The Wrong Right Man(2)

Settling on my dark jeans, and a white tank top I normally wear to bed, I find my black ankle booties with a cute heel and carry them all to the bathroom down the hall. Taking off my black button-down shirt, I hang it on the back of the door then pull off the cream belt around my waist. I slip out of my black slacks and flats, only leaving the pearls around my neck as I change into my new outfit. Walking back into the living room, I toss my clothes onto the couch and stomp toward the front door.

“Don’t tell me you don’t feel like your old self?” Jamie prompts, and I feel his hand wrap around my ponytail. I turn to glare at him over my shoulder as my hair flutters down around me. “Don’t look at me like that, and here. You can wear this jacket,” he says, holding out a stylish leather coat toward me.

“I’ll wear my own jacket,” I snap, knowing the leather jacket probably belongs to one of his many one-night stands.

“This is your jacket.” He grabs my shoulder and turns me to face him. “I got it for you as a goodbye gift.”

“A goodbye gift?” I fight my smile as I glare up at him.

“Yeah, I finally get my space back, and you get to say goodbye to Troy.”

Tears burn the back of my eyes and I swallow hard.

“I miss my sister, the one who wore a leather jacket every day, the one who would come to my concerts and drink beer while singing along to every song.” He smiles softly, holding the jacket out toward me.

Taking the coat from him, I slip it on, noticing I do feel a little more like my old self. Then again, I’ve been finding me again ever since I moved in here.

“You’re kinda awesome,” I murmur, stepping toward him and wrapping my arms around his waist.

“What can I say? I am awesome.” He gives me a gentle squeeze, making me smile.

I tip my head back and look him in the eye. “Thank you for being here for me. For always being here for me,” I whisper, and his arms tighten around me.

“I always have your back.” He kisses my forehead then lets me go and reaches around to open the door. “Let’s go… before you’re late.”

“Yeah.” I sigh, stepping out the door with a tiny flame of excitement in my belly because after today, I will be getting a little of my life back.

I get into Jamie’s Escalade that is parked in front of his building and hear my phone beep in my purse. After finding it, I pull up my messages, expecting to see something from Kathy, the woman who hired me two weeks ago to be an on air host with IMG one of the biggest home shopping television production companies in the US. Instead, I see a message from Troy asking me to call him.

“Who is it?”

Startled, I look over at Jamie, whose eyes are fixed on the phone in my hand.

“Troy, he wants me to call him,” I explain as the phone begins to feel heavy in my palm.

“Fuck him. You need to change your number.”

“I’m not changing my number.” I sigh, hoping he’ll drop it. I don’t want to talk to Troy, but after spending four years of my life with him, I feel like I owe him something, which is stupid, considering what he did.

If someone would have told me Troy was cheating on me, I would have laughed and told them they were crazy. I thought he loved me. I thought he was going to be the man I spent the rest of my life with. I had no idea that when I was planning a wedding and getting ready to spend the rest of my life with him, he was searching for something else.

“Do you need me to show you the pictures again?” Jamie asks, bringing me out of my thoughts as the city moves by swiftly.

“No.” I don’t need to see them again; the images are burned into my brain. I still have no idea who sent me the photos of Troy and his colleague together, but I’m thankful to them, grateful I found out the truth about who he is.

Four months ago, I had gone home and checked the mail like I always did, and tucked between bridal magazines and junk mail was a plain envelope with my name scrawled across the front in black permanent marker. No address or any other identifying information, just my name. That envelope sat on the counter for a few hours before I opened it. I had no idea the contents were going to change my life.

Someone had taken multiple pictures of Troy and a woman he worked with in different locations. In some, they were out in public, but most of the pictures were grainy, like they were taken at night, and the two of them were intimately intertwined in the throes of ecstasy.

When I saw the photos, I called Jamie and explained to him what I had received, and even though he may be my little brother, he has never acted like it. He showed up an hour later with boxes and all of his bandmates. They packed up everything that was mine and took my two suitcases to Jamie’s apartment and everything else to one of their storage units. When Troy came home the next day, I was already gone, but I did leave the pictures along with my engagement ring on the counter for him.

“We’re here,” Jamie says, giving my leg a pat, and I turn to look out the window, my eyes traveling up… and up. The building with black glossy windows looks intimidating against the backdrop of the dark, cloud-covered Seattle sky. I open my door and follow Jamie out, knowing I wouldn’t be able to afford this place if it weren’t included as part of my job package.

“So this is where you’re going to live?” Jamie asks as the doorman opens the door for us to walk into the building.