Torn [SHAWN MENDES]

~43~

Taryn was carrying a load of laundry up the stairs when her phone vibrated in her pocket. She kept going to the bedroom and set the basket on the bed before checking to see who texted her.

Can you talk?

It was from a private number, but she was pretty sure she knew who it belonged to. She'd deleted him, but that didn't mean he couldn't message her; she'd have to block him for that to happen, and she wasn't ready to do that.

Yes. I'm folding clothes but I can put you on speaker.

The three dots appeared and then a text popped up.

I'd like to talk in person

Are you alone?

She chewed her lip and stared at the phone. Why would he want to see her when he was in town with his family? There was nothing okay about that scenario.

That's not a good idea.

She waited for a reply and none came, so she took a shirt out of the plastic basket and folded it. She was almost done with all of the laundry when a call came in, again from a private number.

"Hi," she said as she answered it.

"So, um, I really need to talk to you," Shawn said anxiously.

"Are you alright?"

"No, not really."

Taryn sat down on the edge of the bed. "What's going on?"

"Yaz left me."

His statement shouldn't have come as such a surprise. Jules recently broke up with her because of how she felt about Shawn, so if Yasmin figured out that he was in a similar predicament, it made sense that she'd leave. Still, it stunned Taryn to hear him say the words.

"Are you there?" he asked.

"I'm here. Was this because of Piper and Hendrix, and I guess me?"

"Taryn, I'm at your door and it's freezing out here. Can we just speak in person?"

She went to the window and peered out through the blinds. Sure enough, the large SUV from Christmas Eve was parked in her driveway. "Okay, but only for fifteen minutes. I'm going to set a timer."

"If that's what you need to do, then I'm fine with it."

She looked at herself in the mirror over the dresser before going downstairs. Her hair was up in a messy bun, she had no make-up on, and she was wearing old sweats and a t-shirt from college. There was no point in fixing herself up, so she went down and opened the front door, finding her ex-husband shivering on the doormat.

"Hi," he said with a pinched expression. "Thanks for seeing me."

Hendrix heard his voice and came bounding in from the living room where he'd been sleeping on the couch.

"No jumping!" Taryn warned him, but the dog still leapt at his old owner in excitement.

"Hey, buddy. You just saw me the other day!"

"Come on in," she said as she opened the door wider.

Shawn walked in and took off his coat and hung it up on the rack before removing his boots and putting them on the same tray that he remembered using when he'd lived with Taryn. "Could I have a cup of coffee? I sat in my car for fifteen minutes before working up the nerve to text you. I didn't want to keep it running for environmental reasons, but now I'm frozen."

"Sure," she said as she walked to the kitchen. She made him a cup and set it on the island where he'd sat down. "So Yasmin left you? I'm guessing you never told her about what happened but now she knows."

"That's pretty much it. She suspected something was up with Piper, and when she confronted me, I had to tell her the truth."

She rolled her eyes. "So you only told her because you had to, which makes you so much guiltier than if you'd told her right away!"

"That's what you did?"

She looked down at the the countertop. "I waited three weeks and that was a huge mistake, though I think the outcome would have been the same no matter what."

"You and Jules broke up?" His heart did a flip flop in his chest.

"Yes, but that's not why you wanted to talk to me, is it? And you've used up half of your time already." She hadn't actually set a timer, but she didn't want him to think he could stay.

"I wanted to talk to you because...I don't know...I need a friend or at least someone who might understand. My family is livid with me, and I don't know who else to turn to."

She could tell by his tone of voice that he was struggling, and her empathy went into overdrive, but she needed to think of herself. "I shouldn't be that person for you, Shawn," she said softly. "The fact that you're here just proves that Jules and Yasmin had just cause to leave us."

"Did you want things to end with Jules?" he asked.

"Quit turning this back to me!"

"Fine. I'll answer the question for myself. I didn't want things to end with Yaz, which is why I never told her about our kiss. I thought that the only way to stay together was to put it behind me and try to be a good husband even if I couldn't get over you. I wanted to continue with my marriage for my family's sake...for Piper!"

"I know how important your family is to you, but you should have told her. You know that now, don't you?"

He took a sip of coffee, though it tasted bitter in his mouth. "I fucked up. Again."

Taryn looked at him and saw a defeated man, which broke her heart. "You can fight for her. You told me that you regretted not fighting for us, so don't make the same mistake twice."

"I took her to the airport yesterday and her last words to me were that I'd better hire a good divorce lawyer, because she was going to have the best. I didn't get the sense that there's much left to fight for," he said woefully.

After a very strained Christmas Day, Yasmin lied to his family and said her father had a minor medical emergency that she needed to go back to California for. She changed the return flight for herself and Piper, insisting that he stay with his family as planned to give her space. He took them to the airport, and that's when she dropped the bomb that she was divorcing him.

When he got back to Pickering, his mum insisted he tell her the truth since she'd seen through Yasmin's ruse. He confessed everything, and his mother and father were once again horribly disappointed in him.

"I can't help that I love Taryn!" he told them. "I know that kissing her was wrong, but even if we hadn't done that, my feelings would be just as strong!"

"You're a few years away from being forty and you are still acting first and thinking later!" his mum said with disdain. "I know you never stopped loving Taryn, but that's why you shouldn't have married Yasmin and had a baby!"

He shook his head. "Piper makes any mistakes I've made worth it."

"I get that," Manny said, "but you're hurting a lot of people."

"Not intentionally," Shawn said.

"I'm sure that's going to comfort Yasmin when she gets back to your home without you tonight!" Karen yelled.

"You know...if you hadn't invited Taryn and Patricia over, everything would be fine!" he spat back at her.

"We had no idea you'd show up! Don't you dare blame me for this!"

"Besides," his dad added, "Whether Taryn was here or not, you would still be living a lie by loving one woman while married to another. Are you really so surprised that Yasmin wants a divorce?"

And now he was standing across the counter from the woman he truly loved, completely confused by everything that had happened over the past few days.