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Tears fall down her face. “I saw it and I’m not standing in the way. She’s the one who got away and I get that. But please, just give me space.”
Everything plays back in my head in triple time.
“Oh fuck,” I say, sounding, and feeling, like I got punched in the gut. “It’s not what it looked like.”
I look at all three women. One looks like her heart has been ripped apart and the other two look confused but ready to ask me to leave.
Shit, I really fucked this up.
“Please let me tell you what happened, all three of you because I think my two best friends are close to castrating me, but mostly you, Samantha.” I take a deep breath, thinking of the order of events so I can fill in anything that she might not have seen. “I was waiting to get Elliot’s attention at the bar to make an oat milk coffee drink. They usually only have rice milk but Sam likes oat and he said I could drop some off and he’d make it for her during our date. While I was there, someone took my Stetson. Honestly, I thought it was you so I was surprised because, well, you know what it means and I didn’t know that you were comfortable with that…public statement.”
“But it wasn’t Sam,” Avery fills in for me.
I shake my head, letting out a rueful laugh. “Not even close. I stopped opening her messages months ago, stopped replying long before that, and finally blocked her, so I had no idea she was moving back before the fall. She caught me completely off guard and asked for five minutes. I told her no and she was persistent, even going as far as threatening to go talk to you and I freaked out. This was our first date in public and here was Maisy Jones pulling some childish shit. She said if I gave her one minute she’d stay away from both of us if that’s what I wanted. So, I told her she had one minute, no more.
“Maisy complained that it was too loud, grabbed my hand, and drug me to the back door. I was in complete shock at her assumption that it was okay to make any sort of physical contact with me and it wasn’t until we were almost to the door that I yanked my hand free. I grabbed my phone, set a one-minute timer, placed it on the table between us, and hit start.”
My eyes don’t leave Sam’s and all I want is to hold her in my arms and tell her everything she means to me. That I would never put her through what she thinks happened. But she deserves to understand what she saw, whatever pieces of that nightmare conversation.
“Maisy used her minute to tell me the reasons we should be together again. And I listened. For the full minute. I let the timer go off, took my hat off of her head, reminded her that she agreed to leave us alone, and walked away for the last time.”
“Oh Tommy,” Courtney murmurs.
“We can unpack that shitshow later,” I say, waving off her concern for me. “But after I said all that I’ll ever need to Maisy, I went back to the table. I thought you were still refreshing your lipstick, and I went into the bathroom to try to get my shit together. I was shaking with the audacity of Maisy and didn’t want to bring all of that negative energy into our date. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that Keith came by and I found your note. I drove right to your apartment and couldn’t get a hold of you, any of you, and eventually decided to take my chances here.”
Sam’s knuckles are white as she grips the washcloth, sadness mixed with hope in her eyes now. I keep my feet right where they are, respecting that she asked for space, but dying to go to her.
“I thought you left me to be with her.”
“Never.”
Chapter 59: Sam
Yes, he left. But he didn’t leave.
And he didn’t leave me.
“Never,” he says again.
The rollercoaster of emotions I’ve already been through feels like a kiddie train ride compared to what I just learned.
Avery’s hand at my back is still now, offering silent support. Courtney is holding Tommy’s arm, I think. But as hard as it has been, I’ve been unable to look away from Tommy. I thought he was going to confirm what I told the girls, but the truth is so vastly different than what it looked like. The scenes play again through my mind, but this time, I let Tommy’s words narrate.
Everything falls into place. I think about any time Tommy’s ex was mentioned, someone noted that he was over her.
“So, you’re not getting back together with Maisy?”
“Absolutely not,” Tommy says resolutely.
“Should we…” Courtney begins, pointing between herself and Avery and the stairs.
“I’m okay,” I tell them. “Thank you.”
And I mean it from the bottom of my heart.
Tommy watches me carefully while fidgeting as they leave.
“There’s nothing I want more than you. I’m so sorry that you saw that. I should have come back to the table right away, damn Maisy if she followed. But I let her lead me away. I should have never let her manipulation take a single moment from our date. All I could think of was keeping her out of our lives. Not because she holds any part of my heart, she doesn’t. But because she is a master of manipulation and I couldn’t stand the thought of her pulling any crap with you.”
