couldn’t help the little laughs that escaped. “I’m fine, honest.”
“Do me a favor? Take tomorrow off, and if you need Wednesday, take that too. Just to give me peace of mind, please,” she begged.
Her face was nothing but sincere as I regarded her. “I don’t deserve you, Debbie.”
“True, but you’re still the best boss I’ve ever had and if you go insane, I’d have to find another job and I just can’t have that kind of disruption in my life right now. So, I’ll see you Thursday, okay?”
I gave her a hug. “Okay.”
I made it to Mercury’s just in time to see Vicky getting out of her car. She made her way over towards me and, without a word, linking her arm around mine, we went into Mercury’s on our mission.
I let Vicky steer me towards a back table. “No bar?”
“Nope, I have to go into the office tomorrow and if we sit at the bar, that’s not going to happen.” And as serious as she could be, she finished with, “I don’t lie to myself, Fee.”
I just laughed. “A table it is, then.”
We sat down and one of the cocktail waitresses made her way over to us. “You’re usual, ladies?”
Vicky winked at her. “You know it, Steph.”
“Okay, what gives, chick?”
I threw my head down on the table. “I want to forgive him, marry him, and have fifty little black-haired, green-eyed babies with him, Vee.”
I felt the table bounce a little when Stephanie set our customary bucket of beer down. I didn’t lift my head until I heard Vicky crack open a beer. “I need your honest opinion, Vee, no matter how brutal.”
She took a long swallow of her beer before she spoke, “There are only two options to choose from, Fiona.”
“I know.” Her statement wasn’t helping me at all.
“Choosing him makes me feel weak though.” I reached for a beer. “How can I love him after all he’s done to me?” She tilted her head at me and that’s when I realized it was the first time I’ve ever said the words out loud to anyone.
“Fiona, I know he’s done some horrible things to you and I know he’s left you with some pretty deep scars, but…”
I took a drink of my beer because it felt like I was going to need it. “But what?”
“Everything that man has done, both good and bad, has been to find a way to hold on to you, Fiona. His lies and manipulations have all been to be with you. Yeah, his execution and methods run along the side of crazy and unhealthy, but because he’s unbalanced, that man is going to love you for the rest of his life. Fiona, Damien loves you to distraction. He’s going to spend all of his days finding new ways and, let’s be honest, insane ways to cherish and worship you. I know without a doubt he will never look at another woman as long as he has your love. Hell, he may not even without your love.”
I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. “Vicky…”
She reached over and placed her hands over mine. “He’s offering you a love that most people can only dream about. He’s going to make mistakes, and Lord knows, he’s going to piss you off from time to time, but that comes with all relationships.”
“So, you’re saying I should choose him?”
“I’m saying you should do what makes you happy. And, Fiona, when he’s not fighting to find a way to tie you to him forever, he’s making you happy. There is no other man on this earth who is going to love you like Damien does. He wants to be able to tell his grandchildren that he’s loved their grandmother since he was five.”
I couldn’t stop the sobs if I had tried. I immediately felt Vicky’s arms around me. “Fee, quit being scared of what he might do and accept that if he finally has you like he wants you, that man will never hurt you again.”
I looked up. “How can you know this, but I don’t?”
“Even Jason could see it, Fee. Why do you think he took that ass whoopin’ without calling the cops? When I got him home and cleaned him up, all he could talk about was that he’d never seen love in tangible form like that before and even commented on how amazing it was to see,” she answered.
As soon as Vicky resumed sitting in her seat, a box of tissue was dropped in the center of the