Rewind

Chapter 18

"I'm gonna puke."

Standing outside the house, Macy looked at the front door knowing Opie was behind it, somewhere inside, and it made her sick. She spent two extra days in Laguna, one without Shane, and had arrived home on Wednesday evening.

With keys in hand, Macy walked toward the front door and unlocked it just as Opie swung the door open for her.

"Oh," she drew her head back with surprise. "Hi."

"Hey," he said with a small, sad smile on his lips.

They stood there for a second, quietly obsessing over the painful reunion before Macy pointed behind him. "Can I come in?"

"Shit," he stammered. "Yeah. Sorry."

Macy kept as much space between her and Opie as she could, dragging her suitcase in behind her. When he reached to help her she shook her head.

"I got it."

"How was Laguna?" He asked awkwardly.

"Gorgeous," she smiled. "Wish I could afford to live up there," she laughed.

Opie pulled a face and shrugged. "Figure with the extra cash a dirty cop could pull in you might be able to."

"That didn't take long," she rolled her eyes.

"What? He's a dirty cop, right?"

"Who told you?"

"Doesn't matter," he shook his head. "It's better I knew about him before I saw you."

"Why?"

"Coming home after three years to find out you're banging another guy isn't the surprise I want."

"You wanna go there?" Macy dropped her bags and glared at him, hands on her hips. "Really?"

"I know I fucked up," he admitted. "I thought we would work it out, Mace."

Macy shook her head, her anger switching to sorrow. "Maybe if you treated me like an equal and talked to me about everything or even gave me an active part in deciding our future but you didn't. You shut me out. You pushed me away." Seeing he was about to speak, Macy put her hand up. "I'm not done," she snapped. "You didn't do it for me, either, so don't try that shit. You did it for yourself, Opie. If you cared at all about my feelings you wouldn't have hurt me so deeply," she rambled.

"You're getting too upset," he said. "We can't talk if you're gonna freak out.

"Don't do that," she snapped. "I have every right to feel this way after what you did." He was right though, much to her chagrin, so she stopped and calmed down knowing it would make him listen. Forcing herself to breathe and sound in control and self-assured, Macy dropped her hands at her side and calmly started again. "You were scared, I get that, but you pushed me away and you don't get to pull me back now that you're home." Macy looked at him with tear-filled, sorrowful eyes and as she began to speak her chin trembled."You have no idea how much you hurt me."

"I'm sorry," he grumbled.

"I know you are," she nodded. "But you had a long time to make up for it and I'm going to guess you didn't have the prison send that letter until you found out I was dating someone."

"I was talking to your dad," he told her. "He said you were really upset but that you got a good job and met some asshole," Opie shook his head.

"Exactly," she sighed. "I loved you, Ope. I loved you so much but what you did, I can't forget that or forgive you for it."

Opie didn't say anything. He looked at her, his frown hidden by his beard, his forehead creased as he slowly began to nod.

"Alright," he said sadly.