Page 96 of All for Love

KODY

To say that Mercedes was furious would’ve been putting it mildly. An understatement. The understatement of the century actually.

When she’d let me in and fussed over me for those first couple of minutes, I’d thought she was okay. That we were okay, but it looked like I was in bigger trouble than I’d ever been in before.

“After Kaden and Brooke confronted us like that, I saw red,” I admitted. “When I left the office, I wasn’t intending on going to our parents, but I kept hearing him accusing me of being dishonest and I couldn’t take the sneaking around anymore. I’m sorry, baby. I had to tell them the truth, but I should’ve told you first before I went ahead and did it.”

“You should’ve told me first?” She exhaled sharply through her nose and narrowed her eyes at me. “Jeez. You think?! You’ve put me in an awful position. The most terrible position I’ve ever been in. The least you could’ve done was to give me a heads-up first.”

“I was going to call you right after I left,” I said honestly. “I figured I’d do the dirty deed. Take the punishment and then call you on my way back to the city, but then the accident happened.”

“And you ignored every attempt I made to contact you for the rest of the day,” she snapped.

I shook my head. “I didn’t realize I had my phone on me for the longest time. I was at the hospital.”

“When did you realize?” she asked, her voice hushed and laced with hurt as she stared back at me. “When did you realize you had it with you?”

“What?”

“When did you realize, Kody? What time? Because I spent the entire day trying to get a hold of you. You cannot possibly tell me you only got your phone back after midnight, which is when I heard from you for the first time.”

“No, you’re right. I got it back much earlier than that, but they were checking me out and getting the cast on and stuff. It was just… it was busy. I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry?” she spat as I saw the rage growing into a monster inside her. “You’re sorry that you weren’t able to take one minute to text me just one line. I told our parents. That’s it. That’s all. At least that way, I’d have known to prepare myself.”

I winced. There was no excuse for that. I should’ve thought about it. I just hadn’t. “I apologize, okay? I messed up, and I’m sorry.”

Chest rising and falling fast as she stared at me, I thought for a moment that it had been enough, but then her face fell and she shook her head again. Her eyes got shinier and shinier as she spoke, fat tears welling on her puffy eyelids.

“I wish I could say that I forgive you, but I don’t. I spent the entire day worried sick about you and then eventually, when my mother knocked on my door, I thought it was you. Imagine my surprise when it was not only her instead of you, but her in a state unlike anything I’ve ever seen from her.”

“Yeah, she was pretty upset.” I tried reaching for her hand again, but she was too far gone, fuming. She spun away from me and paced the length of her kitchen while her voice grew thicker and the tears started rolling down her cheeks.

“Pretty upset? No, Kody. That’s not it. She is devastated. Wrecked. She showed up in tears last night, accusing me of trying to ruin her marriage, and her happiness, and of making a mockery of our family name.”

My heart gave a painful pang. “Shit. Really?”

She nodded firmly, still pacing and shaking her head. “Yes, Kody. Really. It was horrible. I’ve never seen her like that. Not ever.”

“Yeah.” I blew out a long breath as the realization dawned that I’d caused more damage than could be fixed with a simple I’m sorry. I really was, but that didn’t change anything. “I saw my dad.”

“He left her alone yesterday? Did you know that? They’ve been nothing but happy. Practically joined at the hip, but he left her alone because of this. Because of us.”

I frowned as confusion set in. “He didn’t leave, Mercedes. Not at all. She asked him for some space and he respected her wishes.”

“He didn’t need to leave to give her space,” she seethed. “Have you seen that house? It’s as big as some towns.”

“Sure, I know. I made the same point, but apparently, it still wasn’t big enough. She asked for space and he gave it to her.”

“I don’t care if she asked him to make the Pope teleport into their TV room. In the state she was in, he should’ve been there for her, and if it hadn’t been for us, he would’ve been.”

I tilted my head slowly. Mercedes wiped away the tears, slammed her palms into the counter closest to her, and braced herself against it with her back turned to me. This was not the reunion I’d been hoping for, but I had to try to fix it.

“They will work it out,” I said firmly. “Couples fight all the time. They’re not even fighting. At worst, this was a misunderstanding. She asked for space and he gave it to her. If she didn’t really want it, she should’ve called him. He’d have gone running, but the point is that couples fight and then they sort it out. That’s just how it goes.”

Her shoulders rose and fell as she dragged in a deep breath. Then her head dropped forward as she dragged in another. “I know couples fight, Kody. Don’t you think I know that? The problem here, as you correctly pointed out, is that they’re not even fighting. We did this. Me and you. We’re responsible, and sure, it might just have been a misunderstanding, but it’s also the first night they’ve spent apart since they got married and that’s on us.”

“They will work it out,” I repeated confidently. “We knew things were going to get rocky when they found out. Now—”