Page 229 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
My mom nodded.
“You don’t need to tell me the details, Cayden,” she said. “I just want you to go into this with an open mind. I know it’s been a while since you’ve dated, but no one is perfect. We all have our flaws.”
My mom was right. Everyone, including me, had their flaws. I knew Tiffany had some, but I didn’t know keeping secrets from me was one of them. No matter what my mom said, I still felt betrayed. Tiffany should have told me the truth from the beginning. I didn’t care that I was busy with Austin being sick. She had plenty of opportunities to tell me and she didn’t take any of them.
I sat with my mom for a little while longer when Austin came in the room. He still looked exhausted but smiled when he saw me.
“Are you ready to go home, kiddo?” I asked him. He nodded.
“We need to take all my toys,” he said. I looked at the huge pile of toys under the tree. It would take me a while to cart all of them out to the car.
A few minutes later, I had the car loaded with all of Austin’s Christmas toys. I said goodbye to my mom and dad and left for home with Austin.
“Where’s Miss Tiffany?” Austin asked. I looked back at him in the rearview mirror. I wasn’t sure how to respond to him, but I knew that I had to pretend that everything was okay. I didn’t want him to get worried about me or Tiffany on Christmas Day.
“She’s at her house,” I told him. “She got a present for you, though. I’ll give it to you at home, okay, buddy?”
I watched as Austin smiled.
“Tiffany got me a present?” he asked. “What is it?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “We’ll see when we get home.”
“I can’t wait,” Austin said. “Tiffany must really like me if she got me a gift!”
A short while later, we were settled in at home. Austin sat on the couch, excited to see what Tiffany had got him. I gave him the bag and he dove in after the toy. Seconds later, he produced the purple dinosaur.
“Bonkers!” he exclaimed. “How did she find this? How did she know that I wanted this dinosaur?”
I smiled, pleased that he was so excited to receive the gift.
“Christmas magic,” I told him. “Do you love it?”
Austin nodded enthusiastically.
“Miss Tiffany is the best,” he said, hugging the dinosaur. “I wish she was here right now, so I could give her a big hug and tell her thank you. Can we call her, Daddy?”
I shook my head.
“She’s busy right now, buddy,” I lied. “We can try later.”
Austin nodded and dashed off with his dinosaur.
“I’m going to go play in my bedroom,” he yelled to me.
I walked to the kitchen and poured myself a drink. I needed it tonight. As I put the ice in my cup, I thought about how Tiffany and I were here less than twenty-four hours ago. Things were good. We had a great night with my family, and an amazing hookup. But, now, our future was unknown. Just like that, things were completely ruined.
I wondered what happened after I left. Did Brad return? Did he just take my spot at the dinner table, picking up his relationship where it had left off? I still couldn’t believe that Tiffany’s mom had invited him over. Was she trying to cause trouble? Based on what Tiffany had told me, I would believe it. She was an evil woman.
I sat down on the couch and sipped my drink. I couldn’t get Tiffany off my mind. Part of me wanted to text her to tell her how much Austin liked the gift, but I didn’t want to open that door. I knew that she would want to talk about what had happened earlier. I wasn’t ready to talk about it. I wasn’t sure when I would ever be ready to talk about it.
Tiffany had royally screwed up by not telling me about Brad. Would I have been mad if she told me about meeting up with him? Of course, but at least she wouldn’t be a liar. I think that was the part that irked me the most. She had lied to me, multiple times. I gave her many chances to explain what was wrong and she kept telling me that nothing was wrong. How could I trust her after this?
I thought about calling Sarah to vent about it, but I didn’t want to take her away from her family on Christmas. I also thought about texting Allen, but I knew that he would just tell me to get over it by getting under someone new. He never got upset about a girl, he just moved on to the next one.
As I sat and drank, I began to get angry. I was angry at Tiffany for seeing Brad behind my back. I was angry at Brad for being an asshole. I was angry at Tiffany’s mom for inviting Brad over. Mostly, I was angry at myself for getting into this situation in the first place. I was also angry that I had introduced Tiffany to my family. I should have never let Austin get to know her.
I was glad that I wouldn’t have to see her until at least Monday. I wouldn’t contact her before then and if she tried to contact me, I would ignore her. I needed to take some time to think about what I wanted to do next. Although I was angry, I didn’t want to act irrationally, especially since we still worked together.
