed a place to sleep.”
He laughs again. “I always knew she had a thing for you, but when she pursued me, she said all the right things. I should have stayed the hell away from her. I think when I found out she had been with you, my pride was hurt more than my feelings. I don’t know if you remember Liza; she was my girlfriend before Melissa, but she broke up with me before I got with Melissa.
“I loved Liza, and I was heartbroken when she broke up with me out of nowhere, without an explanation. So, when Melissa started hanging out with me, I got with Melissa to hurt her.”
He glances at his lap in shame, but when he looks up, he’s smiling. “But things have a funny way of working out. After I broke up with Melissa, I stayed away from other girls. Liza was a year younger than us, but it wasn’t until my sophomore year of college that Liza and I reconnected. When I asked why she broke up with me in high school, she told me that Melissa had blackmailed her into it. Her parents didn’t want her to date, and I guess Melissa had taken pictures of us together and threatened to tell her mom and dad.
“Melissa scared the hell out of her; she didn’t know what to do, so she broke up with me.” He’s still smiling. “It all worked out in the end. We’re married and have a little one on the way.” He points at his wife at their table, who is now looking at us, and I notice she’s about ready to pop.
I think about everything he just told me. If I wasn’t already convinced that Melissa forced herself on me that night, I’d be convinced now after talking to her ex-boyfriend that she set the whole thing up. Hell, at this point, I wouldn’t put it past her to be the reason River couldn’t make it that weekend.
