Page 56 of Holiday on the Rocks
Once downstairs we sat on the sofa next to the roaring fire and most beautiful Christmas tree in the history of time.
Levi went to the kitchen, and his phone pinged. It sat on the glass coffee table. I casually grabbed a Skittle from the candy dish and tossed it under the coffee table. Yes, I’m a loser.
I bent down, basically crawling under the coffee table, and looked up through the glass at his lit-up screen. While I couldn’t see all the words, I saw birthday party next Friday. In his life across the world, some woman named Martina would be attending a party with the hot one.
Yes, a reality check.
He entered the room as I flashed a smile. Well, whatever he had in his life wasn’t happening today; nope, he was in Colorado with me.
He plopped down on the couch beside me before laying his head in my lap as I ran my fingers through his hair, I decided this was fine. It was all okay.
I grabbed my phone and read through messages. “Well, they’re on their way here.” I kissed his lips. “You were right. I feel like we finally had our ending and can now move forward with peace. I guess this is goodbye to closure.”
TWENTY-FOUR
LEVI
NOPE
The hell it was a goodbye.
Not happening.
I wasn’t leaving Colorado without her.
“Am I a puss if knowing Rachel and Lexi are on the way is making me a little jumpy?”
She patted my hand. “No. They can be some scary bitches for sure.” She grabbed the magic eight ball from the coffee table. “Will Levi be okay upon the arrival of the girls?”
She shook it and held it out to me.
“Fuck yes.” I threw my arms in the air.
“See, it’ll be fine.”
A short time later a horn blew from outside as Allie shot to the window. “They’re here.” She turned back to me and bit her lip, which made me want to bite her lip. “Maybe you should step away somewhere, and I’ll announce you. Just so my girls don’t drop dead.”
I climbed the stairs so I could take in whatever the hell was about to happen. I wasn’t sure if I should be saying prayers or stretching out my legs so I wouldn’t have any cramping when I had to run into the forest to not be killed by Allie’s crew.
The door opened and there they were. The friends who were scared shitless I’d ruin the brilliant Allie from the first time I spoke to her. They tried to reel her in and did anything to keep me away, but failed time and time again.
I always told them I’d never hurt her, until I did.
The pain I caused and witnessed in the hospital while she barely clung to life still eats away at me. I married her, promised to protect her forever, and she nearly died the next day.
All because of me.
Rachel and Lexi were with me by her side with every beep of the heart monitor machine and each sigh of the ventilator as air was forced into her lungs.
She looked so small in the hospital bed, and her swollen, bruised face was branded in my mind forever.
We’d sit for hours without a word being spoken, the quiet hum of the florescent lights overhead growing louder minute by minute. When they didn’t know if she would make it her parents let me stay, maybe trying to respect what they thought was the dying wish of their daughter. They knew all she wanted was us and I’d always loved that, but it was a sword through my heart to know they’d been right about me all along.
Once they were able to take her off life support, my welcome was extinguished. Her parents, Lexi, and Rachel had me physically removed from her room and a security officer was placed outside her door.
My father showed up with the annulment papers and once he got me out of the hospital, he drove me to Evan’s in Wisconsin where he actually stayed sober for over a month. Who says hell can’t freeze over?
Once my dad went home, I’d call, and he’d fill me in on what he could find out about her from the few people in town who still spoke to him after what I did. He was known for drinking, throwing punches, and sleeping with women, so adding father of the bastard who nearly killed the town sweetheart was the final blow to his tattered reputation. Phrases like learning to walk again, significant weight loss, and won’t leave her room gutted me. A reminder that I hurt the most perfect person in the world all because she loved me.
