as he put on his pants.
“ Dinner’s
ready?” he asked.
“ It’s
been ready for two hours,” she stated as she walked out of the
bedroom with Steven following close behind.
“ It
smells great,” he said. They walked into the kitchen where she
took the plate out of the microwave and replaced it with the other
one.
“ You
could just go on. I’ll join you later,” she said. “Want
some wine to go with that?”
“ Sure.”
She
poured him a glass and then poured one for herself before she took
her plate out of the microwave. She sat down next to him and looked
down at her plate. Her appetite was gone. All she wanted to do was
come clean. Steven looked at her and shrugged. “You’re
okay? You’re not eating,” he worried. She looked at him
and took a long deep breath.
“ I
need to tell you something,” she said.
“ And
there it is. I knew all this was too good to be true,” he said
smiling. But Julie was not in a position to feel offended. She looked
at him and took another long breath.
“ My
ex is in town,” she started. Steven shrugged.
“ Okay,”
he replied. She knew he was probably wondering what the big deal was.
“ He
wants to get married and he can’t because he is still married,”
she babbled. Steven took another bite and shook his head probably
still trying to understand where all this was going.
“ Okay.
Where is this going?” he questioned. Julie’s heart was
crushing.
“ He
is still married to me,” she murmured without looking at him.
Steven dropped his knife and fork and swallowed what he had in his
mouth. She could almost feel what was going through his mind at that
moment.
This
is a bad joke. She is trying to prank me or something.”
He
was not speaking. He turned to look at her.
“ What
did you say?”
“ Apparently
it happened sometime back when we were in Vegas. Back when I was
still in college…I think I drank too much because honestly
babe, I don’t remember any of that. I didn’t even know
until he told me,” Julie explained. She felt a tear rolling
down her cheek. “Say something.” Steven took a long, deep
breath and shrugged.
“ What
am I supposed to say?” he retorted. She looked at him as he
pulled his seat from the table and walked out of the kitchen. She let
the tears she had fought to keep at bay for so long finally roll down
her cheeks. She brushed them away just as Steven came back wearing a
shirt, his jacket in hand.
“ Where
are you going?” she asked.
“ I
need some time,” Steven said.
“ Yes,
but your car is not here…” she said, but by that time he
was already at the door.
“ I
just need time, Juelz,” he sighed before he walked out leaving
Julie to cry freely.
Chapter Five
Steven
felt like the world’s biggest loser. It had been two days since
Julie told him of her ‘marriage’ and instead of being the
supportive fiancé, he had walked out. He even took that
opportunity, though it was anything but, to go down to New York for
business. But even there, he could still not stomach the idea that
the woman he loved was actually married to someone else. Well,
granted, she didn’t know she was otherwise she would have told
him about it… wouldn’t she? He didn’t think she
was the kind of person to keep secrets from him, even the darkest
ones. All he wanted was to have her back. But at that moment, he
didn’t know whether he had burnt his bridges or not. As soon as
he landed, he had Terrence drive him to Julie’s place. When he
got to the door, he rang the bell. No answer. He rang it again, but
there was still no answer. He got his keys and got into the house.
“ Maybe
she didn’t hear the door,” he thought when he walked into
the house. There was loud music playing. If he didn’t know any
better he would have mistaken the place for a discotheque. He made
his way down the hallway to the living room where Julie was vacuuming
while singing along to Pink’s Blow Me at the top of her voice.
A smile played on his