Absolutely Unforgivable(83)
“I’m sorry, Jeromy. I just had to get away. I had to think. I just ...” I paused for a moment trying to find the right words. “Why didn’t Billy tell me the truth?” I felt stupid the second I asked it. I knew why he didn’t tell me. He knew that if I knew the truth I might go running back into Jeromy’s arms and he was right; I probably would have. I don’t know, but it should have been my choice to make.
Jeromy took me back to the bedroom he had been staying in at his mother’s so we could have complete privacy. He sat me down on the edge of his bed and then sat down next to me. I twisted my body a bit and rested my legs over his. Jeromy and I spent about two hours just talking. We talked about his trip to Vegas.
“I was wrong to go without telling you first. I put my job before you. I put a big money deal before you. I should have made you a bigger priority in my life. When I got on that plane to Vegas I knew it was a mistake. I should have told you the truth. I don’t know why I didn’t. You probably would have understood the situation I was in and that I had to go to close that deal. But I justified it, because it was easier to just not tell you.”
We talked about his trip to Detroit and the Barbie doll looking blonde I saw him leaving the plane with. He explained that the two had worked together for years and she was happily married to his boss and she revealed to him on the plane that she was pregnant with her first child and they joked about the delicate condition she was in, so she jumped up on his back and let him carry her. It was really nothing more than playful banter between two friends but that after the struggle in the house where he accidentally blackened my eye he thought it best to give me some time to calm down before trying to speak to me about it. Then after that I just refused to see him or even talk to him.
My stomach turned in knots. What he said did completely make sense and I felt horribly guilty for not hearing him out before. But still, despite the guilt there was still something else I was feeling and it wasn’t for him. I was angry with Billy for not telling me the truth about Jeromy, but even with my anger, my heart still ached for him.
“Please, Baby, tell me it’s not too late for us.” I looked at Jeromy as he said those words to me, but I think we both knew that it was. There was no going back. Too much had taken place between then and now.
Jeromy went to go to the bathroom and I pulled my buzzing phone out of my purse to check my messages. There were a ton of them. Besides the forty three text messages I had from various people including Mindy, Bree, Trista, and Billy, I also had a ton of missed phone calls and some voice mail messages too. I pushed play on the most recent one. It was from Billy.
In the background you could hear Trista saying, “You better find a way to get her back here.” Billy sighed and then spoke into the phone. “Hey. I know you are upset and I don’t mean to bother you. I just wanted to make sure you are okay. Please just let me know you are alright and I’ll leave you alone.”
You could hear the sadness in his voice. It tugged at my heartstrings. But I wasn’t going to let him off of the hook that easy.
I scrolled through some of the text messages from Billy. “If I had a penny every time I thought of you, I'd be the richest man in the world.” I couldn’t help but laugh at that one. Billy is such a cheese ball sometimes. The next text message however almost made me start crying again. “To the world, you may be just one person. But to me, you are the world.” After reading his text messages I wanted to play another one of the voicemails he left me just to hear the sound of his voice again but, before I could Jeromy came back into the room.
He leaned on the door frame as I put my phone back into my purse. He looked down at my still red and swollen eyes. “You going to be okay to drive back home or do you want me to take you? I can have your car sent back to you later.”
“No, I’m okay. I can make it. But I guess I should really give the car back to you. I can’t keep it. It’s way too expensive.”
“Stacy, I got that car for you as a gift. I’m not going to take it back just because we broke up. That’s your car. I can’t take back what isn’t mine. I even put the title in your name. That is your car.”
“Jeromy, no, it’s really too much. I can’t.”
“Please. It would mean a lot to me if you would keep it. I still love you. I will always love you. Just because we aren’t together anymore doesn’t mean that is going to change. You will always hold a special place in my heart and I don’t ever want you to forget that.”