Page 16 of Taken By the Ex-Boyfriend

His explanation for leaving is also something I’m struggling with. Brian made it clear that the only reason he broke up with me was the baby—does that mean he had feelings for me that he chose to put aside? There’s a fluttering in my chest at that thought but I quickly discard it. If he did really love me, he would have offered this explanation back then.

Unless she wasn’t just a one-night stand. Maybe he was seeing her while we were together, or maybe before that, when he was still my teacher. But he said that his son was five months old when—

I shake my head, putting a stop to these thoughts and earning an amused look from Rose in the process. “Talking to yourself again? I mean, if you want a third opinion, I’m right here.”

“I was just thinking about Brian and the whole situation,” I explain. “When I saw him at the restaurant that night… it was different, almost like it didn’t happen. He was with another woman, living his life, and it was easy to pretend that I didn’t care.”

Rose opens her mouth to object, but I raise my hand to stop her. “Easier,” I correct myself.

There’s no point in pretending that I didn’t spend hours nagging Rose about him and his girlfriend who, now that I think of it, was not mentioned last night. Was she someone he was seeing or just a date? Dennis had mentioned that Brian was looking for a serious relationship. If she were his girlfriend, he wouldn’t insist on coming to the wedding with me. Unless he broke up with her—

“You’re doing it again,” Rose says in her singsong voice. “Get it out, Carol. Or you’ll drive yourself crazy like you did before.”

I wave my hand in the air and shift into a more comfortable position. “I was thinking about that night, but— the point is that I’d have gotten over randomly seeing him in a restaurant. But the fact that he found a way to contact me through Dennis—and don’t tell me that was just a coincidence—and then coming to the party last night to see me again, to explain…”

My head feels like it’s about to explode. The more I think about this whole thing, the more questions I have. “Let’s just say he’s got into my head.”

“At least you also got into his head,” Rose taunts as she brings the cup to her mouth. Her lips have barely touched it when she asks again. “What’s the plan now?”

There are dark circles under her eyes and her voice, while amused, sounds hoarse. Dennis must have been in a similar state when he woke up and I can’t help but feel bad they had to abandon the comfort of their own home to babysit me. At least Rose has a very flexible schedule, or as she says, she can work wherever, whenever—as long as she delivers a good product. It matches her nature well. But poor Dennis—he’s just an employee. I hope this hasn’t caused too much trouble for him.

Rose snaps her fingers, breaking my train of thought again.

“Carol, the plan. What are you going to do? Last night you said you wanted to see something.”

“I wanted to see if I can go through with your revenge idea.”

“Can you?” she asks.

“Yes,” I say and it’s almost as if I can feel his fingers tracing down my spine. “I’m going to give him a taste of his own medicine.” I want to go with him to the wedding, just as much as I wanted to avoid it. I want to see him want me, like he did last night, and then leave him hanging.

“Then why flirt with the other guests? I thought that you decided to end it there.”

I shake my head. I meant what I told him—I get why he chose the other woman, regardless of whether he was seeing her before or at the same time as me. But his reasoning for discarding me like that was far from convincing. And looking at his jealous face all night gave me great satisfaction, but it was not enough. Not even close. “I was just hoping he would try harder.”

She cocks her head. “I don’t know about that. He left the party pretty angry.”

True. Brian left after several attempts to talk to me again, but his expression made it clear that it was not over. My whole body tingles at the memory of his breath on my skin when he came to say goodbye.

“Trust me, Rose. I know him too well.”

Rose nurses her cup of coffee and waits for me to continue. And I’d love to tell her what my plan is, but I don’t really have one. It all depends on whether he will try to contact me again. No, not whether—when.

“Will you at least tell me what the two of you were doing on the private veranda? You were there for quite some time.” Rose’s prying look is back.

“I asked him why he left me like that.”

“And?”

“And I got my answers. Kind of. I feel there’s more to that story, maybe something he is still keeping to himself, or something he feels deeply ashamed of.” I give her the gist of what we spoke about, and she’s not satisfied with his explanations either.

“Plenty of people have babies without getting married, it’s not the fifties anymore. And he was in his early thirties, right? It’d make more sense not to get married,” she points out.

“No, that one I get. Brian felt compelled to marry her because he had a rough childhood and always craved his father’s presence. He was raised by his mother and while his father paid for child support, he never wanted anything to do with Brian.”

This was always a sour topic for him, I remember that well. The moment a conversation would move in that direction he would turn pale and become restless—the exact opposite of what he was like day to day.

“He told me that at some point, before he started teaching at Dartmouth, his father tried to make amends, but it was too late. Brian didn’t want to have any connection to him, he wouldn’t even say the man’s name. I guess he didn’t want history to repeat itself with his own son,” I explain.

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