Divided (25 page)

“I heard through the grapevine that you were back and staying here.” He didn’t hide his smug smile.

“Marco, what do want?” I said, getting straight to the point. I didn’t have it in me anymore to fight.

“Now, Alani, that is no way to treat
your
lover.” I didn’t like the tone in his voice.

“Marco, you and I are nothing anymore. What do you want, this isn’t really a good time.” I snapped, losing the last ounce of patience I had left.

“Well, my love,” pushing my hair behind my ear, he continued. “I came here so we can set up a date for us. I want you back, if I have to work at it I will, but I’m not losing you.”

With a face of disgust I looked at him. “Get me back? Marco that is
never
going to happen, you cheated, I moved on. I don’t love you.”

Pulling an envelope out of his suit jacket pocket, he placed it in my hand. “Oh, yes. I heard about the hockey player. That wasn’t really moving on, baby. He is a hockey coach. I don’t like sharing you with another man, but I’ll forgive you for that. Now we’re both even, I slept with Trish and you with whatever his name is, now take a look at this before you go saying things you may regret.”

I opened the envelope pulling out a Deed Record, reading further down I saw that this was the deed for my parents’ house. “What is this?”

“Well, you see my love, I knew I wanted to marry you for a very long time. I knew you would be the perfect wife, smart, beautifully, classy and a great fucking lay. I wanted to do the right thing by you so I brought your dad out to the range to ask him for his blessing. Your dad said yes of course and then he explained to me the struggles they were going through and how wonderful it was that you found someone who could provide for you. Long story short, I decided to help him out and invest per se in their house. I had it looked at and made sure it was a good investment but I bought their house so they wouldn’t have a mortgage any more. Your poor mother has no idea, she still believes that they’ll be able to sell it and retire to Florida. Little does she know that they wont be able to go anywhere because they don’t have any money.

“They used most of their savings to pay for the wedding
you
called off. See I figured it was the house you grew up in and I knew it held sentimental value to you. I wanted to do the right thing and keep it. We could spend the summer weekends there when we get older; maybe have an addition made to it, something along those lines. My point to all of this is, it would be a shame if I had to evict the current tenants don’t you think, since technically they don’t own it.”

My mind was racing trying to process what Marco was saying. “Wait, you bought my parent’s house? When? Why?” He stood up pacing the floor and stopped by the mirror to admire himself.

“I just told you. Your father mentioned to me at the country club about three years ago that they were struggling. I knew I was going to spend the rest of my life with you so it only made sense. I told him I would buy it out and they could live there mortgage free until they decided to move to Florida.” He continued to admire himself in the mirror.
Asshole.

Still confused I placed the paper down on the coffee table. “Why are you bringing this up now? What do you want?” Walking over to me he reached for my chin lifting my gaze to his.

“I want you, all of you. You either agree to come back to me or I’ll sell the only home your parents ever owned. I’ll kick them out so quick they won’t know what hit them. You will never be able to spend another family dinner in the house that holds all your childhood memories.”

“You’re sick!” I said between teeth, my head hot. “You’re fucking blackmailing me.”

“No my love, I’m not saying that you have to come back to me all at once. We’ll start fresh. We’ll do dinner and drinks first and will start this relationship all over again.” Holding my chin he brought his lips down to mine and I bit the inside of my cheeks to keep myself from biting his lips. “But this time you don’t have to hold out for sex since we both know how good you are at it.”

I pulled my chin out of his grasp. “Get out. Get out. Right now. GET THE FUCK OUT!” He fixed his blazer making his way to the door. “I’ll give you forty eight hours to decide on the restaurant for dinner. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll send over the police to issue an eviction.” He said, closing the door behind him. My phone in my hand vibrated with an incoming text message from Ryan; it was all too much at once. Without thinking, I threw it with all my strength against the wall.

Saturday morning I was up early, ready to head to my parents. My oatmeal was in the microwave when the front door opened and Katie walked into the kitchen with last night’s makeup, hair that was freshly fucked, and a grin that spread from ear to ear.

“Hey, you’re up early
and
you’re dressed.”  I slid over the deed to her, taking the oatmeal out of the microwave. “What the fuck is this?”

“Marco paid me a visit last night, he said either I go back to him or he’ll kick my parents out.” I tapped my foot counting the seconds I was wasting, not eating fast enough.

“What are you going to do?” She asked, reading the deed again.

“I don’t know. I have to go talk to my parents. Can I use your car?”

“Sure.”

I swallowed what was in my mouth placed the dish in the dishwasher and grabbed Katie’s keys. “I gotta go”

“Hey.” She called out as I darted for the door. “Everything will be alright.”

“I hope so.”

My parents’ house was located in a cul-de-sac off of a lake. It was still the same way it was when I was a kid. It was a simple colonial house with three bedrooms and one and half bathrooms. Nothing fancy or big, but it was theirs.
Well Marco’s.
I rang the doorbell before opening it with my key, letting my parents know I was here.

“Mom. Dad. Are you home?” I shouted walking through the main floor.

I walked over to the kitchen grabbing some coffee to make. My mother made her way downstairs. “Alani, is that you? Is everything ok?” She was still in her nightgown.

“Where’s, daddy?” I asked before looking around for my father.

“Alani, you’re scaring me. It’s seven in the morning. What’s the matter?” She sat down at the kitchen table.

“Ally bear, is that you?” My father said opening the basement door. “What a nice surprise to see you.” He walked over to hug me.

“You sold this house to Marco.” I blurted out. Stunned he stopped dead in his tracks.

“Ho..how...d..do you...” He stuttered.

I pulled the deed from my pocket, slamming it down on the table. “Why would you do that, Daddy? Why?”

“Nickolas, you didn’t,” my mother said raising her hands to her mouth.

“Alessandra, it was years ago. I thought at the time it was a good idea. Marco had asked for Alani’s hand in marriage and promised he would take care of her.” My father said as I paced the kitchen, rubbing my scalp.

“Alani, honey, sit.” My mother said placing her hands over my shoulders. Unable to process what he was saying I took a seat at the kitchen pitching the bridge of my nose.

“He’s blackmailing me. He said if I don’t go back to him, he
will
sell it. He
will
evict you guys.” The tears poured down my face.

“Honey, don’t stress this. We’ll figure it out. There has to be something we can do.” My mother said.

The coffee machine beeped and walking over to it, my mother poured me a cup. I looked out the back door into the backyard. A backyard where I used to run around, where in the summer Katie and I would catch fireflies, where we had family barbecues.

“Honey, you look so lost in thought, are you okay?” My mother said placing a pound cake on the table. “No ma, I’m just thinking.”

My parents and I sat at the kitchen table discussing possible ways to save the house.  I didn’t know the first thing about this and needed professional help.
Professional.
I jumped off the seat running towards the kitchen phone. I dialed Samantha’s cell phone and she answered it on the third ring.

“Samantha Tickner.”

“Hi Samantha, it’s Alani LaBelle, I hope I didn’t wake you.” I hadn’t realized that I was calling her on a Saturday morning until she picked up the phone.

“No, I’m up and at work actually. What can I do for you, Alani?”

“I need your help can I come by?” I closed my eyes hoping she had the time to see me.

“Yes, of course, come right over.”

By the amount of people in Samantha’s office, you would think it was Monday morning not Saturday. I walked into her office and took the seat in front of her desk.

“So, tell me, Alani, what has brought you out here so early this morning?” I dug into my purse pulling out the deed. “Marco purchased my parent’s home a couple years ago, he is now threating to sell it if I don’t go back to him. Is there anything I can do?”

She examined the paper, reading it carefully.

“No, honey, there isn’t anything you can do. He legally owns it and he can do with it whatever he wants. The only way would be if he were selling it, you would have to purchase it from him. Other than that, you have no right to the house.” She said placing the paper on the table.

Fuck.

“Thank you so much for looking at it. We will see if we can figure something out.” I stood reaching my hands out to her.

“Well if he decides to sell it, come back and we can discuss it further.” She said walking me out of her office.

By Sunday morning my stomach was in knots. I stared at my new phone; this one had no new voicemails, texts or missed calls. It’s the same phone number but not the same phone. I opened the contact screen and swipe my finger until it landed on
M
. Clicking Marco’s name I brought my phone to my ear. He answered on the first ring.

“Hello beautiful,” My stomach turned; his term of endearment was what Ryan said all the time. “I’m so happy you called, so did you pick a restaurant?” I hated that I knew he was smiling at this moment.

“Luciano’s, eight, Thursday night.” I said harshly into the phone.

He waited a couple of seconds before answering. “Thursday isn’t really good for me, would we be able to do Tuesday instead?”

“Sure, whatever.” I couldn’t care less.

“I’ll send a car for you. Also, Alani, I would really like if you would change your conduct when you’re with me.” Red. I saw fire red.

“Change my what?” I retorted       

“Well, you wouldn’t want our first date to be a bad one now would you?” I hated that he was treating me like a child.

“No, Marco. I’ll see you Tuesday.” 

Tuesday night, I stared at myself in the mirror. I didn’t recognizing the person looking back at me.  Placing my last earing on, the room door opened.

“You’re really going through with this?” Katie asked.

Watching her through the mirror as she sat on the bed I responded. “Yes, I have no other choice Katie. It’s either I go out with him or he kicks my parents out.” I looked back at my earrings, my eyes glassed with unshed tears.

“What if I lend you the money?” Katie offered

“It doesn’t matter, he won’t sell it and my parents can’t afford to pick up and leave. I have no other option.” I took the necessary stuff from my purse placed it in my smaller clutch.

“You’re going to go back to him just like that, what about Ryan?” She asked hugging the decorative pillow.

 “No, Katie, it’s not just like that. You know I have no other option, and what about Ryan? He’s having a kid; they’re probably picking out paint colors as we speak. I can’t hold onto him anymore. Marco is not my ideal choice but maybe this will be good for me.”

Shocked at what I just said, Katie rose from the bed. “Are you fucking listening to yourself? This asshole cheated on you and you’re just going back to him like nothing. You were so gung ho about moving on from him and now you are going right back. Just like that. You’re running again. Ryan calls you at least once a day but you refuse to talk to him, so don’t say he is out picking paint colors. He is fighting for you. Every time that phone rings, that’s him fighting for you, but you’re so damn stubborn to answer” I sensed Katie’s furry.

She walked toward the door as my phone chirped in my bag.  “Yup, he is definitely picking out fucking paint colors.” She said not looking back at me.

“If he really wanted to fight for me, he would have flown out here.” I shouted back at her. She responded by slamming her bedroom door shut.

Luciano’s was a small Italian restaurant, both intimate and elegant, with fine crystal china. They had the most exquisite cheeses paired with astonishing wines. The light was low with a tea light on each table and it brought back thoughts back of when Ryan and I had gone to Bistro. Marco spotted me from the bar and walked over. Handing me a glass of wine he leaned in to kiss me. Grabbing the wine from him I turned my face just in time for his lips to hit my cheek.

“So…”He began once we were seated. “How was North Dakota?”

“Don’t. That subject is off limits.” I pulled my eyes away from the menu and stared him down. “I’ll play nice on your dates, and I’ll behave, I’ll be polite--
but
I won’t talk about North Dakota, my trip, or him, so drop it right now, or I’ll leave.”

He felt the seriousness in my voice and nodded. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. But I do have one condition.” I place my menu down, looking directly at him.

“What is it?”

“The next time I lean in to kiss you, you will kiss me back. You may not like it now, but you will warm up to it. I made you fall in love with me once, Alani, and I'll do it again.” I opened the menu again ignoring his statement and continue reading.

Once the waiter handed Marco the bill, we both stood to leave. He reached out for my hand and I only hesitated for a second before I placed mine in his. It felt strange for just a second before I shrugged off the feeling and continued to move forward.

“I should really get going, thank you for dinner. It was nice.” 

Reaching around my waist, he pulled me toward him. “Come home with me, I miss holding you.”