Chapter 3.39 – Blast From the Past

Saturday 8:00 AM – Reagan’s House

Reagan was sitting with her mom having coffee when her phone buzzed with a text from Evan. She breathed a sigh of relief and smiled as she read it. She had been worried sick about him. In all the time she’s known him, he never ignored her texts and phone calls. He must’ve really been sick.

“Who’s that? Lover boy?” asked her mother, rolling her eyes.

Reagan closed her eyes and composed herself before answering.  “Yes. It’s Evan,” she said and smiled. She wasn’t going to let her mother spoil her good mood. “He wants me to meet him at the coffee shop for breakfast.”

“Okay. Well enjoy. I’ll be right here when you get back.” said Avery.

“Did you want to go?” asked Reagan confused by her word choice. Then she remembered. Car shopping. And groaned. “I’m sorry. I forgot. We’re supposed to car shop today. I won’t be long. I promise. Maybe Evan can join us. Someone that knows more about cars than I do.”

“Sure. Sounds good,” replied Avery smiling.

“Okay! Great. Love you Mom,” said Reagan.  She jumped up and ran to change clothes. She couldn’t wait to get to the coffee shop and see Evan.

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Saturday 8:30 AM, Willow Creek Coffee Shop

Reagan arrived before Evan, so she went on and ordered for both of them so he wouldn’t bitch about paying. She smiled as she thought about his rant about $7 dollar coffees and ordered a pastry for him too. She couldn’t wait to see him.  She was going to tell him about her dad giving her money, because she knew he wouldn’t like her buying a car for her mother. Besides, she didn’t want secrets with him either.

She looked up when the door opened and he walked in. He looked disheveled and tired. Not like Evan at all. He must still be sick. He sat down across from her. He looked even worse up close and it alarmed her.

“Evan, do you need to go to the hospital?” asked Reagan truly concerned. “You look terrible.”

“No. Reagan, I have something I need to tell you,” his eyes were red rimmed and glassy, “But before I do, I need you to know that I love you. I’ve wanted to say it probably since I helped you move … but circumstances prevented it. I never, ever intended for you to get hurt. I’m so sorry.”

“Stop it Evan, you’re scaring me. And for the record, I love you back, so no matter what you’re involved in, or what’s wrong with you, we can work through it, together.” Reagan was near tears and her heart was racing. She wanted to throw her arms around him and make it all okay.

She reached over to take his hand and he pulled away. “I wish it was that easy …  Reagan, I’m married. We’ve been separated, but….”

Reagan was stunned. She thought maybe he had a gambling problem and owed money, or he was on drugs, or had cancer even. But wife was never a word she expected to hear. Tears began to roll down her cheeks from a different kind of pain. Betrayal.

“I’m going to try to reconcile with her. She was going…”

At that she quickly stood up nearly, knocking over the coffee, that neither of them touched. “Shut up! Just shut up,” she yelled at him.

“Reagan, I’m so….”

Before he finished his sentence, she slapped him and walked out of the coffee shop.

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Saturday, 9:00 AM – Newcrest Park

Reagan could hardly breathe as she made her way to the park. She just needed to be alone. She parked her car and walked to a bench in the maze, crying the entire way.

Everything she believed about Evan was nothing but a lie. How could he say he loved her in one breath and then say he was reconciling with his wife in the next. Wife. Oh god. Her mother was right not to have trusted him. She had been played for a fool.

“Reagan? Mind if I have a seat?” asked a man she didn’t see walk up.

Irritated at the intrusion, she looked up and gasped as recognition took her breath away.  Even with the sunglasses on she knew.  “Archer?”

He huffed out a small laugh. “The one and only.”

She sniffed and swiped at her running nose and attempted to smile. “Sorry, you caught me at a really bad time.”

Archer smiled apologetically. He said simply, “Um…”  and motioned to the seat next to her.

“Oh. Yes, please sit,” she said quickly, embarrassed that she was staring at him, “It’s been a long time. Seven years or so? How are you? I guess I thought I’d never see you again.” She was rambling. She sniffed again as the memory of the last time she’d seen him assaulted her. She was crying then too, as he walked out of her life and broke her heart completely in half.

He removed his shades and lowered himself on the bench next to her and her heart rate sped up. He made her very nervous. “Yes,” he said smiling at her, “Seven long years. You grew up. You’re even more lovely than I remember.” His expression changed and he looked a little sad before he smiled again. “Listen, Reagan, I want to apologize …”

Reagan held up her hand stopping him. She couldn’t revisit the pain she thought she’d put behind her, until she saw him standing there. She already had too much to deal with, with Evan’s horrible revelations. Reagan tried to smile. “Not now … I just can’t.”

“Are you okay? Can I take you home?” He looked really worried.

“No, honestly, I’m not okay.  But I have my car. I just received some unsettling news is all.”  She didn’t want to talk about her problems so redirected the conversation. “Do you live here now? Are you a cop?”

“I live in San Myshuno, working for BASE, the security company. I manage the security and investigations division.”

“Wow. Management,” said Reagan and this time gave him a genuine smile. She was so proud for him. He’d gotten out, just like he wanted and really had made something of himself. Suddenly she felt very selfish. She remembered her 16 year-old self wishing she was pregnant so he wouldn’t leave and cringed. Thank god he was much more mature than she had been at the time, and had the good sense to leave. No, he didn’t owe her an apology at all. How was her life such a mess when his seemed to work out so well? He had been right, she would’ve dragged them both down.

“Yeah. It’s interesting work,” he commented.

“You always were very good at understanding people and why they do what they do. Wait, that’s the company Ami uses. You guys provide security services for our home sites and our offices. Is that why you’re here? To meet with Ami?”

“Oh … yes. And I thought, while I was here, I’d check out the park. It hasn’t changed. The trees are maybe a little taller. Even this spot is the same.” He looked sad. He must remember the last time they saw each other too.

He was tugging at her heart strings and she was getting emotional again. Damn he shouldn’t look so good. “Married? Kids?” she finally asked when the silence got unbearable.

He smirked at her and memories assaulted her again. Her heart fluttered every time he’d looked at her like that and it did it again. Just now. How was that even possible? “No, I’m not, and no kids – that I know of,” he said.

She laughed to cover up how much his presence was getting to her. “Always the ladies man,” she said.

He looked sad for a second again and shook his head slowly. “Not anymore. I’ve been so busy with work since I left, there really hasn’t been time for anything serious. I did a lot of undercover work after I got out of the academy. Not so conducive to establishing relationships.”

“How’d you score a management position with BASE?” she asked, honestly curious.

“You remember Olivia and Jason Blake? Their dad hired me. He’s actually my second cousin on my mother’s side. Go figure. I had no idea. So he pulled some strings. He actually got me in the Police Academy.  He found out when … anyway, I was lucky, but I like to think I earned it too. What about you? Also working in the family business?”

She couldn’t talk about work without thinking about Evan. Archer had her so distracted, she’d actually forgotten how bad he’d hurt her for the 30 minutes they’d been getting reacquainted. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before answering. “Yes. I do design consulting.” That was all she could say without falling apart. “I really need to go.”

“Of course. It was good to see you Reagan. Be careful, and take care of yourself. Maybe I’ll see you around.”

She stood up and shook her head slowly.  “I don’t think so. But it was good to see you too. Congratulations on your job.”

She turned walked quickly away without looking back, leaving Archer sitting on the bench, very much the same way he left her seven years ago when he walked out of her life. So ironic that she should be the one leaving this time.

When she got to her car, she lost it. She leaned her head on the steering wheel and cried.  Her life sucked. It went from a fairy tale, to screwed up in the space of a few hours. And Archer had to show up and reinforce how awful it was.

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Saturday 10:30 AM – Reagan’s House

Reagan had eventually pulled herself together enough to drive home. She had to get out of there before Archer saw her. He might try to help her and she couldn’t handle that. She knew, he would only bring her more pain.

When she walked in the house, her mother was sitting there, and she suddenly remembered she was supposed to take her car shopping. One more failure. She prepared herself her mother’s anger for taking so long.

“Reagan, Honey, what happened?” said her mother, a worried look on her face. “You look like your best friend just died.”

That’s all it took and she collapsed into a puddle of tears. Her mother quickly came to her and put her arms around her. “Shhh. Baby, what happened? Is Evan okay? You’re worrying me.”

“Evan….” she said between shuddering breaths. “He’s married.” She sobbed harder. But her mother didn’t say anything and she was grateful.

After a minute, Avery finally spoke. “Why don’t you have a seat and I’ll pour us a glass of wine. It’ll help calm you down and you can tell me all about it.”

“No. I don’t want to talk about it. I’m just going to go to lay down for awhile.”

“Oh, for how long? I thought maybe we could go shopping and get something pretty for you. It might make you feel better. Or we could window shop for cars. Take your mind off him.”

At the mention of Evan, tears clouded her vision again. “No. I’m a total wreck. Take my car and go. Here, you can take my credit card too. I‘m going to bed.”

Her mother actually rolled her eyes. “Fine. I was only trying to help. I warned you about him. He was too smooth and flirty. You’re better off without him. I’m glad he at least came clean. Now you can move on. Go on, go downstairs and get him out of your system.”

Reagan didn’t know what to say to that. Her mother had been right. Maybe she really was playing along with him and not the other way around when he flirted with her. He made it seem like it was the other way. She didn’t know what to think or believe anymore except she needed to get away from her mother.  She turned and headed downstairs with her still talking.

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Saturday, 11:00 AM – Reagan’s House

As soon as Reagan left the room, Avery dialed her cell phone.  “Well, mission accomplished. He’s outta the picture now. But she’s a pile of useless mush. Stupid girl.”

“That works to our advantage,” said Viv, “she’ll be easier to subdue. Meet me at Velo’s restaurant in an hour and we can put our plans into action.”

Avery looked at Reagan’s credit card and laughed. “Sure, my treat! By this time tomorrow, we’ll be rich and free!”

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