Page 44 of Missile Tow
“And he left before you could?” I whispered, letting the tears fall freely.
His story pained me. The images running through my mind were unsettling. I imagined a few things all at once. His cabin, fully decorated for Christmas. Big plans for his future. His being surprised by the breakup. What a cruel hand of fate he endured. He had to have felt so alone. How could someone leave a decentand kind man like him? And finally, I wished it’d been me he’d asked to marry.
Chip placed his hands in his lap and let out a sorrowful sigh. The memory was perceptibly hurting him. “Yeah. I never saw the breakup coming.”
“Me neither,” I began. “Evan left me during the holidays as well. He left for a guy named John, whom he claimed he’d met through work. Oddly enough, I met John before coming here, and he admitted they’d met online,” I disclosed. “I sort of saw it coming for a few months. I knew I’d never be enough for Evan.”
“You know the name of the guy he left you for?”
“Evan introduced us,” I answered. “Last week, actually. And this is the weirdest part. Evan’s new boyfriend was who told me about Missile.”
Chip’s troubled reaction caught my attention. He raked a hand through his hair, his eyes narrowing as if he recalled a memory or was deep in thought. I wondered if he was finally thinking what I’d been thinking since I arrived in town.
“Okay,” he muttered. “Now,thatis weird.”
“Here’s an honest admission,” I said. “As it turns out, John’s nice. I liked him even though I didn’t want to.”
Chip leaned forward, locked onto me. “Keep going,” he urged. “Describe this John to me.”
“Are you okay?” I asked, sensing alarm.
“Please go on. What did this John look like?”
“Tall,” I began, recalling the handsome person I’d met in the condo parking garage. “Shoulder-length hair. Jet black. Like super dark. But it was his eyes I can’t forget,” I whispered. “They were the greenest eyes.” I focused on the memory of how stunned I was when I saw them.Yeah,so impossibly green,I ruminated. “A very unusual color that sparkled like I’ve never seen.”
“Who you met was my John,” Chip stated matter-of-factly.
“Your John,” I acknowledged. “As in your ex?”
“Not my John anymore, but yeah, the man you met has to be my ex,” he confirmed. “And I’m going to assume he’s now with Evan, your ex?”
“He is,” I confirmed.
“And when you met John, he never mentioned me by name?”
“He didn’t say your name, but he told me he hated how he treated his ex,” I explained. “He said he did a shitty thing to you.”
“I guess that was a nice thing to admit. So frickin’ crazy that you met him and he mentioned Missile.”
“So crazy,” I muttered, realizing what I feared was actually true. I was having sex with my ex’s new boyfriend’s ex. “I’ll admit, I had wondered,” I added. “And hoped he wasn’t the same person I’d met.”
I made my way to the fireplace, standing in front, fixated on the red embers. Chip’s believing I was telling the truth was important to me. I worried he thought I made up a bullshit message from the universe as an excuse to show up in Missile.
Chip came up behind and slid a hand around my waist. Neither of us spoke for at least three minutes or more. He kissed the back of my neck.
“When you showed up and said you purposely stopped in Missile and were from the city I’d heard he moved to, the thought crossed my mind,” he said. “But then I figured the odds were… what, nearly impossible?”
“Is this going to be a problem now?” I asked, turning around to face him. “I’d totally get it if you thought the coincidence was too much.”
He shook his head. “Not for me, it ain’t,” he claimed. “And if you’re wondering, I believe you, Van. Besides, John left me. Not the other way around. That was a year ago, and I’ve moved on.”
“For sure you’ve moved on?” I pried, once again needing reassurance.
“Let me ask you a question,” he said. “Would you trust your ex if he wanted you back?”
“Of course not,” I replied. “He’d never want me back, but I wouldn’t go if he did.”
“Same,” he stated. “I doubt John will ever come back to Missile. Besides, if he did, I couldn’t trust him. He left once. Why wouldn’t he leave again?”
