* * * * * * * * * *
By the time Alyson had finished getting dressed, she realized she was craving Mexican food. So she chose to go to a popular Mexican restaurant in town called Pink Taco. As always when it came to going out to eat with Joseph, they basically ordered one of everything and shared it. They had quesadillas, nachos, chili poppers, lobster enchiladas, fajitas, a burrito, fried lobster and more.
They mostly talked about Alyson and her trip to Jamaica and how close she and her sister had been. Joseph loved listening to her, especially because he could see how much she's changed. She didn't look sad, she didn't drift off, she was attentive and in the moment.
She was talkative and full of energy, and it was amazing to see.
It got a point, where he wasn't sure what she was saying because he was just staring at her which she noticed.
"Earth to Joseph," she tapped her nails against the table.
"I'm listening," Joseph shook his head, coming to.
"No you're not," she said knowingly, "am I boring you?"
"No, of course not," Joseph leaned on the table, "I'm just enjoying seeing you like this. Happy, I mean. You deserve to be like this all the time."
"Wow," she replied thoughtfully.
"What?"
"For the first time, I can actually agree with you on that. I can actually say that I think I deserve to feel like this too. These past two months, I've seen myself in a new light, if that makes sense. I'm not perfect but I do know that a lot of things I went through with Evan, I didn't deserve. Sadly, it took rock bottom to figure that out but, better late than ever I guess."
"Hey, everything happens at the right time, whether you believe it or not."
"Yeah, you're probably right," Alyson looked down, fidgeting with her fingers.
Joseph noticed that she wasn't wearing her wedding ring.
"I stopped wearing it before I left for Jamaica," she confessed, "at one point it used to be a representation of the good times but now it just seems all bad after what went down."
Feeling like she needed to vent, she leans on the table, "you ready for a crazy story?"
"I'm all ears," Joseph nodded.
Alyson begins telling him about what happened the night of Evan's dinner party, how she came to the assumption that Kelly being his mistress, how everything unfolded, Rick getting shot, finding out about Kelly's pregnancy - everything.
"Both of them denied everything but at that point, I was over it. I knew that if I stayed, I was going to lose it. The crazy thing is, two months later and I still don't know who's telling the truth and who's lying. I haven't talked to either of them, they haven't called or even texted. It's like our friendship meant nothing."
"Well, maybe they're just afraid to face you," suggested Joseph.
"I don't know."
"Have you tried to reach out to them?"
"Well, no but I figure, if there was really nothing going and they cared about me, they would have fought for me. It's probably stupid to think like that."
"No, it's not. They were the ones in question, they should have argued their case a little better. Telling someone their crazy is not how you deal with a situation like that."
Alyson sighs, holding her face in her hands.
"And then I slapped Kelly which I feel so bad about. That's not who I am, and if I knew she was pregnant I would have controlled myself."
"What do you think about her being pregnant?"
Alyson let her hands fall from her face, "I think, if I was right about her and Evan, then . . ." she gulped, swallowing the tears that were welling up.
This was the aspect of the situation she avoided because out of all the things Evan has put her through, this would be the worse.
"You don't have to say it," Joseph reached over and took her hand.
She closed her eyes, intertwining her fingers with his, "the worse part is, I don't think Rick knows about what happened. He's been texting me frequently to make sure I'm okay but he hasn't asked me about the situation."
"That's . . . suspicious," Joseph was honest.
"I know," Alyson agreed.
"So, how is Rick doing? Who shot him anyway?"
"Just this perp he and his team had been looking for. They went in to get him, he was waiting with a gun and Rick took the hit."
"Hm, but he's good?"
"Oh yeah, Rick is already back in the field where he belongs."
Their waiter comes over to the table, causing them to pull away from each other, having not realized how long they were holding hands. He clears the table, makes sure they don't need anything and leaves them to talk.
"Now, there's something I want to know about you," Alyson clasped her hands together.
"Shoot," Joseph sat back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest.
"What happened between you and Evan? Why does he hate you so much?"
Joseph let out a long sigh, shaking his head, just thinking about the past.
"I mean since we're sharing stories and all."
"I did say we were gonna have this conversation sooner or later," Joseph wasn't opposed to talking about it.
It just wasn't easy.
Joseph leans forward on the table, causing an intrigued Alyson to do the same.
"It's the same old love story, you know? I meet his mom, Sarah, we hit things we off, we fall in love, she gets pregnant, everything's great. We're young but willing to take responsibility. Only there was always one problem in our relationship - Maggie."
"Maggie," Alyson was anything but surprised. "Good ol' grandma Maggie."
"I'm assuming you're not a fan."
"More like she's not a fan of me but keep going."
"Maggie controlled Sarah. Everything Sarah did, it was because Maggie wanted it. It had been happening so long, Sarah was afraid to even tell her no. Her dating me was the first rebellious thing she had ever done."
"So Maggie didn't like you either."
"Nope, but not because I wasn't a nice guy, as Sarah put it, her mother liked when she went for guys who could support her."
"Rich."
"Exactly. The thing was, I was rich, I had money but we couldn't tell her that. Sarah made it clear in our relationship that we couldn't tell her mother about my family and the business. The moment she knew money was involved, it was over."
"And she did find out," Alyson said knowingly.
Joseph nodded, "yeah, she did. From there, she started being nice to me, let me come over whenever I wanted, talked about how I should marry Sarah as soon as I can. Which I wanted to do but, Sarah and Maggie were a package deal and Sarah knew that."
He shrugged, "I didn't care though, I wanted my kid to be in a stable home with both his parents. I told Maggie myself, you won't get a dime from me and my family. Only Sarah and the baby and she didn't like that. From there, things changed quickly."
Joseph cleared his throat, trying to stay calm, "she stopped letting us see each other. I went from seeing and talking to Sarah every day, to barely even getting a text. Mind you she was still pregnant. Luckily, I was able to be at the birth but, a week after they just vanished. They were just gone."
"Gone?"
"I can't explain it but I couldn't find them anywhere. The crazy thing was though, I knew where Maggie was. I went up to her job every day asking her where they were and she'd laugh in my face. She wanted part of the fortune, or I never get to see them again. That was her deal and she wasn't willing to budge."
"Did you tell your parents?"
"I did. They didn't like the thought of having to support Maggie for God knows how long either. We talked to whoever we could, got lawyers involved and everything. I tried, I really tried but it wasn't until I got a call from Sarah telling me to leave it alone that I realized, I had lost her and my son - for good."
He looks down with scoff, "I remember her crying, begging me to just move on. Said if I didn't, she was going to have to pay the price with her mother and that's the last thing she needed."
"What did she mean by that?"
"I don't know. I didn't want to think she was getting physically abused or anything but Maggie was cunning. She didn't need to hit you to hurt you. Her words were enough."
Immediately, Alyson starting thinking about Evan who ironically, was the same exact way. This story was bringing a lot of things to light, especially about Maggie, who had a big say in almost everything Evan does.
"So that's what I did," Joseph went on. "I let it go and, I shouldn't have let it go. I should have fought for my son but I didn't. Instead, I left like a coward, and when his mother died, I knew Maggie was going to fill his head with lies and make me out to be the devil, and she did."
"I'm really sorry that happened to you," Alyson was baffled, "I can't imagine not being able to see your kid."
"It's the worse feeling in the world. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy."
Alyson nodded, thoughtfully, "can't say I'm surprised about Maggie. She's never liked me, she always made that known. But she is a fan of Kelly who ironically comes from a line of billionaires. It was actually Maggie's idea that Kelly plan Evan's dinner party for me."
Joseph's eyebrows raised in suspicion.
"Yeah, I know, right?" Alyson scoffs, "the plot thickens."
She let a sigh, realizing how heavy the atmosphere got.
"We shouldn't be talking about this, we're supposed to be celebrating your birthday," said Joseph.
"Yeah, well, now I'm just overwhelmed. I feel like there's so much I don't know about. I don't even think I want to know."
"Then let's stop talking about this. Let's get out of here, I have something to show you," Joseph waves at the waiter, asking him to bring the check.
"What is it?"
"It's a surprise," Joseph smiled eagerly.
"Oh god," Alyson tensed up, "what did you do?"
* * * * * * * * * *
"Is the jacket over the head, really necessary?" questioned Alyson, as she got guided into god, knows where by Joseph. He made her put her jacket over her head the whole car ride so she couldn't see where they were going.
She had no clue where had taken her, only that he took her inside of some building that he had a key to.
"Yes, it is necessary but don't worry, we're here. Just a few more steps."
Alyson sighed softly, letting him pull her by the arm.
"Okay, stop," he stopped her. "You ready?"
"I was ready the moment I put my jacket on my head."
"Alright, sassy," Joseph laughed and took the jacket off of her head. "Surprise!"
Alyson arched an eyebrow, looking around. Joseph had brought her to a vacant club. Vacant as in closed down. There was a bar, some stools left behind, a stage and a huge dance floor.
"You love it?" Joseph asked her, visibly excited.
"I don't know what to love about it yet," she said as nicely as possible.
Joseph chuckled in amusement, purposely not explaining what the surprise was yet.
"What is this?" she asked him, starting to look around.
"Well, it used to be a club," he watched her.
"Obviously," she said sassily, looking back at him.
Joseph smiled as she started to look around again. Just like he was hoping, she was already getting ideas. He could tell because of the look of focus yet excitement on her face. That's how she looked whenever they were brainstorming ideas for the company.
"What do you think about it?" he asked.
"Well," she climbed on stage, having a front of the view of the bar, "I think it has potential. You clean it up, make some calls, could easily become the best club in town if you play your cards right."
"I'm glad you said that," Joseph pulled something out of his pocket., "catch."
He tossed the object and Alyson caught it with ease. She opened her palm to see it was a key.
Slowly but surely, she was catching on, "Joe," she closed her eyes. "What did you do?"
"You remember when we went to Phoenix," he walked over and joined her on stage. "and you talked about how you wanted to open a lot of businesses, including a club like your mom and dad."
He stood in front of her, looking deeply into her watery eyes, "well, now's your chance."
"Are you playing with me?" she sniffled, as a tear fell.
"You know I don't play games, Aly," he wiped her tear with a smile.
"Oh my god," she looked at the key in disbelief, "when did you even get this place?"
"I bought it barely a week after that conversation. I had been meaning to show you but it never seemed like the right time. Tonight seemed like the perfect time."
"I don't know what to say," she looked up at him, "this is the nicest birthday gift anyone has ever given me. Also, what the hell were you thinking? A simple birthday card would have been okay."
Joseph chuckles, "how could I just give you a birthday card when you're the reason the company is doing so well? It's time for you to branch out a little, do your own things."
"Sounds like you're letting me go," she sadly.
"Never that," his words made her breath hitch. "Even with all that I know, I'd still rather run this company with you but for now, it's time for you to branch out like you always wanted."
Alyson was at a lost for words. All she could do was stare into his gentle brown eyes and he didn't fight to pull his gaze away from her either.
Reluctantly, Alyson breaks eye contact, walking a few feet away.
Joseph watches her with a smile, "so, have a clue on what you want this place to look like?"
Alyson looks around, excitedly, "I have some ideas."
_____
So, what ya'll thinking? How do you feel about what they talked about at Pink Taco. Comment and let know.