Imperfectly Real (A Series of Imperfections) (25 page)

Everything was in Elizabeth’s hands … just like it had always been. I had thrown her back. She was too jagged.

I’d done all I could.

Once I was back in New York things settled rather quickly. Emma and Shane told Rob about their plans and he took it better than I had. We’d all been there, not so long ago, when Emma had decided to move in with that douchebag, a.k.a Mr. Wonderful. But this time the process was far more emotional. In fact it was to be expected—all of us knew it was time for them to move on. It was final, there were no doubts this time. Emma, Shane and Felix were all leaving the nest.

Once they’d made their announcement things got a little hairy. Rob and I fought for hours about the condo. Obviously I couldn’t afford to pick up half the mortgage but Rob—with his hefty salary—could afford his half and mine. Yeah, the dude was pulling bank. He had no problem picking up the slack to keep hold of our ‘home’. I however, had a huge problem with someone else paying my way. I always had. Always would.

Money had been way too important of an issue in way too many people’s lives. My mother for one … and she-who-shall-not-be-named. It killed me that money had so much control over people. And not just their lives—their emotions too. They let it dictate everything and I refused to play with fire like that. The almighty dollar did crazy things to relationships and I wasn’t about to put my friendships on the line because of it. It just made more sense to sell and get a new place with a fresh start—just Rob and I. It would surely be interesting.

Eventually Rob conceded. He agreed it would be easier for all of us if we sold, but he demanded that we continue to live together ‘until our dying days’. I ignored his reference to the possibility—or lack thereof—of either of us eventually finding somebody to move on with. “You know you can’t get rid of me that easy,” he said with a smile.

Within the week, realtor came to value the condo. We’d all been shocked at how much it was worth—a lot more than what we’d paid for it. And just like that, it was for sale.

Things were a changing, and I was putting my best foot forward. While Shane and Emma were busy packing and prepping for their move, Rob and I seized the opportunity to go out … a lot. Rob was thankful to have a drinking buddy again, and I was just looking to numb the pain.

Rob kept insisting that I just needed to bring home a hottie. I stupidly agreed, and every night I would set out to hook up. But when push came to shove, I just couldn’t. I always saw
her
.

I was struggling with my resolve and guilt simultaneously. I knew I’d done the right thing, but at the same time I couldn’t help but feel bad. Elizabeth needed help, she had demons in her past that she needed to face but I wasn’t so sure that she could do it alone.

I was lying on my bed with my hands behind my head when there was a knock on my bedroom door. “Come in,” I called.

The door slowly creaked open and Emma peeked her head around it. “Mind if I come in?” she asked quietly. I assumed that Felix had just fallen asleep.

“Course not.”

She entered and shut the door behind her before making her way to my bed. I scooted over, making room for her to sit on the edge.

“I want to apologize to you. I don’t think I’ve been much of a friend. Especially now, when you could probably use one the most.”

“S’okay …” I started. “You’ve had your own stuff going on …”

“No,” she cut in, “it’s not okay. You were there for me when I needed you. You always are. You deserve more from me than what I’ve given you. So, now that I’ve got that off my chest”—she took a deep breath and smiled—”how’re you doing?”

I laughed. “You feel better?”

“Much.” She punched my arm playfully. “But seriously, Ty …”

“I’d lie if I said I wasn’t hurting. I can’t stop thinking about her … how she’s doing, if she’s okay, if she’s smiled today … or if she’s cried. Christ, Em, I just want her to be happy … to do something for herself again.”

Emma gave me a knowing look. She understood how I was feeling. She knew what it was like to be in love and want more. “I know it’s probably not my place to tell you since it’s family drama but fuck it, you have a right to know.”

Intrigued, I propped myself on my elbow.

“Some serious Sloan shit went down when we left Maine. Mom and Dad haven’t been on the best of terms. Apparently Dad found out how controlling Mom has been. He questioned me about it and I told him the truth and, well, lets just say that he was less than pleased to know that the wool had been pulled over his eyes for all these years.”

I wanted to crawl under the covers and hide knowing that I had caused marital problems for one of the few men that I truly respected.

“Anyway,” Emma continued, “Dad has Mom on a short leash and he made it very clear to Liz that he would support her in whatever she chose to do.”

“Wow,” was all I managed to say.

“Yeah.” The room filled with a pregnant pause, followed by a heavy sigh from Emma. “Tyler … Liz left Mason.”

With those three words I felt my heart literally skip a beat. I felt hope and confusion all at the same time. Why hadn’t she called to tell me? Where did this leave me? Leave us? “When?” I asked, hopeful.

“Last week. She’s staying with Mom and Dad while the divorce is finalized. There’ll be custody hearings, but we’re all pretty sure that Mason won’t put up much of a fight with those since he’s gone all the time. Then she’s gotta hang around for thirty days before she can move …”

“Move?” I interrupted.

Emma flushed with embarrassment and nodded—she’d obviously said too much. “There I go again, blabbing news that isn’t mine to tell.”

“You’ve always had a big mouth,” I teased.

She reached out and slapped my arm. “I don’t know exactly what went on between the two of you, Tyler, but I’m starting to see the carefree and happy Liz that we once knew. She’s got dreams again. She’s coming to New York—”

I smiled. “Art School.”

Emma smiled knowingly. “Yeah.” She leaned over and wrapped her arms tightly around my neck.

With nothing but joy in my heart, I pulled Emma closer and kissed her cheek. “Thank you,” I mumbled against her skin.

“For what?” she questioned as we broke our embrace.

I beamed with pride. “For making me the happiest man on the planet.”

“But we don’t even know if she wants to be with you?” she argued.

“Honestly, it doesn’t matter, because at least now I know that she’ll be happy. That’s all I wanted. From the moment I laid eyes on her again I knew that I needed to make her find joy in life again.” They were the most truthful words I had spoken in a while, and now that I knew she was on her way, I knew I could leave well enough alone. I needed to back up and give her space in order for her to actually start living the life she wanted. She didn’t need me confusing her, or blurring the lines.

“Well, I think I should be the one thanking you.” Emma smiled as she stood form my bed and walked towards the door. “So, thank you, Tyler … for saving my baby sister.”

We all stood around drinking one final beer together. None of us spoke, for there were truly no words. We took slow, methodical sips, hoping to somehow prevent the inevitable from happening. But eventually we each finished our bottle and Emma’s waterworks kicked in. We took time hugging one another, Felix included. When it was my turn to say goodbye to Em I felt a lump form in the back of my throat. I was happy for them both, but at the same time I wasn’t ready to end this chapter of my life. Most of all, I wasn’t ready to give up my relationship with Felix. That little guy was all the best pieces of my two best buds, and I loved him more than anything in the world. It was because of him, and our relationship, that I’d actually started thinking about being a father myself.

I smiled and threw my arms around her, pulling her close in an effort to let her know just how much she meant to me. All the memories and shit we had been through had been some of the best times in my life. She sobbed as my arms enveloped her, just like I had the last time we’d been at this crossroads.

“Here we are again,” I muttered into her hair doing my best to hold it together—I didn’t need Rob razzing me for a moment of weakness later. He had enough ammunition on me already.

“Yeah,” she sobbed, “but this time I have no doubts.”

“Of course you don’t,” I laughed. “You finally pulled your head out of your ass and realized you already had everything you’d ever wanted all along.”

She pulled back from me in order to look up at me. “What a ditz, huh?” she smiled.

“Yeah, but I still love ya.” I kissed her forehead before taking a moment to say a few words to Felix. I couldn’t contain myself as I choked on a few words, but that was okay because Rob had legit turned into a blubbering idiot talking to the kid just moments before. Struck with a case of the sniffles, I handed Felix over to Emma.

Making his presence known, Shane finally said, “Rob, why don’t you take Emma and Felix down to the car.”

Without argument or questions the three of them silently left, leaving me alone with
the
best friend I could have ever asked for. We shared a knowing smile. “Well, shit, this is a lot harder than I thought it was gonna be,” he admitted quietly.

“Yeah … this sucks,” I added, doing my best to put my tough guy face on.

“Listen, Ty. I want you to know that just because we’re moving into a new place, it doesn’t change anything. In fact, I’ll be offended if you don’t just show up whenever you feel like it.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I knew he was just saying it to be nice. The newlyweds didn’t need me cramping their style whenever I felt like it.

He reached out and placed his hand on my shoulder in a show of solidarity. “I’m serious, Tyler. If it wasn’t for you and our friendship, I would never have met Emma. I owe it all to you. You’re the reason I’m as happy as I am, and it’s important to us that you find the happiness that you deserve. So if that means you show up on our doorstep at 2 a.m. then so be it.”

We shared one last hug before we walked down those familiar steps.

Shane sighed as we neared the bottom of the stairwell. “You know, I always insisted on taking these stairs, but nothing that exciting ever happened on them.”

“Well, that’s not true. These stairwells hold lots of memories for us. They may not be action-packed, but we had some good times climbing these flights of concrete. Remember that time Emma was so drunk you had to throw her over your shoulder and carry her up to the condo?”

Shane laughed. “That happened more than once.”

“And there was the time that Rob thought it would be a great idea to try to slide down one of the banisters.”

“And ended up in the ER.”

“Yeah. We walked Felix up and down these stairs too.”

“I guess you’re right. This stairwell is a vault of good stuff.”

I walked him down to the moving van that was parked next to the sidewalk. It seemed so final, even though I knew it wasn’t. Hell, they were just moving a few blocks away. We spent that last moment razzing Emma. She was nervous as all get out as she slid behind the wheel of Shane’s Beamer. It was probably only the second time I’d seen her drive in the city. Felix was perched in his seat in the back and the littler bugger sat there waving furiously as Rob and I watched them pull away. We stood there in silence, until we couldn’t see them anymore and then some.

“Well, that was harder than I expected,” Rob finally managed to mutter.

“Yeah,” I sighed.

“So … you wanna get drunk?” he asked hopefully.

A devilish grin spread across my face before I turned to look at him. “Is that even a question?”

“You know. You and I, Tyler? We’re gonna be just fine.”