fín (sequel to Neighbor)

chapter nineteen.

LAUREN'S POV

I was at some random coffee shop about a block or two from Leo's hotel. I was kind of in a mood, if you want me to be honest. How could I not be? Even though Leo clearly told her that he was not interested and in fact married and all that, I still found myself thinking about what happened over and over. 

Leo tried to talk to me about it, but I told him that I just wanted to be alone. Probably sounds harsh, but it's the truth. I found this little coffee shop and have been sitting here for about twenty minutes or so. Leo and his mom are probably getting the kids ready by now.

Why do these things always have to happen? We were doing so good. Leo and I just worked past what happened previously and now this has to happen. It feels so frustrating. Even though he told this Amy girl to leave and said that he wanted to be with his family, it still hurt to witness.

I know that girls can be awful as well. While Leo seemed genuine in not being interested in her and all, I know that Amy was probably saying that just to get a reaction out of me. If I was the one talking to her instead of Leo then I probably would have screamed at her and woke everyone in the hotel up.

"Are you okay?" A voice said from in front of me. I looked up to see a little old woman standing in front of me.

"Yeah," I said with a sniffle. "I'm okay. Thanks."

She gave me a sad look and then pulled out the chair that was across from me. "Do you mind if I sit here?"

I gave her a nod and she took a seat, setting her cup of coffee down in front of her. 

"I noticed you when I walked in. You seem to be upset. Are you sure everything is alright?"

Well, if she's offering, then I might as well talk to someone about it.

"Honestly, I'm not really sure," I answered truthfully. "I came here to see my husband that got offered a job here and this trip has been a mess."

It has been everything but perfect. 

"Oh, I'm sorry hun. What happened?" She asked. She still never told me her name.

And so I explained everything that has happened. From the time that Leo left weeks ago, to what just happened before I came here. It felt really nice to just get everything that happened out of my head and to tell it to someone.

"Wow, that's a lot," She said with a surprised look. "What does your husband think of all of this?"

I sighed, "Who knows. He's kind of oblivious to what's happened. He didn't realize how much he was hurting me until the night that he kissed his coworker. It was honestly so frustrating."

"He did stand up for you and your family, though," She commented. "When his coworker came to your hotel this morning. Seems like he really wants to fight for you."

"He should've been doing that from the start."

She took a sip of her coffee and looked at me. "Sweetie, men are so oblivious to everything. I was married to my husband for about 52 years. He passed away a few years ago, but I loved him more than anything. We had some ups and downs, just like you and your husband. However, he always listened to me when I would talk to him about how I felt about things that would happen."

I do try to talk to Leo about these things, but sometimes he's so hard to get a point across to. He's kind of stubborn. 

"My husband is just hard to talk to sometimes. At least I think that," I said before taking a sip of my drink.

"If you really love him, then you will be able to talk to him about anything without feeling guilty about it. And if he really loves you, then he won't make you feel guilty about talking to him about it and he'll try to understand your point of view."

She was right. I should be able to talk to Leo about anything. He is my husband and of course I do love him more than anything. And if he does make me feel guilty, then it's not my fault. We have been married for a few years and have two beautiful children together. We need to get things out of the way if we want to keep this family together.

Although, none of this would have happened if he had never moved to Seattle in the first place. I wish he had just stayed home, but he wanted to get this job for our family.

"You're right," I smiled at her. "He's my husband and we should be able to talk about these kinds of things. Sometimes I feel like we're still in high school."

She let out a laugh, which caused me to laugh as well.

"Well, I wish you two the best, sweetheart. Never be afraid to speak your mind when it comes to your marriage," she smiled. "I do have to go now, though. My grandkids are coming over soon, so I have to walk back to my house now."

"Thanks for letting me talk to you. My name is Lauren, by the way. What's yours?"

"Valerie. It was lovely to talk to you as well," she said before getting up. "I wish you nothing but the best."

Valerie gave me a small hug before she headed towards the door of the coffee shop and made her way back home. This was what I needed. I needed to talk to someone that I didn't know about what was happening and what I was feeling. Gee, you think as a psychiatrist I would know that by now. But Valerie told me exactly what I needed to hear.

I need to talk to Leo about how I feel about what's happened, and even though he is so stubborn and hard to talk to sometimes, then it needs to happen. He may not like it, but I need to talk to him about it before it's too late.