Break Your Heart (27 page)

             
“Come in!” She shouted from the deck.

             
It rang once more.

             
Gina got up out of her chair and ran through the living room towards the front door.

             
“Aunt G!” The sounds of little voices came flying through the air as she pulled the door open.

             
“My little girls how are you!” Gina bent down wrapping her arms around them both in a dual embrace. They were dressed in matching pale pink sundresses with yellow polka dots and pink flower headbands.

             
“Hey,” Ali said as she walked past them into the living room. The large duffle bag and two bunnies she clutched in her hand got tossed to the floor as she dropped onto the couch.  She was dressed in a black velour sweat suit with not an ounce of make-up and her hair pulled into a loose ponytail “Thanks for bailing me out.  I had to get out of the house,” she said as she pointed to a streak of cream paint in the girl’s hair.

             
“I see,” Gina replied with a laugh. “Any time.  You know I love hanging out with my little monkeys!” She held them tight feeling safe and happy from their innocence. She let her mind wander in the few short seconds she held them to feeling envious of how calm and free their minds must be. What she would give to have that for just an hour these days. The ever so common feeling of warmth in her eyes began to emerge. She took in a long deep breath, inhaling the baby powder scent that seeped from them both and cleared her mind. Gina released them from her embrace. “Did you girls get cuter since the last time I saw you?” The twins both produced soft smiles and low giggles.  “I think you did!” Gina felt the tension and stress in her body suddenly begin to subside. A dose of comfort from Ali and the girls was just what she needed after the stress induced craze she had been putting herself through. “Why didn’t you use your key?” Gina asked. She stood up from the floor and walked into the kitchen.

             
“Oh, I forgot I had it. Sorry.”

             
“No big deal.  You want anything to drink?” She shouted as she opened the refrigerator door. She surveyed the near empty shelves.

             
“No thanks.” Ali replied. 

             
Gina grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge then made her way back into the living room.  She stood over the twins watching them play with each other on the floor. The kids had been such a big part of her life since the day they were born. Thoughts of Adam invaded her memories as she thought about how much he adored them and they him. He would spend hours on the floor with them playing and being silly until they were worn out. He would no doubt make an amazing father one day.  She felt like it was just another thing on her list of why she could be the biggest moron in the world for leaving such an amazing person.
Damn chemistry.

             
“You sure you're up for this?” Ali questioned.

             
“Huh?” Gina realized she had been staring off into space loathing in her self-pity of the Adam drama. “What does that mean?” Gina flopped on the couch across from Ali pulling her legs up and tucking her knees under her chin.

             
“Ever since you came home from North Carolina you’ve been in such a funk.”

             
“I have not!” Gina countered.

             
“You have too! Do you realize that I have not seen you since you left? That was, like a month ago! We have not gone that long without seeing each other since summer in college.” She peered at Gina trying to make her understand her point.

             
“I know. I’ve been busy.”

             
“Gina, last week I called you to go out and you said you were organizing your cupboards.  You have been a hermit.” She gave Gina a half smile as she stared down at the twins. “Do you know how often I get time to go out on a Friday night with someone who’s not two?” She pursed her lips and let out huff through the smirk on her face.

             
“I’m sorry.  I know I have been a bit, I don’t know, to myself.  I have just been trying to sort things out.  Honestly though, I am okay,” she replied.

             
“I just worry about you. I know this is a big adjustment. But I thought you were getting away to relax. Instead you came back worse than when you left. What happened there?”  Ali was lounged back relaxing into the plush couch. She pulled the olive suede throw pillow that was tossed to the side and cuddled it over her chest.

             
“I saw Grant.”

             
Ali popped up from her seat and tossed the pillow she held to the side. “Shut the front door!” She picked up her monogramed pink and yellow duffle bag, unzipped it and dumped the toys it held onto the floor.  “Girls, play with your toys…Okay, back up, what happened?” She grabbed Gina’s hand pulling her out the front door and to the deck.

             
“I looked up his address on the internet a few days before I left. I decided with everything going on with Adam and the wedding I needed to get away. So I drove and drove until I got to North Carolina.  When I got there I checked into a bed and breakfast and relaxed.” She looked next door watching Mrs. Whitman as she pretended to not be taking in every word she could. Gina turned back to Ali who had an anxious look on her face.  “I thought about going to see him, and then decided I wasn’t going to. For some reason, the day after I got there I just showed up at his house.  It was like I was on autopilot. Thinking one thing, doing another.”

             
Ali took a seat on the porch swing, looking in the window at the twins. 

             
“Before I knew it, I was knocking at his front door.”

             
“Oh my gosh! Gina!”  

             
Gina leaned back against the rail on her porch. Her back was to the quiet street behind her.  Mrs. Whitman stood still in the corner of her eye leaning into the conversation as much as she could from her porch.

“So?” Ali asked, sounding like an excited teenager.
“We talked. I told him about Adam.  He told me he

loved Sarah
and wasn’t going to leave her.” Gina rolled her eyes. “Yada yada yada.”

             
“Wow. This is crazy.” Ali replied.  “I feel like you’re living in a bad soap opera.”

             
“No kidding.”

             
“So how’d you leave it?”

             
“Like an idiot.  I stormed out of there.” Gina looked up at the ceiling of the porch opening her mouth wide pulling in a large flow of warm spring air. She leveled her stare back to Ali,

“I know. It was stupid.  I went there apologizing for storming out from his parents and I left there storming out the same way. I can only imagine what he thinks of me.” She laughed lightly. 

              The corners of Ali’s lips raised simultaneously ass they parted ways to a large grin.

             
“What?”

             
“Nothing, I think it’s sweet.”

             
“For a lunatic maybe!”

             
“It is sweet. You drove all that way to see him, realizing he’s your true love.  Come on Gina, you only see this shit in the movies.”

             
“Too bad it didn’t have a movie like ending!” She laughed.

             
“Everything happens for a reason.” Ali replied as she looked back through the window checking on the twins inside. “Girls, no!” She made a quick dash from the porch swing and into the front door to stop just in time to grab the bottle of water they were reaching for that Gina had set down a moment ago.

             
Gina rushed in closely behind Ali.

             
The twins looked up at their mother as tears began to stream down their tiny faces.  “It’s okay. Mommy didn’t want you to spill Aunt Gina’s water.” She bent down pulling them both into her tightly as she reassured them. Ali picked up the bottle handing it behind her to Gina. The girls quickly settled themselves and went back on the floor, playing with their toys as if nothing had happened.

“How do you do it?” Gina asked.

“Do what?”

             
“Everything. You just seem to sail through life. Even when the tough stuff comes up.”

             
“Because I’m happy.  It makes it easy to make the best of everything. The people around us, the money in the bank, the challenges in our life. None of it is always good. But when you’re happy, it is easy to make the best of it.”

             
“What are you girls laughing at?” Gina asked as she watched and listened to the innocent giggles coming from the twins.  They smiled back at her, talking words that made no sense.

             
“New beginnings,” Ali said tapping her on the shoulder.  She moved past her and the square coffee table between the two couches and resumed her position from earlier. “How long did you see him?”

             
“Not sure, fifteen minutes or so.” Gina plopped back down onto the couch across from Ali. “We should actually plan a weekend there, just the two of us, at the bed and breakfast I stayed at.” 

             
Ali looked down at the twins. “I would l-o-v-e to.”

             
“Can I tell you something?”

             
“Of course.”

             
“Promise you won’t think I’m crazy?”

             
“Gina, it’s me, you don’t need a disclaimer.”

             
“I think Grant, us. I mean, something about him and I. I don’t know, I just, I just really think we are supposed to be together. Like we were meant to be together.” She bit her bottom lip, feeling stupid for her words.  “Well?”

             
“Well, I think you’re probably right.”

             
“You do?”

             
“Yeahh, I do.” She smiled. “When I’m with Chris, I feel invisible to the pain of the world. I feel like no one else in the world could know me better or make me smile more than he does.  Even when we have had our hardest day and are fighting with each other, I am thinking in the back of my mind that I can’t wait to kiss him when we stop fighting. It’s this amazing unexplainable feeling.” She paused, “I suspect it’s the same for you with Grant.”

             
“Oh, yes. Exactly. It’s like, no matter what happens with Grant I still feel so connected to him.  It’s this feeling that is so powerful I am certain no one else in the world has ever felt this.” She sat smiling to herself. “There’s only one problem.”

             
“What’s that?”

             
“He’s getting married to someone else!” She said tossing the pillow next to her at Ali. 

             
“Yep Gina, I would say that is a problem!”

             
“Oh my God Al, how the heck did I get here?” She was holding her stomach with her head flipped back laughing loudly to the ridiculousness of the situation.  “Just three months ago, I was engaged, planning my dream wedding and the rest of my life. Now I am just some crazy chick who cancelled her wedding and is stalking her ex-boyfriend!” 

             
Ali’s laughter grew in volume matching that of Gina’s as she enjoyed the moment. “When you put it that way, you do sound pretty crazy!”

             
“I am going to be an old, crazy lady who will be alone for the rest of my life!”  They exchanged the same look, smiling even larger at their thoughts. “Mrs. Whitman!” They shouted in unison as they continued to laugh for what felt like minutes to them both. 

             
Gina took in a few deep breaths enjoying the momentary calmness the laughter had brought her.  She quieted down sinking all too quickly back into her stress consuming existence. “I could totally picture it! I am going to be the new Ms. Whitman on the street. Always meddling in people’s lives. Crazy and alone!”

             
Ali looked up realizing the change in Gina’s demeanor. She watched as her face softened and her jaw quivered with a controlled attempt to ward off tears. “You will not.” She insisted firmly.  “G, look at me, you’re going to be okay.”

             
“Seriously Al, I can’t believe this happened to me. I never pictured being that person who cancelled their wedding six weeks before.” The pit of her stomach started to heat up as the tears welled up in her eyes.  She could feel a slight tremble moving through her body.

             
“So what! You say it like you’re a bad person. This type of stuff happens.”

             
“Yeahh, but not to me,” she said slowly.  Gina succumbed to the warm tears that were now falling down her cheeks. She wiped them away and took a deep breath doing all she could to collect herself. She silently lectured her thoughts and tried to convince her mind that it had been a few months and it was time to not be so emotional about it all.
Easier said than done.