Realizing they were having their first disagreement.
Chapter Nine
Allison took a shower and dressed
in a short sundress and flip-flops. She dried her hair and went looking for
Tiaan. She found him standing on the patio with his hands buried in his
pockets, staring out at the sea. He, too, had taken a shower and was dressed
in a pair of cargo shorts and a tee-shirt.
She went up to
him and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind, laying her cheek against
his broad back. He did not move, but his body stiffened the moment she touched
him. Her heart sank and she hugged him tighter.
“Please let’s
not fight because of him. He is not worth it.”
“Isn’t he?”
His voice was low and sounded weary.
Allison
stepped around him and wormed herself between his body and the patio balustrade
he was standing against. She laid her hands on his chest and looked at him
earnestly.
“No, honey, he
isn’t.”
“Then why didn’t
you tell me about him? If he meant nothing to you anymore, it’s something you
should have told me that night I took you to dinner.”
“I didn’t tell
you about him then, because we were just two people having a nice dinner
together, not sharing our tales of woe.”
“And since
then?”
“Honestly? It
has not crossed my mind once. Tiaan, I have not given him a thought in years.
I promise you there is no hidden agenda by not telling you. It truly just
slipped my mind.”
“So tell me
now.”
Allison
sighed. “Only if you put your arms around me. I don’t like that I am standing
so close to you and feel as if there are miles separating us. Please, honey.”
Tiaan dragged
his hands out of his shorts pockets and slid them around her waist. He stroked
her spine and slipped one hand beneath her hair, while the other enveloped her
waist to tug her closer against him. Allison wrapped her arms around his waist
and locked her hands behind his back.
“We met in college,
when I was in my third year and he was in his final year of post-grad. We
started dating and soon became a couple. He was very ambitious, hard working,
attended all the who’s who parties and soon became a junior partner at White
Incorporated. We got engaged two years after we met. Neither one of us were
interested in getting married. He had his career to build and I was still
specializing. After two years I felt we were both settled, he had just been
promoted, but he felt it was too soon.”
Allison
shrugged her shoulders.
“I guess I am just
as much to blame as he was. I should have recognized the signs by then. Every
time I would bring up marriage, he would brush it off, until eventually we
decided on a date five years after we got engaged.”
Tiaan grunted
and Allison snorted.
“Yeah, I
know. I was an idiot. Anyway, everything was planned, paid for and I went to
pick up my wedding dress three days before the wedding. He was at my apartment
when I got home.”
“You were
engaged for five years and lived separately?”
“Yes. He felt
we should not hasten into anything.”
“Five years?
Fucking dickhead.”
“Well, I
arrived home and put my wedding dress away. He bluntly told me he was not
ready to be a husband. He was sorry, but he could not marry me. Just like
that, then he walked out. The next day I went to the mall to go cancel the
flowers and catering. I found him kissing Simla, one of my group of friends.
I was livid and hurt. I had wasted seven years of my life and he used me to
get ahead in his career. The group of Attorneys he worked for placed high
value of morals and family. I approached them and learned that they had been
having an affair for over a year.”
Allison sighed
and pressed her cheek deeper against his chest.
“Thinking back
I never cried over him. I was just angry, hurt and disappointed. More so in
Simla, who had been one of my best friends since I was twelve years old.
Luckily they moved to Canada.
authors_sort
Pete McCarthy
Isabel Allende
Joan Elizabeth Lloyd
Iris Johansen
Joshua P. Simon
Tennessee Williams
Susan Elaine Mac Nicol
Penthouse International
Bob Mitchell