Promises Forgotten
Chapter 20

The area started to thin out around 4:30 a.m. and after grabbing some dessert at one of the other trucks, Zach started to walk me back to the hotel. I had refused a ride, but he also refused to allow me to walk back alone. We walked close, but his hands were tucked into his pockets again. My phone vibrated in my pocket and I looked at the caller ID. Stopping, I answered.

“Jacob?”

“Hey! I’m sorry! I know it’s like 4 a.m., but Elliot woke up and he has been crying because he had a bad dream, and I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.”

“Okay okay. Calm down, for one. It’s just a bad dream, not the end of the world.” I stopped walking and ran my hands through my hair. Zach stopped as well, curiosity coming across his features. “Is Anne awake?”

“Yeah, she is holding him, but he is still crying.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Did he say anything specific about it? About the dream?”

“It was dark and that he was alone and scared.”

I cursed. It had been months since he had that dream. Shit. I leaned against the building and closed my eyes. “Hey, I’m putting you on speaker. I’m not alone, so don’t say shit.”

“You’re not alone? Who the hell are you with?” I winced as I put him on speaker.

“Shut the f**k up. You’re married, a*****e. You don’t get to say shit about my life and what I do.” I jokingly hollered back. I started scrolling through my phone.

He scoffed. “If you remember, you’re married too, cunt.”

I laughed. “You know, if I was trying to get f*****g laid tonight, you just ruined it by exclaiming my marital status.” I glanced at Zach who has somewhere between a smirk and a grimace fighting for space on his face. It made me laugh more.

“You? Laid? Ha! Three f*****g years, bitch. God knows your divorce won’t change your lack of interest in anyone.”

I blushed and kept my eyes focused on my phone. I was glad I recently pulled up the photos and videos for Zach. I chose the one where both of us were in the hotel in Vegas. I was sitting on the hotel chair, holding my phone while Zach sat on the edge of the bed. He played three different songs for me, and I videoed all of them. It was Elliot’s favorite video.

“Hey asshat, I sent you something. Play it on Anne’s phone. It should calm him down enough to get back to sleep. He will be exhausted in the morning, if you could warn his teacher then that would be great.”

I swapped the phone off speaker before he replied. “Is that dream about…”

“Stop. Company present, remember.” I smiled sadly. “Do you want me to stay on the line while she tries it?”

“Please. I just want to make sure. It breaks my heart.”

I nodded and closed my eyes. My eyes whipped open when Zach stepped closer to me. We were inches apart as we moved out of the way of people walking on the sidewalk. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and tried to focus on listening to the background noise of the call. I heard the first song of the video start and the sad hiccups and sniffles of my son quiet down.

“Shit. That was quick.”

I smiled. “It works every time.”

“Is that his father playing the guitar?”

I froze and slowly looked up at Zach, who is inches from me. His blue eyes piercing into mine. I stared at him, knowing he was close enough now to hear our conversation. I swallowed and took a small breath.

“Yes. Yes, it is. It calms him down every time. It’s his favorite.”

I stared down Zach. He face didn’t change and he didn’t say anything. Pressing my back further into the brick of the building behind me, I tried to make some more space between us, but it didn’t help.

“Thanks, Ev.”

“No, thank you. I appreciate you guys taking him on such short notice.”

He laughed, unaware of anything going on from this side of the phone. “I’m just glad I don’t need to explain why I’m handing you one hundred in cash over a stupid f*****g bet to Anne.”

“I owe you bigger. I’ll throw in some spending money for your guys’ vacation when I get back.”

“Hell yeah! I was just gonna say some sandwiches for the road, but I’ll take spending money.”

I grinned. “You either get sandwiches or spending money. Not both.”

“F**k!”

Snorting, I was still having a stare down with Zach. I knew the sidewalk was open. I knew he had room to back up, but he had me caged against the wall. I was quiet for a while and Jacob’s voice finally came back on the line.

“Anne says he is down. Thanks again, Ev. Come home soon. We miss you. Elliot misses you a lot.”

I watched an emotion pass through his face when Jacob said his name, but it flickered and was gone. “I’ll be home tomorrow, don’t worry. I have a meeting later today with the lawyer and the finalized version of the divorce papers. Once I sign them, I will leave.” Taking a second, I added. “Once I leave, he won’t see me again. I won’t darken his doorstep again. One day, Elliot might want to meet his father and I hope he will be receptive to that, but I don’t think my heart can handle much more.”

“Alright, Ev. Just come home safe.”

For the first time, I broke our stare and I looked down at my boots. “I will. You guys take care of him for me.”

“Will do. Talk to you later.”

“See ya.”

The line went dead, and my hand dropped next to me. I didn’t try to move. Zach still had me caged against the building. I could feel him staring at me, but I couldn’t meet his eyes anymore. Closing my eyes, I waited. I counted in my head. One, two, three, four…once I hit fifty, I opened my eyes. I was alone. Zach was gone. Nowhere in sight. Sliding down the wall, I curled up into a ball and buried my head in my knees.

I don’t know how long I stayed like that, but it wasn’t until someone came over and asked if I was okay that I moved. Mumbling, “yes,” I walked back to my hotel and flopped onto the bed. I unhooked my arm and let it just lay on the bed next to me. Closing my eyes, I fell asleep almost immediately.

–

I found myself staring up at the Anderson and A. Wright building again. Today, I decided not to f*****g pretend I was anything other than me. Today, I was in ripped blue jeans with my half-way laced up combat boots. Wearing an Iron Maiden shirt with my leather jacket, I didn’t even bother putting on my arm again. Wearing it so much yesterday made the straps rub my skin a little raw and I didn’t want to f**k with it today. I didn’t have any makeup on, and I pulled my hair into a high ponytail. Exactly as I would at home.

Taking a deep breath, I walked into the building. The three blonde bimbos regarded me with both surprise and something else entirely.

“Stacy will be down in a few minutes to bring you up to Mr. Anderson’s office.”

I smiled and nodded. Instead of taking a seat, I perused the different artworks hanging in the office. I came to one and cocked my head to the side. Smiling, I shook my head.

“Something wrong?”

Looking over my shoulder, Stacy was holding a tablet, smiling at me. Turning back to the canvas, I gave it another once-over.

“You can tell the artist isn’t a violinist. Nor was he using a model when he was painting it.” Pointing up at the violin, I traced around it, midair. “He used a photo; I can tell because it’s been transposed. No one in their right mind would play an incorrectly made violin. Not to mention his placement of his fingers are incorrect and would create such a horrible sound, that you would want to cover your ears.”

Turning, I reached out my hand and she took it. “I apologize for my rude departure last time. I appreciate all your help.”

She cleared her throat and smiled. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s head on up. Derek is already there.”

Nodding, I followed her into the elevator and waited for the doors to close. “Jason went to get Zach, but he hasn’t checked in for a while, so I don’t know if he will be here.”

I looked down. “It’s fine. I will make sure to get a copy through email of the final signatures, as well have them sent over to me as well.”

“You live above your cafe, right? Sorry, Jason and I were curious about you when we first found out and googled your work.” Stacy was blushing as she looked at me.

Chuckling, I smiled. “It was always my dream. I went to business school and in my last year I started culinary school and then finished that a year later. Putting the two things I knew and loved together just made sense. It’s small and sometimes I think maybe we could benefit from living in a home. However, when they say it takes a village…” I beamed up at her. “…we have our own little village. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

She nodded and tucked a stray strand hair behind her ear. The doors dinged and she stepped out and started to walk into the office when I stopped her. She looked at me and I pulled her to sit in a chair.

“Sorry, you’re too tall for me to be able to just do it while you’re standing. The pitfalls of being 5’4”.”

Reaching in, I took out her hair clip and her bun. The few bobby pins she had, I held them between my pinky and palm. Sweeping her hair to the side, I began to pin it so it laid smooth on the right side. From there, I twisted it so I could place the hair clip she had in earlier so it stayed. Once that was in, I started to just place pins where I thought the hair might fall. Once I felt it would stay, I stepped back and admired my work.

“Even one handed, I’m still nimble as f**k.” I winked at her.

She giggled and let out a little snort. My smile widened and I helped her up. “Thanks.”

“That hair would bother you all day. Your bun was perfect, otherwise, and that’s the one thing I can’t do one-handed. You look beautiful, though, I like this.”

Stacy blushed more. “If you were trying to make me fall for you, you succeeded.”

Laughing, I shook my head. “My dear, the last thing you want is the mess that is my heart. I promise. No one wants this train wreck. Come on. Poor Mr. Two-First-Names probably is lonely.”

There was a sad, unreadable emotion that crossed her face, but a smile replaced the look and she led me back into the office we were in last time. Derek stood and held out his hand, the correct one this time, and I shook it.

“I reached out to Mr. Anderson, but he is unreachable at this time.”

I nodded. “It’s fine. I will sign and as soon as he signs, please send me a copy through my email, then my copy through the mail.”

“Yes, of course.”

He was already prepared this time and slid all three copies of the divorce agreement over to me. Doing a quick once-over of each, I confirmed the correct changes had been made. Grinning, I took the pen from him and flipped to the last page of each. Staring down at the two signature lines, my heart started pounding. I tightened my grip on my pen to stop my hand from shaking. Smiling sadly at the page, I leaned over the first copy and signed my name. Moving to the second one, I signed again, a little better that time. The third one came though, and I leaned over it, taking a deep breath. I didn’t realize it, but I saw the drops of water starting to fall on the white page. Sitting back, I quickly signed the last one and put the pen down.

Swiftly, I whisked the tears away. Smiling, I stacked the papers and handed them over to Derek, who was looking at me sadly.

“Thank you for your time, Mr. Johns, Miss Davis. I hope you have a wonderful day.” Standing, I saw Stacy start to get up. “I’ll show myself out, thank you. Tell Mr. Anderson…” I stopped, the words dying in my throat. I felt my smile falling and I fought to keep it on my face. “Tell Mr. Anderson I hope he hope he finds happiness in the future.”