Three of Hearts (25 page)

Taking a breath she picked up the call and said, “Hey Robyn.”

“Oh, Mae, thank God, you are alright.” She said sounding sincerely happy, the phone then became muffled and sounded like Robyn was talking to someone else.

“Bryan and I are so relieved. We came out looking for you almost immediately and we couldn’t find you. It wasn’t until twenty minutes after you left, we found out you drove in with Seth, and so our concern grew even more.”

Feeling the need to cut Robyn off, Mae said “Yeah, Wes drove by and gave me a lift to pick up a few things.”

“Yes I know he texted Dylan and Dylan called me. So great you already have your stuff, so come directly to our house and I’ll have the guest room ready for you.” Robyn spoke so fast it took Mae a moment to comprehend that Seth’s sister not only was concerned for her but actually invited her to stay with her.

Robyn was in the middle of rattling off directions to her house when Mae interrupted and said, “Robyn, you want me to come stay at your place?”

“Well of course I want you to come; in fact we both want you to stay with us. Just because my brother is Asshole of the Year doesn’t mean I’m going to abandon my friend.” Robyn said, as if the concept was so alien.

Touched by not only their support but also Wes and Dylan’s sincere concern and on top of the drama with Seth, the flood gates opened again and Mae had to pull over because she couldn’t see through her tears.

“Mae! Mae! Are you alright?” Robyn asked frantically

Trying to halt the flow of tears, Mae tried to speak, “Yes, I’m just so overwhelmed!”

“Mae, come here and we can talk.” Robyn said wanting to reach through the phone and comfort her friend.

Regaining her composure, “I appreciate the offer Robyn, but I’m just going to check in to the motel.”

“Won’t you reconsider, Mae?” Robyn pleaded

“Not tonight, but perhaps tomorrow we can talk.” Mae said feeling every bit as tired as if she worked thirty-six hours straight.

“Ok, text me when you get into the room so I know you are safe and we will touch base first thing in the morning. Are you working tomorrow?” Robyn said surrendering the fight.

After assuring Robyn she would text her when she got into her motel room and letting her know she wasn’t working until Monday afternoon, Mae disconnected the call and pulled into the office at Nightingale Motel.

She exited the car with her purse in hand and opened the door to the small lobby. A man around twenty years old was sitting with his feet on the desk watching some reality show when Mae walked up to the counter.

Waiting for him to acknowledge her, Mae got impatient and ruder than she had ever spoken to anyone before, she said “Hello!” which caused the young man to jump out of his seat and hit his head on the an old wood shelf that housed used books.

“Oh, sorry. Can I help you?” the office worker said as he rubbed his aching head.

“A room please, for the night.” Mae said just wanting to get the key and go to her room and lock the door.

“Two doubles or a king?” Mr. Observant asked

“Whichever is cheaper.” Mae answered curtly.

Mae followed the directions and parked her Camaro in front of room B7. She walked in to the room and turned on the light before closing the door and affixing the security chain. She leaned against the door and slid down until she was sitting on the floor and cried until she didn’t think she could cry any more. When she finally pulled herself up from the floor she quickly stripped just dropping her clothes as she went and turned the shower on and stepped under the hot water. At first she just let the water run down her as she stood statue still, but then she viciously scrubbed her body as if she could wash off the ugliness of the evening.

She turned the water off, stepped out and dried herself with the scratchy towels; she crawled in between the cold sheets with nothing on. She quickly picked up her phone, texted Robyn that she was safe and in bed, she rolled over and turned the light off and cried herself to sleep in the lonely motel bed.

Seth woke up with a crick in his neck. As he tried to open his eyes, but for some reason they would obey. He couldn’t figure out where he was and why there was a very loud mariachi band playing. When he finally was able to open his eyes and was more confused. This wasn’t his room or Mae’s bedroom. It looked like… . a bar…
what
the?
Why
am
I
waking
up
in
Cal’s
bar?
he thought to himself.

“Good morning Seth!” Cal yelled from the corner of the dance floor where the old jukebox was.

Turning to face the general direction of where the loud voice came from, Seth noticed Cal McCann was unplugging the jukebox and suddenly the mariachi band went silent. Cal walked with determination as he strode behind the bar and stood opposite Seth.

“I said good morning, Seth.” Cal said with just the right amount of annoyance.

“By the way, I don’t clean up other peoples drool, so do me a favor and wipe the puddle up.” He mocked as he threw a cloth at Seth and indicated on the bar top.

Doing as he was asked yet still complete befuddled as to why he was here at, what the hell time is it anyways?

Having pity on the younger man who reminded Cal so much of his father, David; whom Cal knew in their younger years.

“Yeah Seth you got completely trashed last night after you had quite the fight in my billiard room, for which you owe me $45 dollars for a new cue rack. And then you pass out right here at the bar and snored so loud my last call customers left early,” Cal said.

Not understanding what Cal was talking, about he left the towel on the bar and walked over to the door way to the billiard area. There on a back table along the rear wall was pieces of a broken rack. As Seth turned to face the bar, it all came flooding back to him. In that moment the agony from the memory and the torture of having his heart broken by Mae’s lack of honesty made Seth’s legs buckle. As he hit the floor, he rubbed his hands down his face and felt the threat of tears. Cal came over and helped him to his feet and brought him back to the bar and got him a glass of water and some aspirin. When he got the aspirins washed down with all the water, Seth reached around to his wallet and pulled out some bills and threw them on the bar before walking out to the empty parking lot and climbing into his Tahoe. When he was behind the wheel and pulling out of the parking lot he dialed the number to his house.

Luckily, Lynne answered the phone, “Lynne, it’s me; I’m so sorry that I didn’t come home last night, apparently I made quite the scene here at Cal’s and passed out. Is everything alright with the kids?”

“Yes Seth the kids are actually still asleep and I was not surprised that you didn’t come home after I saw Mae and Wes here.” Lynne chastised as if she was talking to a bratty little boy.

“Wes was there with Mae?” Seth ignored Lynne’s tone and focused on the last bit of information.

Clearly not thrilled with having to give details on a rather upset Mae, Lynne said in a softer voice. “Yes I heard the car pull up to the front of the house and noticed it was Wes. The next thing I know, there are soft voices coming from the back walkway and Mae had a couple of suitcases with her and she was upset. Not wanting to eavesdrop I left them be and then a minute or two later, Mae was pulling out of the driveway and she hasn’t returned.”

Feeling the raw pain all over again after discovering Wes was trying to step into Seth’s vacant shoes, his rage erupted again and he said coldly, “Well, good luck to him, if he wants to bed a dishonest person like her.”

“Seth Finn! Don’t you ever speak of anyone, especially that sweet girl, like that every again or you can clean your own damn toilets!” Not waiting for him to reply she added, “you do what you have to do, I’ll stay here with the children until you return.” And she hung up on him.

Why
is
everyone
disgusted
with
me,
I’m
the
one
she
lied
to?

Without knowing where he was headed until he pulled into the parking lot of Wes’ high end condo complex fifteen minutes later, Seth cut the engine, climbed out and headed in, luckily someone was heading out so he could just bang on Wes’ door without having to be buzzed in.

He climbed the stairs to the fifth floor where Wes’s corner condo was located. He rapped angrily on the door with his fist until his friend opened the door.

“Hey Seth, what brings you here on such a lovely Sunday morning?” Wes greeted sarcastically. He stepped back to allow his visitor to enter.

Seth walked in to the masculine equivalent to elegance that was Wes Thompson’s home. The wall of windows that overlooked one of Vermont’s majestic mountain views, allowed the morning sun to filter in reflecting off all the glass and chrome surfaces within the great room. The sharp curves and slim black furnishings flowed with ease from one area to another. The white walls were covered with black and white prints of different architectural wonders from around the world. In other words, it was Wes Thompson in a living space.

Turning to face one of the men he would call brother if they could have shared the same blood, and with disgust for his betrayal. Wes stood in front of Seth with nothing but black lounge pants on. His chest and feet were bare and his hair was matted on one side of his head.

“Sleep well?” Seth asked as if poison was dripping from his lips.

“Actually I didn’t sleep much last night, considering.” Wes said as he crossed his muscular arms over his hard chest.

“You son of a bitch, what did you do? Talk her into coming home with you and then show her how you could make her feel all better.” Seth was in Wes’ face instantaneously

Offended by Seth’s accusation, Wes grew suddenly cruel, and compelled to hit below the belt.

“Well you know, after you as a lover, there was only up to go in direction,” Wes said with cool malice

Seeing that he gave a direct hit and the hurt that his friend was trying to hide, Wes decided to clarify Seth’s idea of what transpired after Mae left.

“Come on” as he walked around his friend, Wes headed to the kitchen and the already brewed coffee pot. Pulling two mugs from the glass shelf to his right, Wes poured two black coffees.

“You know you really pissed me off, thinking that I would ever make a move on Mae. If we didn’t have the history we did, I would have punched you right in your delusional pie hole.”

Feeling like shit from the immense headache, the agonizing heart break and the stupidity of his assumptions, Seth took a long sip of his coffee and scorched his tongue on purpose to have some other pain to focus on.

“Wes, how did I go from being on top of the world to feeling like this?” Seth said showing his raw emotion.

“Because you reacted before hearing her out, my friend. Look I don’t know what went down between her and Conner but if she didn’t tell you it was with good reason. But the way you attacked her last night, it was like you were a completely different person. No one would deserve that, especially her. If you could have just seen yourself thirty minutes before that. You watched her as Mark Anthony watched Cleopatra. You were aware of her in every cell in your body. It was obvious as Megan’s red hair.”

Not wanting to admit that Wes may be right, Seth opted for blanks in the events of last night. “So Lynne told me you drove Mae back to my house and then talked to her on the back walkway.”

“Yeah I did, after leaving you to your rage, I went looking for her. It wasn’t until Dylan came out later that we learned she was on foot. So I went one way while D went the other. I found her two miles down on RT 29, by T’s Quick Stop.”

Hating that she was on foot and in that area of town, alone and at night, it made Seth’s stomach sour; the bottle of Jameson whiskey wasn’t helping the queasiness of his stomach either.

“I drove her back to your house to grab some stuff, I offered her my spare room,” emphasizing the location Wes was proposing, “but she said she was going to call a friend. I assumed it was her friend Leo.”

Taking a sip of his own hot brew, Wes finished the recounting of his conversation with Mae. “When she returned with her bags, she told me she couldn’t get a hold of him, she said she was going to check in to one of the motels outside the town limits. Oh and she wanted me to mention the keys she left in the house and she would like you to call her with a time she can come and pack up.”

Seeing the emotions clearly etched on Seth’s face, Wes tried to reason with him. “Look, why don’t you go talk with Conner and find out what happened.”

Seth just nodded his head and thanked Wes for the coffee, then made his way to the door. As he reached the threshold, Wes called from the kitchen, “I meant what I said last night Seth, if you can’t work it out you didn’t deserve her in the first place.”

Seth nodded his head and walked out the door.

EIGHTEEN

Mae woke to a loud banging on the motel door. Since throwing the covers over her head wouldn’t make the banging stop she got out of bed grabbed her discarded velour running suit and quickly dressed. When she was adequately covered she went and looked through the peep hole. Robyn Finn was standing there holding a tray that had two take out coffee cups and a white paper bag with unknown contents. Undoing the security chain, Mae opened the door.

“Well it is about bloody time!” Robyn said as she pushing your way into the room and started pulling out her paper bag bounty on the small dinette table in the motel room.

Closing the door and walking over to one of the two vacant seats, Mae sat down and took one of the coffee cups, noticing they both had tea bags sticking out from under their covers. She removed the cover along with the seeped tea bag. Robyn placed a fresh croissant in front of Mae on a thin paper napkin.

“Voila, breakfast is served.” Robyn said as she plopped down in the seat opposite Mae and delved into her own croissant while sipping her hot tea.