Page 66 of Single Dad's Christmas Cookie

I sighed. How sweet. “That would explain why your mom wasn’t so mad at you?”

“Right, because she knew I was coming to see you.”

“Oh, my God, Veronica, you’re the best. I should get changed, and then we can go. Wait a minute—” I stopped. “You’re engaged!”

She nodded. “Uh-huh.”

“Let me see the ring.” I lunged for her hand as she held it out.

The ring was even prettier and threw more sparkles than it had over the phone. “This is so beautiful. Let me get dressed, and then I guess we can go back to your hotel and pick up the boyfriend, I mean fiancé,” I corrected. “And then we can figure out what to do. It’s still really early, though. I don’t know if anybody would be open for coffee.”

“Why don’t you get dressed? I’ll make some coffee, and I’ll let him in.”

“What do you mean, let him in?” Did we leave him standing outside?” I had opened the door and yanked her into the apartment, not noticing somebody else out there.

“He’s sitting in the car,” she admitted.

“Bring him in, bring him in! I can’t believe you’re here.” I was so excited. I gave her another hug before I dashed into my bedroom and closed the door.

My plans of not brushing my hair would have to wait for another day. It was such a mess. There was no way I was going to get a brush through it unless I had a ton of conditioner in it. I cracked open the door and yelled out, “Hey, Veronica, I’m gonna take a quick shower so I can get a brush through my hair.”

“Okay, you do what you need to,” she called back.

I closed the door and immediately jumped in the shower. I gasped as cold water hit my skin. I didn’t expect the water to be that cold. The hot water was usually pretty good in the building. I loaded my hair up with conditioner and began running a wide tooth comb through it, working out the knots. It really was in bad shape, and this was going to take a while. Once I got my hair completely combed out, I finished my shower. I wrapped up in towels and threw my bathrobe back on before heading back into my bedroom.

I could hear a second, deeper voice through the closed door. I didn’t pay any attention to the words being said. I was finally going to meet the secret boyfriend. I guess I was going to have to start calling him the fiancé now, and then after the wedding, I would refer to him as the husband.

I was going to meet him now, and he was going to have a name. This was so weird. I was finally going to have a face and a name to go with Veronica’s boyfriend.

I pulled out my clothes before returning to my bathroom so I could dry my hair. I wasn’t worried about any kind of style. I dried it and brushed it straight.

I was more concerned about it being full of rats’ nests and knots than it looking pretty. As soon as it was mostly dry, I braided it for the safest style for wooly cap wearing. I threw on my clothes and stepped out.

Veronica was sitting on my ratty sofa, and her fiancé had his back to us in the kitchen. Veronica gave me a tooth bearing grin.

“Nova, I want you to meet my fiancé.” She sounded nervous.

I figured it was her finally realizing the importance of this moment, the best friend meeting the fiancé. I was so excited, and I wasn’t the one engaged or getting married or…

“David? What the fuck?” I stared at the man in my kitchen. The man who I had never wanted to see again. “What the fuck?” I repeated. “Why are you in my kitchen? Veronica, why is David here?” I spun to face her.

“Well,” Veronica started.

“No, no.” I shook my head. This could not be right. My blood pressure skyrocketed. I could hear the pounding of my heart in my ears as if I had run a marathon. I had a hard time catching my breath. My chest clenched. This was all wrong.

“You know what he did to me. Don’t you even care?”

She opened and closed her mouth a few times like a koi fish.

“There is nothing you can say. I can’t believe this. I cannot believe this! You need to go. You need to go now!”

“Nova, would you just listen to her?” David asked.

“You don’t get to talk to me. You shouldn’t even be here. Oh, my God, I didn’t think I needed a restraining order.” I turned my wrath on Veronica. She knew all of the details of the pain David had put me through. “You let him come into my apartment! You let him know where I lived. I had to move states to get away from him, and you brought him here!” I stormed across the small space and pulled open my front door. “Get out! Get out now!”

“You’re still a bitch,” David insulted me as he walked out.

I grabbed Veronica’s arm and shook her to a halt as she walked in front of me. “You knew he cheated on me. I cannot believeyou were willing to listen to him in any way. He’s gonna cheat on you. How long after we broke up did you get together? I can’t believe you’re engaged to him.” I was so angry I couldn’t see straight.

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