Fisher's Light(99)

“You are a BITCH!” Melanie screams.

“At least I’m not a scheming whore who tried to steal someone else’s husband!” I fire back.

“I didn’t steal anything! He CHOSE me, and you just can’t stand that, can you? You weren’t good enough for him and you couldn’t satisfy him, so he chose someone who could,” she argues.

“Nice try. I happen to know nothing happened between the two of you, so give it a f*cking rest already,” I tell her with a roll of my eyes.

She laughs right in my face and leans in closer. “You keep telling yourself that, sweetheart, and maybe one day you’ll believe it. He was so angry and full of rage that night, and you just walked away from him. Don’t worry, sugar. I took care of your man after you left, right in the bathroom at Barney’s. When he f*cked me against the wall, he shouted MY name when he came, not yours.”

My heart starts beating frantically in my chest and I bite down on the inside of my cheek, trying my damnedest not to cry. I will not cry in front of this heartless bitch or give her any indication that her words are killing me and making me doubt Fisher in any way.

“Jesus, LOOK at you! Do you honestly think he’d want you when he could have me?”

I start to lunge for her when I feel a pair of arms wrap around me from behind, dragging me away while Ellie jumps up from her chair and starts screaming at Melanie.

“Lucy, calm down, baby,” Fisher tells me.

I jerk out of his arms when he gets me far enough away from Melanie that I won’t be tempted to punch her in the nose with my fist this time.

My pride and my heart have both cracked in half and my head is filled with memories of things I’d rather forget. I hate Fisher for making me look like a fool with Melanie and I hate Melanie for throwing it in my face and for making me doubt everything I thought to be true. I hate myself for being so f*cking weak where both of them are concerned, but at least I didn’t keep my mouth shut with Melanie. She can wear my handprint on her face for the rest of the day as a reminder to stop f*cking with me.

I let the tears fall while my back is to Melanie and Ellie is still ripping into her.

“Hey, what happened?” Fisher asks softly as he reaches for me.

I step away from him and swipe angrily at my tears.

“Don’t. Please, just don’t right now,” I beg him.

I feel inferior and I feel worthless and I hate that I’m questioning my own worth. I hate that I feel like I’m back in high school all over again, wondering why the king of the jocks and the hottest guy in school wants anything to do with me. I’m a grown f*cking woman and I feel pathetic for letting Melanie get to me.

I start walking away from Fisher and he tries to grab onto my arm, but I jerk it out of his grasp. “No! Just please, leave me alone right now!”

He realizes I’m serious and he stops trying to follow me. As I start moving faster and run up the veranda stairs to the inn, I hear him begin to shout.

“What did you do? What the FUCK did you say to her?!”

I race through the sliding door and run up to my room, the tears coming fast and hard until I can barely see.





Chapter 38




Lucy

Present Day


“You’re going to have to talk to him, Lucy. You can’t keep avoiding him,” Ellie tells me a week later while we hang the storm shutters on the front of the inn.

After Fisher got the story from Ellie that day, he ran into the inn and found me curled up in the fetal position on the bed, crying so hard I could barely breathe.

“You know she’s lying, Lucy. Please, God, tell me you know she’s lying. I swear to you, NOTHING happened between us. Baby, please, you have to believe me. I don’t know why she’s doing this.”

I didn’t say a word to him. I couldn’t. I wanted to throw myself into his arms and tell him that yes, I knew it was all a lie and that I loved him and of course I believed him, but I just couldn’t do it. Melanie made me feel like a fool and ugly and worthless and it hurt so deep down in my soul that I couldn’t make the pain go away. Nothing Fisher said could make it go away, either, and he finally listened to me when the only words I could get out through my sobs were the ones telling him to go and that I needed time.

He’s called every day since then and stopped by multiple times, and while I haven’t refused to see him, I haven’t spoken to him, either. I’ve allowed him to do all the talking, listening silently while he begged, pleaded, and apologized. He swore over and over that nothing happened between him and Melanie, but I just can’t get her words out of my head. She talked about his anger and his rage and him f*cking her against the wall and it was too much. It was too much like what Fisher and I shared and I don’t know how to get past that. I don’t know how to see past those words and find the truth. I don’t want to be one of those foolish women who automatically believe their man when he says he didn’t cheat, especially when there’s so much evidence to the contrary. I’m not stupid and I refuse to let anyone make me feel that way. It’s bad enough I don’t feel like I’m woman enough or good enough for Fisher, I don’t need to feel like I’m not smart enough, as well.