When we get to my parents' house, Mom and Jennifer are waiting outside for us.
"You're home!" Jennifer shouts excitedly and runs into my arms. She's grown up so much even since last time I saw her.
"Ah! I missed you!" I tell her. We go inside and fight dad working under the sink. Plumbing is not his specialty and I find myself giggling at the sight of him. He hears me and gets up to hug me. He doesn't acknowledge Mike standing next to me and instead picks Taylor up to talk to her. I grab Mike's hand and give it an encouraging squeeze. I told him I'd make sure everything went okay this weekend and that's what I'm going to do.
We go upstairs to put down our luggage and I close the bedroom door behind us, "Mike I'm sorry about my dad," I say. "I'll talk to him."
"It's okay, Katrina. I don't blame him for being like this," Mike says sweetly putting his hands my shoulders.
"Well I don't think he should be giving you the cold shoulder, so I'm going to do something about it," I explain.
"Just enjoy this time with him, babe. I'll be okay," Mike says and hugs me. But it's not okay. Mike doesn't deserve to be treated like a criminal by my father. I did my own fair share of treating him like that for months after the incident and I don't want him to have to take any more of the nonsense. While I am hugging Mike, my phone rings. I look and see it is Donna, so I answer and put it on speaker.
"Harvey proposed!" Donna screams into the phone.
"Oh my god! Donna that's amazing! I'm so happy for you guys!" I say.
"I would've called you last night, but you know how it goes," Donna says. I can tell by her voice that she's smiling wide.
"Oh, we do," Mike says and makes a suggestive face at me. I hit his arm playfully.
"We can talk all about it when I get back in town, okay?" I suggest.
"Definitely. See you soon!" Donna says. The night passes without any more notable events and we get to bed early for the reunion tomorrow.
"Aaron, hey!" I say and walk up to him standing by the drinks. He looks like he's already had too many.
"Katrina Bennett I've missed you so much," he says and wraps me into a warm hug. "Hey Mike."
"Aaron," Mike says and takes a sip of his drink. He puts his arm around my waist. An awkward silence ensues.
"You know what I think I see my friends Emily and Matthew over there, I'm going to go see them," I say excusing myself from the awkwardness. But before I even have time to get across the gym, I hear yelling of familiar voices.
"You know you don't deserve her!" Aaron screams in Mike's face. I walk as fast as I can over to them to try and stop them from causing a scene. I hadn't noticed before, but Aaron's wedding ring isn't on his finger anymore. And this isn't how he usually acts at all.
"Man you don't know what you're talking about," Mike says keeping his voice fairly level.
"I do. You cheated on her. Do you even know how amazing she is? You just took that for granted!" Aaron says a little too closely to Mike.
"Back up," Mike says.
"Please stop," I say to both of them. Everyone is looking at them now.
"Katrina this is between me and Mike," Aaron says sternly not looking at me at all.
"There's nothing to- why are you doing this?" I say not knowing which man I'm asking more.
"You're a piece of shit," Aaron says to Mike. And the physical shift in Mike is very visible. His fist clinches and I know what's next.
"Mike please. Don't do this," I plead, my voice shaking.
"I'm going to walk away from this, man. But don't you ever come near me or my wife ever again," Mike says and turns to walk away. But as soon as he turns around Aaron pushes him in the back.
"Ah, you've done it now," Mike says.
"Mike!" I say and he stops short of hitting Aaron back. But when Aaron punches Mike in the face, I just know he's going to lose it.
"Aaron this isn't you- please," I say with tears running down my face. I can feel the eyes of everyone in the room on us and I've never been more embarrassed in my life.
Aaron backs away from Mike knowing the mistake he's made. "I didn't mean to- I'm so sorry," he says and disappears out the side door.
I grab Mike and quickly walk outside to our car. "I'm so sorry, Mike," I say. He's holding his nose as blood gushes out. It's not a pretty scene.
"Just drive us back to your house please," Mike says and leans his head back to try and stop the bleeding.
When we get home, mom and dad are standing in the kitchen.
"Oh my goodness! What happened?" Mom says grabbing a wash rag for Mike.
"I don't really even know," I say with a sigh. Mike walks towards the bathroom and I go to follow him but decide he might need some space.
"Katrina what is this? You bring your husband back after he's cheated on you and you come back from the reunion like this?" Dad exclaims sternly.
"Dad it's not like that. I told you what happened with Mike. You need to understand that I'm with him until the end of the line. And tonight wasn't his fault. He walked away. He was the bigger man and he suffered for it!" I yell at him. "So for the love of god please stop giving him the cold shoulder!"
"I just want to make sure he's doing my baby right," Dad says with a softer tone.
"He is, Dad. I promise," I say with exhaustion and go after Mike.
The next morning I wake several texts from Aaron.
Katrina please call me when you can.
I'm so sorry about last night.
You know that's not me.
And I do know it's not him. But I never imagined he would ever hurt anyone.
I'll call you when I can, Aaron.
He replies: Can you and Mike meet me for breakfast at the usual spot?
I see the message, but Mike wakes up at the same time. "Hey," I say to him. He wraps his arms around me. "I'm sorry again about last night."
"It's alright, Katrina. It's not your fault," he says and lays his head on my shoulder.
"Aaron wants to meet for breakfast," I tell him and he groans. "I know, I know, but something's going on with him."
"You should go then," Mike says.
"He wants you to come too," I say and Mike sits up quickly.
"I don't know about that," he says.
"Please Mike. He just wants to apologize," I explain. He just nods and we get up to get ready. Mom had already planned to spend the day with the kids, so we can go to breakfast without any conflicts.
When we show up to the pancake place, Aaron looks like hell. His hand is clearly bruised and his eyes tired.
"Hey guys. Thanks for meeting me," he says. I give him a slight nod and we sit in the booth across from him. "Mike I am so sorry about last night. I never should've said those things and I definitely shouldn't have laid a hand on you."
"Aaron what's going on?" I say and give him a look, so he'll know I'm onto him.
"My wife left me," Aaron says while looking down.
"That sucks, man. I'm sorry," Mike speaks up. I give him a soft smile. He's being extremely mature.
"I'm not okay," he says and starts to break down. Mike gets up out of the booth and lets me out to comfort Aaron.
"Hey, remember when you told me it's okay not to be okay? I need you to know that now," I say and put my arm around his shoulder.
"It's just been me and the kids for about two months now. It's so hard," Aaron confesses.
"We're here for you. Whatever you need," I say.
"Thanks guys. I just need something to change," he says.
"Why don't you come to New York for a visit?" Mike suggests.
"Yeah what do you say? Bring the kids. We'd love to have you guys," I say and smile at Aaron.
"Yeah okay. That sounds good," he says.
The rest of breakfast goes well and we are back on the road to New York by the end of the day. After about an hour, I look to the backseat and the kids are asleep. Mike's driving with one of his hands on the wheel and one on the center console. I intertwine my fingers with his.
"Mike I don't think I've told you recently how much I appreciate you," I say and he brings my hand to his lips and kisses it lightly.
"I appreciate you too. More than you could ever know," he says.
"You showed a lot of restraint this weekend with Aaron. And the grace you showed him was astonishing," I tell him. I was really impressed with Mike's behavior this weekend especially considering the way everyone was treating him.
"I could only do it because of you. You make me better," he says. I can't help but smile.
"I love you," I tell him.
"I love you too, always," he replies.
