Page 56 of If You Love Me

For the first time, I was looking at Iona in a different light.

It started the day she showed up at my house, and I’d been drinking. Actually, I was past drinking; I was drunk. It was rare when my home felt too big or too empty for me. I was used to Evenie being there, and when she couldn’t be there, I was used to Summer. Even during the times when Summer would be with her grandparents or Nina, it never felt so lonely.

There was a void, and that day I filled the void with liquor. Fighting with Iona hadn’t been in my plans, but neither was drunk, make-up sex. That was probably the worst experience,simply because Evenie was on my mind the entire time. Every time I looked in Iona’s face, I saw my wife. My subconscious had me in a chokehold and wouldn’t let me go. Every time I entered her the past two weeks, all I could think about was my wife.

All week long, Iona had been at the house, and for the first time, it was annoying me. She was super chipper for some reason, and it left a bad taste in my mouth. I felt like she was trying way too hard. On top of that, she kept bringing up the divorce papers. I could understand where she was coming from, but I wasn’t a heartless man. Evenie was someone I cared deeply for.

We were eating dinner one night when she brought it up.

“I have something for you,” she said, getting up from the table.

I paused in my eating and set my fork down. She went into the living room and dug through her work bag. When she came back, she had papers in her hand, which she gave to me.

“What’s this?” I asked, reaching for them.

“Open it.”

I frowned as I looked down. “Divorce papers?”

“I took the liberty of printing them out for you.”

I tossed them on the table. “I didn’t ask or need you to do that, Iona.”

“Well, clearly, you need a little push, Tyrion. The longer you wait, the further back we have to push our wedding date.”

“Iona… are you listening to me when I tell you this isn’t the right time?”

“When is the right time, then? How long are you going to spare her feelings instead of ripping the damn Band-Aid off?”

I pushed my chair back and stood from the table. “I’m not doing this with you. It’s disrespectful as fuck that you would even bring this to me right now.”

“Disrespectful? You know what’s disrespectful, Tyrion? I feel like a side chick to my own man. I’m starting to believe that you don’t want me to be your wife. Maybe that’s the real reason you won’t file the papers.”

“You’re making this about you, and it’s not!” I yelled.

“The fuck if it isn’t!”

“It’s not. The mother of my child just came out of a ten-year traumatic experience. She’s trying to get her life together and get back to herself, and you want me to throw this at her? I’m not doing it. This is my last time telling you to let this shit go, or you are gonna see a very ugly side of me, Iona.”

I’d left her at the dinner table and grabbed my keys. I needed a break from her before things got too heated and I said some shit I couldn’t take back. Evenie was already having a hard time with all this, and I refused to kick her while she was down. Even though she said she would sign the papers, I knew how much it would hurt her, and that wasn’t something I was willing to do. Sure, it wouldn’t hurt any less, but I wouldn’t add salt to a fresh wound.

I pulled up in front of the Longs’ house to pick up Evenie and Summer when I noticed that Nina’s car was parked on the curb. Evenie and Summer came out on the front porch. Baby girl waved at me excitedly, while her mother just stared at me with a blank expression. I got out of the car at the same time as Jaime, Nina’s husband. Through the rearview mirror, I could see Nina glaring at me.

“What’s up, man?” he asked, dapping me.

“Hey, Jay. What are y’all doing here?”

“Summer told Jersey about y’all taking her to the festival, and she begged us to go too. Ev asked us to pick her up.”

“Why would she do that if she knew I was coming to get them?”

Jaime placed a hand on my shoulder. “You’re in trouble… like big trouble, my nigga. I don’t know what you did, ’cause Nina won’t tell me shit, but the two of them were on the phone for hours the other night talking about you, dude.”

I frowned. This was news to me. I hadn’t done shit that I could recall recently. My gaze drifted to Evenie as she and Summer made their way down the driveway.

“I didn’t do anything, Jay,” I protested.

“Well, she says you did. Hey, how about I ride with you, and we can try to figure it out?”

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