Page 63 of Another Love, Another Time
“No, I don’t have to answer you, Auggie.” Remaining calm, I continue, “I owe you nothing, just as you owe me nothing. I’m at work. Let’s keep this conversation professional.” I’m tryingbut failing to brush him off. I’m not going to escape him or this conversation.
“You don’t owe me anything? River, we used to be best friends, speaking every single day, and then something bad happened, and you cut me out of your life. You didn’t even hear my side of the story, and then you were just gone. You left without even saying goodbye. You joined the Army. I was told to give you time. I did. I was told not to reach out. Then, I saw you at your dad’s funeral, and you avoided me.”
I see the hurt in his eyes. He’s right. I did avoid him at my dad’s funeral, even though I didn’t want to. He’s the only person I did want to see. At that moment, all I wanted was Auggie. When I saw him there, I wanted nothing more than to run up to him, let him hug me, and have him tell me everything would be alright.
To be honest, I had been looking forward to seeing him. When our eyes connected from across the room, I started heading his way. But then, I saw Melissa slide right up next to him and wrap her arm around his bicep.
I redirected, moving to my car. I was done. Other than Auggie, my dad was the only one who could help me see reason, and he was no longer here. I was done greeting strangers. I was done being nice to people I didn’t like. I was just… done. I decided to let the rest of my family deal with that.
I wasn’t going to stick around to watch Melissa paw at him the rest of the day. He knew how I felt about her. How dare he bring her to my dad’s funeral? I guess she finally got what she wanted: Auggie.
At the time, I was shattered. I had been in the Army for a little over a year when I got a call from my mom letting me know thatmy dad had had a heart attack and didn’t make it. I was granted leave to go to the funeral, so I went back home to bury my dad.
I was devastated that I would never get to see or talk to my dad again. I couldn’t call the one person I wanted to. After all, I had pushed him out of my life. But when I saw him? Oh God, I just wanted him to hug me and tell me everything was going to be alright. But he brought Melissa, and we were both alone in our own ways.
I shake the memory from my head and take a deep breath. If I’m being honest, Auggie still has the same effect on me.
I snap, “Yeah, you seemed like you had your hands full.” I don’t allow him to respond. “If I’m your partner, I really don’t want to fight with you, okay? We are going to have to work together. I’m sure we will have a lot of time to talk later. Right now, let’s focus on what we really need to be doing today. Okay?” I glare at him.
“I just have one question.”
“Okay, you get one,” I allow, only because I already know what it’s going to be.
“Why is your last name listed under Baxter?”
“That’s my married name.”
Chapter 18
Auggie
I feel like I’ve been shot in the heart. I try to recover quickly so she doesn’t see what it does to me. For the first time in five years, my heart started beating again. Seeing River revived me. I’ve only seen her twice in the last five years. I’ve overheard our moms talk about her and how well she is doing, but never once did they say anything about her being married.
I tried not to ask about River a lot over the years. Mostly, I got my information from eavesdropping. Occasionally, I asked how she was doing. I knew she was living with her mom until she could find her own place.
River averts her gaze.
Hearing that she’s married shattered my heart again. I guess I don’t have any room to talk. Mackey is right; her being my partner will cause issues, but I’ll be damned if I put in a request to change partners.
I feel like I’m being rewarded for all the space I’ve given her. We’re partners. I still can’t believe it. I shake my head and laugh at the irony of it. If she wants to keep it professional, that’s fine. She could never stay mad at me, so I’ll take this chance to get back in her good graces. My life hasn’t been the same since she cut me out of hers.
“Okay, we’ll keep it professional for now, but eventually, we have to talk about what happened.”
“I know we do, but I need this job, and I need some time to focus on that before we handle… us. Please just treat me like you would anyone else who started today.”
“I can do that. Let’s start by going over your background, and then we will move to the cases that are currently assigned to us, where we are, and what else we need to do. Maybe you’ll have some ideas that we haven’t thought about.”
I guide her to our desks by placing my hand on her lower back. She stills at first but quickly recovers. I show her where she will be sitting and what her logins are. I get her logged into everything to make sure she has access and help her start changing her passwords.
I return to my desk, which directly faces hers since we are partners. It helps when we need to bounce things off one another. I sit down and notice the framed picture that’s standing on my desk. I quickly grab it and throw it into my filing cabinet.
“You don’t have to do that,” I hear her say while she’s still looking at her computer.
“Do what?” I question.
“Hide whatever is in that picture. I already know you have a girlfriend. Mackey already warned me that we may not be partners that long since your girlfriend is jealous.” I still. Why the hell would Mackey tell her I have a girlfriend? I roll my eyes, trying to play it off.
“I’m not trying to hide anything. I just need to rearrange my desk so it’s easier for us to talk. Since you are left-handed, it would be easier to talk to you if my computer is positioned this way.”
