She walked in and it looked like swanning but I had the feeling that long-legged grace came naturally.
I closed the door, followed her and when I arrived in the bedroom area, I saw she’d stopped and was examining my zipped up, beat up, leather satchel.
I stopped well away and offered, “Do you want me to make some coffee? I’ve got one of those little pots and plenty of java.”
She looked to me and shook her head. “I’m good.”
I nodded and fell silent. She was here, I didn’t invite her. It was up to her to lead.
She regarded me closely. “I’m not what you expected,” she stated quietly.
“Nope,” I agreed, giving her no more.
I actually didn’t know what I expected, Creed was hot, successful and all man, he could get anyone, even someone as beautiful as Chelle. But she was way more polished and stylish than I would expect would turn the eye of a man like Creed.
She pulled in a delicate breath and asked, “He hasn’t spoken of me?”
Shit. I didn’t want to be doing this but I really didn’t want to get into this crap. So I had to put on the brakes before we even really started.
“Okay,” I threw out a hand, “I don’t want this to go bad. From what I know, you understand what’s happening, not a little bit of it, all of it. So I think you get I’m gonna be around as in around… a lot.”
She didn’t flinch but that didn’t mean I didn’t catch how much that cost her.
“So,” I went on, “I wanna be careful here, I don’t wanna create bad blood. You and Creed get on, so I’m gonna try not to f**k that up. So don’t take offense when I say this but, giving you the honesty, I’m not gonna talk to you about what Creed and I talk about. I’ll say this. I know a little bit about you. I know you both love your kids. I know you’ve made good ones. I know you got a new man. I know you know about me and I know the break with Creed wasn’t good for you. Can we leave it at that?”
She didn’t answer me.
Instead, she stated, “He wanted no memory of you.”
I didn’t get this so I asked, “What?”
She swept her hand up and down her front. “After you, he told me it took years but when he couldn’t bear it anymore, the nightmares, the anguish, the longing, in an attempt to bury it, he f**ked everything that moved. After you, he told me, he did everything he could do to drown out the memory of you. After you, there were no blondes. After you, there were no women who were slim and little and looked like they needed protecting. After you, those women ceased to exist. He didn’t even look at them. He wanted no memory of you.”
Okay, I liked this and hated it, in equal measure.
“Do you know why that was?” I asked and she nodded but I went on, “If you really do, Chelle, you know that was more than being about me.”
“True. But we both know it was mostly about you.”
Okay, she was probably right about that.
I pulled in breath, opened my mouth to speak but she got there before me and when she spoke, she was whispering.
“I have never…” she swallowed, “not in my life, not in all the time with him, except when the kids were born, I have never, ever seen him the way he was at lunch on Friday.”
I shut my mouth.
She closed her eyes and I saw her draw in breath through her nose before she opened them again and continued whispering.
“Please, don’t hurt him.”
That was so unexpected I felt my body give a small jerk.
Then I started, “Chelle –”
She shook her head and raised her hand. “You’re everything to him.”
I shook my head too and returned, “I was. Now, I know he feels the way I feel about being back together, but he’s got your kids and he adores them.”