“
Hey, how are you?” he
asked in a shaky voice.
“
I’m well. Are you waiting
for Hayley? She said she was coming out in five
minutes.”
“
Yes, we talked on the
phone just before I left the office. I swear she never leaves on
time.”
To keep from staring at Veronica, Blake
kicked a pebble near his foot.
“
Do you and Arthur only
have one car?”
He wasn’t sure where the question came from,
but he automatically chastised himself the moment he said it. He
could see out the corner of his eye that Veronica stiffened, and
then took a step to the side as if she was trying to move away from
him.
“
We sold my car before we
moved here. Arthur figured with the size of the town, we didn’t
need more than one vehicle. Plus, it gave us more money for a rainy
day.”
She turned her head to look down the street.
Blake could tell she was uncomfortable; still, he didn’t want to go
get back in the car just yet.
“
So, how are things? I
mean, are you settling back in okay?”
“
Yes.”
Looking for something else to kick, Blake
brought up the news of her parents.
“
I heard about your
parents, and I’m sorry. No one here in town had any
idea.”
At the mention of her parents’ death, he
watched her shoulders hunch a little. Blake instinctively took a
step toward her. As he moved, so did Veronica. He stopped mid-step
and stuffed his hands in his pockets.
“
I’m sorry. I shouldn’t
have brought it up. Please, don’t be mad at Hayley. She doesn’t
mean it when she tells us stuff. She and Parker tell each other
everything, and then somehow I end up hearing it too. It can be a
little unnerving at times, though. They’re two peas in a pod, I
tell you.”
Blake watched as Veronica played with her
purse strap and nodded her head as she looked at the ground. He
wanted so badly to grab her by the shoulders and make her look him
in the eyes.
As Blake was about to give into his impulse,
a silver car pulled up behind his. Staring into the car, he saw it
was Arthur. Veronica finally looked up and gave him a tight smile
before walking to open the door.
“
It was nice talking to
you, Blake. Hopefully, Hayley will be out soon.”
It seemed as if she was
trying to make a statement or something. Her voice was much louder
than it needed to be.
Why is she yelling?
Hmm.
He waved goodbye as the car pulled
back onto the road. Arthur appeared to give Blake a hard look
before the car disappeared down the street. Shaking his head, he
got back in the car to wait for Hayley.
“
W
hat was that all about, Veronica?”
Arthur hadn’t said a word since she got in
the car. She knew he wasn’t going to be happy seeing her talk to
Blake. On the way home, she tried talking to him, but instead of
responding, he looked straight ahead and acted as if she hadn’t
said a word. The moment they walked in the front door, he began
questioning her.
“
Nothing, Arthur. Blake was
waiting for Hayley to get out of work. He was only making sure we
were settling in okay. He is the Mayor you know.” She stated
pointedly, as she took her shoes off and made her way to the
kitchen.
Veronica made it midway down the hallway
before Arthur grabbed her by her arm and spun her around.
“
Ow, let go, you’re hurting
me.” Veronica yelped, while trying to pull her arm from his
grasp.
Arthur brought his hand up to her face,
gripping her cheeks tightly between his fingers. Since Veronica was
an inch or so taller than him, he had to pull her face down so they
could be eye level.
“
Is there anything I need
to know? You two seem a little too cozy around each
other.”
She tried to pull away from him. Her face
ached from how tight he held onto her. His hands had pulled her
lips into a slight pucker and it was going to hurt even more to
talk. Veronica stared into his eyes and gave a silent plea for him
to let go. Seeing that she wasn’t going to fight him, he released
her. They took a step back from each other, and Arthur rubbed his
hand over his face, while Veronica brought her hands up to her
cheeks.
“
I’m sorry, baby. I don’t
know what just came over me. I-well, I just get so nervous I’m
going to lose you, and I-I just can’t think straight with the
possibility of losing you.”
Arthur then stepped forward and put his arms
out for Veronica. She had since moved to the hallway mirror and was
looking at her face.
“
Arthur, you’ve left
bruises on my face. You tell me you’re sorry, yet how do you expect
me to believe that? Just look at me.”
She pointed a finger toward her face and
waited for a response. When Arthur’s glance shifted to the floor,
Veronica ground her teeth and headed for the stairs.
“
Sweetheart, I am so sorry.
I don’t know what just came over me.”
Arthur followed her upstairs like a small
puppy follows its master. He made it to the bedroom door just as
she slammed it in his face. In the bedroom, Veronica called through
the door, “Arthur, I have nothing to say to you right now. I would
appreciate it if you slept in the guest bedroom tonight.”
Having a door between them made it a little
easier for her to tell him what she was thinking. She knew he was
sorry. She could tell by the look on his face, still, that was no
excuse for his actions. With an empty belly and a sore face,
Veronica slipped under the covers fully dressed and drifted into a
restless sleep.
The next morning her face
was worse than she expected. She thought about calling into work,
but decided against it. She hadn’t worked there a month yet.
How bad would it look if I tried to call in
today?
After showering and getting dressed,
she attempted to apply makeup to the brownish-purplish bruises on
her cheeks. Since she didn’t wear makeup often, she hoped no one
would notice it. Opening the bedroom door, Veronica almost tripped
over Arthur, who lay asleep on the floor. From the looks of it, he
had slept there all night. He still had on the clothes he wore
yesterday, and he was lying in the fetal position, using his hands
as his pillow. He began to stir and she thought about walking past
him. But she knew it would probably start another fight. Kneeling,
Veronica lightly shook him.
“
Arthur, wake up.” She
whispered.
On the first attempt to wake him, he opened
his sleep encrusted eyes and looked at her.
“
Did you sleep out here all
night?” She asked. “Why didn’t you go sleep in the guest
room?”
Sitting up slowly, he rested his head on the
wall.
“
Is it morning already?”
Arthur wiped his eyes, and yawned. “I didn’t want to sleep in the
other bed. I felt awful that I hurt you, and that you were mad at
me. I thought about going to sleep in the other room, but I missed
you. I haven’t slept alone in a bed in such a long time. I don’t
know, I guess I was kind of hoping that you would have forgiven me,
and let me come to bed with you. I must have fallen asleep out
here.”
Veronica frowned and stood up.
“
I have to wear makeup
today to try to cover the marks on my face. If you thought I was
going to forgive you, well, as you can see, you were sadly
mistaken. You should probably get up. You’re going to be late for
work. If you like, I can walk today.”
Veronica began to walk away and Arthur
scrambled to his feet. Cautiously he reached out to grab Veronica’s
hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Please believe
me.”
“
Arthur, this isn’t the
first time you’ve left a bruise on my skin. I find it hard to
believe that you can truly be sorry if you keep doing
it.”
Sorrow and pain moved across Arthur’s face.
It had always been hard for her to stay mad at him. He had always
been there for her. It seemed like some of the toughest times in
her life had been shared with Arthur. Nevertheless, he could not
put his hands on her because he was upset. As they stood in the
upstairs hallway, she allowed him to pull her closer to his body.
Drawing her near, he gently kissed each side of her face. She knew
he could see the swelling and bruises on her cheeks, though he
still attempted to kiss them as lightly as possible.
“
I love you. Please forgive
me. I know you’re mad at me, but I promise I won’t ever do it
again.”
Veronica began to melt in his arms. Kissing
her tenderly on the lips, he embraced her tighter and rested his
head on her shoulder.
“
I don’t know what I would
do without you, Veronica.”
Sighing, Veronica hoped
that was the last time he had a jealous rage.
We’re getting married soon. Is he always going to be this
way? Every time I speak to someone of the opposite sex, will he
have an outburst?
Moving out of the
embrace, she lifted her finger to hold Arthur’s chin up.
“
I love you too, but we
will need to talk about this later.”
With that, she placed a kiss on his lips,
and headed for the stairs.
“
I’ll get you a cup of
coffee. You’ll need to hurry to get dressed; otherwise, we’ll be
late.”
Arthur apologized profusely all the way to
work. When she tried to leave the car, he held her hand and kissed
it over and over again. Finally sensing that she was going to tell
him to stop, he let go and she made her way into the building.
Hayley and Sherry were already working when she walked in. Putting
her stuff away quickly, Veronica booted up her computer and got
ready for another long day of book data entry.
As what seemed to be a daily ritual,
Veronica eyed the clock and watched Hayley leave her desk at
ten-fifteen to make two cups of coffee. When Hayley brought her one
of the steaming mugs, Veronica tried not to smile since her face
hurt. She hoped Hayley couldn’t see the marks on her face, but as
she was quickly finding out, Hayley saw everything.
“
Wow! That’s one heck of a
bruise on your cheek. What happened?”
Holding her hand in place—Veronica wanted
badly to take her hand and hide the marks, but she didn’t—she
responded, “Oh, that.” Laughing out loud, she went on, “It was from
the stupid moving boxes. I stacked them too high, and went to pull
one down and it got me in the face. I’m surprised my lip isn’t
swollen too.”
“
Oh, ouch. That sucks.”
Hayley eyed her suspiciously. “I could have sworn you said you
finished unpacking a few weeks ago.”
Veronica offered no reply, so Hayley
shrugged her shoulders before making herself comfortable in the
chair that was becoming her break time seat and sipped her
coffee.
“
Blake told me you two had
a chance to talk yesterday. He’s been acting so weird since you
moved back. I tried to talk to him about it yesterday on our way to
Webster City, but all I got out of him was that you two talked for
a little while before Arthur came to pick you up. Parker was a
little upset with me last night when I told him I tried to get
Blake to speak about what was bugging him. He said when it came to
talking about you, it was still a touchy subject for Blake, and to
just leave him alone. It’s so bizarre. I guess since I came around
after you two broke up, I just don’t understand the full history
behind the reasons why. In some ways, Parker looks up to you like a
big sister. If you don’t mind me asking, what did go wrong with you
and Blake?”
Somehow, Veronica saw that question coming.
She noticed with Hayley, that whenever she was about to ask
something that was probably not a comfortable subject, she tended
to ramble just before she got to the point. The day before, the
question pertained to sexual positions and how often did Veronica
think a healthy couple, like her and Parker, should be having
sex.
Putting her mug down, Veronica played with
her engagement ring. “There’s really nothing to tell. We just grew
apart. I was going away to college, and Blake, well let’s just say,
he was ready to move on to greener pastures.”
“
That’s odd. I understand
it happens all the time; but you would think that if Blake wanted
to move on, he would have at least by now thought about settling
down with someone. Look at you, you’ve moved on with your life.
I’ve seen him with Lindsay and the chemistry is okay between them,
but it is nothing like what I remember you guys having. Then again,
I was always looking in from the outside. If you would have asked
me back in high school who I was going to marry, Parker Darwood
wouldn’t even have been on the list of hopefuls.”
Hayley laughed at her own statement and her
wavy hair bounced and covered her face. Yanking off the rubber band
she always wore on her wrist, she put her hair into a messy
ponytail then cleared her throat.
“
I guess when you are
older, age isn’t as big of a thing. Parker is only a year younger
than us, and Blake is what, two years older? I always thought
Parker was the little brother who followed his big brother and
girlfriend around way too much. You should know from dating him
that all the girls thought Blake was and still is the hottest guy
in Surpatch. After you left and before Lindsay and he started to
date, Blake only went on maybe two or three other dates that I can
remember.”
Veronica said nothing. Sensing she wasn’t
going to get any more information from her, Hayley looked at her
watch and stood.