"Everything looks great, Tessa. Thank you so much for coming out here to meet me." Shannon says as she leads me to the door of her apartment.
"I'm so glad we could do this in person!" I reach out my hand for her to shake, but she gives me a hug.
"I really appreciate it, Tessa."
"Enjoy your time with your in-laws this weekend."
She smiles nervously, looking a little uncomfortable. "We will... Thanks!"
I can barely contain my smile as I walk back down to my car. My meeting with Shannon went great, better than great. All my hard work seems to be paying off. All the sleepless nights, all of the stress, it's all going to be worth it!
I check my phone and see a text message from my mother. She sent me a list of at least twenty things she needs from the supermarket. I plug in the address for Micheals into the GPS first so I can pick up the supplies for Heather. Lucky for me, there is a Micheals only 20 minutes from my current location.
-
"Why is everything so expensive?" I whisper to myself. The paint brand that Heather wants at Micheal's is crazy expensive. I'm going to be spending at least $100 on her birthday present, plus another $100 dollars for Hardin's Christmas gift.
"Tessa?" I swear I am hearing things, but I look up and find the last person I'd expect to see here.
"Robert...hi..." He begins to walk towards me. You've got to be kidding me.
"What are you doing here? Did you move back home?" He questions me.
"No no, I'm just visiting. It's my stepsister's birthday, so I'm just picking up some paint supplies for her birthday."
"Oh..." He stares at me. From the expression on his face, I can tell his brother didn't tell him that he met me.
"How... how have you been?" I ask.
"I've been okay. I am now the manager of the Lookout."
I act surprised. "Oh wow, congratulations. Thank goodness, the manager when I worked there was always an ass."
"Yeah, Steven... he got arrested for tax fraud and is currently serving time in prison, so I guess karma is a bitch." He laughs at my shocked facial expression.
"Oh my god, no way! Why am I not surprised though, he always acted so sketchy."
"You know Nora still works there. I see her from time to time."
"Yeah, Nora and I are still close friends."
"Nice..." This is kind of awkward, but not as awkward as I ever thought it would be.
"Why are you at Micheals?"
"My aunt's getting married tomorrow, so I'm picking up some last minute supplies."
"Oh, well congratulations to her." I give him a small smile, and he returns it.
"Are you....Um... how's Hardin?" He says uncomfortably.
"He's good. We live together in Brooklyn." I feel terrible about how I ended things with Robert. I didn't even leave him for Hardin, since it was months before Landon's wedding.
"Listen, Robert..." I begin my apology, but he interrupts.
"No Tessa, it's alright. You don't have too. I've moved on now, and I'm good."
"I never gave you a good explanation of why I ended things, and for that I am sorry."
"I know why Tessa... I always knew it wasn't going to last, but god I could hope."
I put my hand on his shoulder. "You were too good for me." He touches my hand on his shoulder.
"Don't say that... you are a good person. We just weren't made for each other, and that's ok." He shrugs and smiles at me.
"Hey, Robert... what about these for the centerpieces?" A woman walks up to Robert and me. I quickly remove my hand from his shoulder as she hooks her arm around his waist.
She looks beautiful... and just like me, except with shorter, lighter hair. She has blue eyes and pale skin.
"Those look great." Robert says, looking between the both of us.
"Amanda, this is Tessa, an... old friend of mine." He introduces me. "Tessa, this is my girlfriend." I can tell he is trying not to make it awkward, but it definitely is.
She reaches her hand out. "Pleasure to meet you. Will you be at the wedding tomorrow?"
"Oh, no... I'm here visiting my family." I look at Robert, whose face is paler than hers is.
"Well, I should get going. It was nice meeting you, Amanda, and good to see you again, Robert." I give him a wave and walk away.
"So that's Tessa..." I hear Amanda ask Robert behind me. I don't turn around or acknowledge that I heard what she said.
-
When I get into the car, I take a look at my reflection in the rearview mirror. I cannot believe I bumped into Robert at the craft store. Like, what are the actual chances of that happening? The world works in weird ways sometimes. I start the car, and take a look on Google where the nearest grocery store is. Luckily, there is a Trader Joe's right down the street from where I am currently parked.
I give my mother a call.
"Tessa, did you get my list?" She questions me.
"Yeah, do you want me to go anywhere specific? I just got finished at Micheals and there is a Trader Joe's right across the street."
"Yeah, that's fine. Did you get everything you needed from Micheals?" She asks me.
I hesitate for a second. "Yeah."
She calls me out on my shaky voice. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Mother." I am really not in the mood to tell her about running into my ex-boyfriend, but maybe telling her will get it off my chest.
"I ran into Robert... at Micheals." I decide to share with my mother.
"Oh, I never got to tell you..." She begins to say something, but then stops herself.
"Tell me what?" Oh god.
"I ran into Robert a couple of weeks ago at the supermarket. He has been here for the past month, staying with his parents."
"What! You knew he was going to be here and you didn't tell me?" She ran into Robert weeks ago?
"I honestly forgot to mention it. I was going to tell you when I called, but you hung up on me and said you would call me back! But you never did!" She raises her voice to me. I guess she's right, I didn't call her back like I said I would.
"Ok, you're right. I'm sorry. What did he say when he talked to you?" Curiosity gets the best of me.
"He asked me how you were, and told me he was home for a wedding. I brought up that you were now in the wedding business, and how you might come up for Heather's birthday. That's all I can remember us talking about."
"So he knew that I was coming up this week?"
"I guess he did. It's actually funny that he ran into you at Micheals..." She laughs to herself.
"Why is that?"
"Because, when I told you to pick up some things for Heather for her birthday. I might have known that he was going to be there..."
She has got to be kidding me.
"What! You're joking right?"
"It has just been so long since you two have seen each other. He has a girlfriend, but I know he misses you." She tries to justify her insaneness.
"Mother, we broke up over four years ago! He has clearly moved on, and so have I!" What did she think? That if I saw Robert I would magically fall in love with him again?
"I know that. I just thought you would want to see him..."
"Well I didn't, and it would've been nice to give me a heads up on your weird plans." I hang up on her. She is truly unbelievable.
I quickly drive across the street to pick up all the food she requested me get. I'm back home within two hours.
I pull up to the driveway and Heather is waiting on the porch for me.
She runs up to the car and pulls open my door. "Well! Did you get the supplies!" She happily screams in my face.
"Yes yes, they're in my trunk. Help me bring in groceries while you're here, please." She grabs two handfuls of bags and runs into the house while I grab the rest.
I enter the house, and Heather has already run upstairs to her room with the Micheals bag, Thankfully, I took her present out of the bag and put it in a grocery bag as a disguise. My mother enters the kitchen and begins unloading the food from the bags.
"Thank you, Tessa. You saved me a trip later." She takes out all the stuff to make her birthday cake.
"Oh, can I make her the cake?" I want an excuse to go see Karen, and she can help me make the cake.
"If you want to, sure." She states plainly.
"Great!" I walk out of the kitchen, leaving my mother to finish putting away the groceries.
"Tessa, sweetheart, how are you?" Karen answers the phone in her normal, sweet tone.
"I'm doing well, how are you?"
"I'm good! Is everything all right?"
"No no, nothing at all. I'm actually in Washington for my sister's birthday. I was wondering if you were around to help me with the cake?"
"Of course! I would love to! When is her birthday?"
"It's on Sunday, so I'll probably need to make the cake Saturday."
"I'm free anytime Saturday so just let me know when!" Yes, thank goodness she's free.
"Great!" I miss Karen and her kindness so much. I'm lacking light in my life at the moment that I know only Karen can bring into my life.
"I'll see you then!" We exchange our goodbyes and hang up.
At least I have something to look forward to now.