Everything & More (Book 1 in the E.C.N Series)

Chapter 23-Jonathan

Looking between Martha and Ryan, I immediately thought the worse. I kept glaring at Ryan who was standing there all confident. The thick stems on the bouquet of flowers were all that I had to help me picture ringing this fucker's neck. I finally spoke up, "What the hell is going on?".

"What's going on, is the three of us have plans." Martha says gesturing between Ryan, Lori and herself.

She emphasized 'three' because she knew what was going through my mind.

Martha moved Ryan into the house towards Lori. Then she grabbed my elbow and gestured me out the door looking back at them, "I'll be right back." Closing the door behind us she walked a little way down the porch away from the door. Hands leaned against the railing, I could tell by the rise and fall of her chest that she was focusing on her breathing.

"You can't do this." she stated, looking out to the street.

I stood a good distance away from her, "Do what?"

"Come in here like I'm not allowed to have a life." She was more calm than I thought she would be.

"I didn't-" she cut me off.

"And you have absolutely no right to get pissed that Ryan is here. He's my friend and he's been there for me." Martha gave me a side eye before returning her attention to the road.

I rolled my eyes, "Oh, I'm sure he has."

She stood straight and turned to me with a bored expression on her face, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You don't think that it's a little convenient that when it looks like I'm out of the picture he comes riding in like some kind of knight in shining armor with a shoulder to cry on." I said with a 'duh' expression.

"He didn't jump in. I went to him!" The pain I saw in her eyes every time she looked at me was there tenfold. We stared at each other and the tension started to build, she must have realized how her sentence sounded because she continued to explain. "That night, I was alone, I was in pain and I needed help."

This is all my fault... that night I left her while she was a wreck. She wanted nothing to do with me and there wasn't a thing I could have said that was going to change it.

If I didn't fuck up, Martha wouldn't be speaking to him again. Her voice brought me out of whatever self pity was developing, "Who did you buy those flowers for?"

My brows furrowed in confusion, any pain that was in her voice a moment ago was replaced with something I couldn't decipher. "Who else would I buy them for? They're obviously for you." Though I realized what it was once I saw her face.

She looked at me like she was disgusted that I would even say that. Shaking her head her eyes never left mine, "You know during our entire time together, every time you brought me a bouquet of flowers I knew exactly what it was for. Whether it was my birthday, an anniversary or just because. You would always get me my favorites. Somewhere down the line the 'just because' flowers kind of went away and then it was only on my birthday or an anniversary. Never did you get me 'I'm sorry' flowers until today. But you see they aren't I'm sorry flowers they're supposed to be 'I fucked up' flowers, right?" I swallowed the lump in my throat as she put me on display. "And you know I probably could have understood and maybe even felt inclined to take them, if they weren't actually meant for her."

"They aren—"

"Primroses... that's what they are, aren't they?" I looked down at the flowers in my hand, "I remember going to your office many times this past year and whenever I saw Jackie's desk, guess what I would see sitting there making her smile. Primroses... that exact kind actually." Shame filled me as I realized my mistake. "So tell me, how many times did you buy her flowers?" Martha took small strides towards me, "Because it seems you bought these shits" she snatched the flowers out of my hand, "so many times you were on autopilot. That when it came to me, any damn flowers would do, even the ones your whore loves!" I watched the flowers fly off the porch and onto the front lawn.