Page 96 of Sweet on You
“She just… wanted to spend a night at her house. Thought we could use a little space.”
“Uh-oh.”
“Not uh-oh,” I said feeling suddenly defensive. Even though I knew the truth. It was totally uh-oh. Ronnie was a runner. She ran from confrontation. From fear. It was how she coped. And now she was running from me.
Callie rolled her eyes. “Look, I know my sister better than anyone. She doesn’t talk to my mom or brothers in the same way she talks to me. So if youtellme what happened, I might be able to help.” She waved some bags of Chinese takeout in my face. “I’ve got enough for three people here since I assumed Ronnie was here. Come on. You know you want some General Tsao’s.”
“Fine.” I held open the door and followed Callie up my stairs.
I set up some plates and napkins on the coffee table as I started explaining what happened at the diner earlier… the photographer, the blackmail, the fact that I wanted Sarah to get clean and be Olivia’s mother. At that point in the story, Callie winced. “What?” I asked. “Don’t tell me you don’t believe addicts can be reformed either. I can’t hear one more person today—”
“No, no, no,” Callie waved her hand in front of me. She took a bite of an eggroll, tossed it down on her plate, and wiped her hands off on her jeans. “Has Ronnie ever told you about her ex?”
“The one that gave her all that Adderall in high school?” I nodded. “Yeah.”
“Oh, God. Brian. What a loser,” Callie said with an eye-roll. “But no, not him. Her only other serious boyfriend… Brandon.”
I shook my head. “She mentioned another boyfriend, but didn’t give any details.”
“Oh, boy.” Callie leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “Buckle up, Lex. I don’t want to go into all the details because Ronnie should be the one to do that. But she dated this guy after college for a couple of years. He was older than her… like, by a lot. She was 21 when they met, and he was in his late-thirties.”
I almost rolled my eyes at Callie’s statement. As someone who was pushing thirty myself, that didn’t seem old to me. Yes, there was an age difference, but it wasn’t like she was dating a senior citizen. “Okay,” I said. “So what happened?”
“He had an ex-wife he was paying alimony to. He proposed to Ronnie and swore up and down he and his ex-wife were just friends and she meant nothing to him. They only had to see each other for logistical reasons… yeah well, it was the logistics of putting his penis into her vagina.”
I nearly snorted my Diet Coke. “What?”
“Yeah, they were still hooking up. Apparently, for a whole year while he was dating Ronnie, he had been trying to get back together with his wife. He dumped Ronnie the day before their wedding. So… yeah. She might not be all that keen on another ex being a factor in her relationship.”
I gulped. I understood that, but this was different. “Sarah is the mother of my child. I can’t keep them apart.”
Callie nodded. “I get that. And I know Ronnie gets it, too, in her brain… but not in her heart.”
“Why didn’t she tell me this herself?” Frost hopped up on the couch beside me, chirping and sniffing my General Tsao’s chicken. I scratched between her ears and dragged my fingers down her back. She arched into my touch.
“This whole being an adult shit is hard. Hell, I’m not there yet.” Callie shrugged and leaned over to pet Frost as well. “And I wasn’t there during your conversation… if she had told you, would you have listened?”
I wanted to say that of course I would have… but tensions were high. I couldn’t guarantee I would have. “When Ronnie says she needs a little space… some time apart… does she really mean that? Do I need to truly give her that space or will staying away only reconfirm her negative feelings?”
Callie packed up the remaining Chinese food and put it back into the paper bag. “Ronnie means what she says 99% of the time. If she says she needs space, that’s not some girl code for:Come over and win me back. Give her tonight. Check on her tomorrow. And I’ll go over there now, with her dinner, and make sure she’s okay.”
I hopped up and grabbed Frost’s carrier, putting her inside. “Bring Frost over. She’ll help with Penny’s anxiety while Ronnie’s at work tomorrow.”
Callie smiled and launched herself at me, giving me a hug. “You’re a good guy, Lex.”
I gulped. Right now, I didn’t feel like a good guy. I snapped at Ronnie when I should have talked to her more. Figured out why she was so upset. The last few weeks have been all about me and Olivia, and I didn’t even stop to take the time to learn more about her own history and trauma.
I’d been so short sighted… It didn’t make what she’d said okay, but knowing her past? It made it much more understandable.
* * *
Ronnie
That night, even Penny seemed anxious not having his best friend there beside him. Frost had been his buddy, his anxiety relief.
“Penny, come here.” I patted the couch beside me, and he reluctantly crawled up beside me, curling into a ball. With a final heavy sigh, he collapsed, laying down. “You miss them already? It’s only been a few hours.” I stroked his fur as his head fell onto my stomach, his big brown eyes regarding me warmly.
“Don’t look at me that way,” I scolded him. I sighed and changed channels to what was apparently a reality show about getting back together with exes. “Great. Fucking great.”
