My Ex-Bestfriend

The Enlightening Coffee Run

When you grow up in a small town there are certain charms that you don't even realize you've missed til you re-experience them such as being able to park along the street for free with zero fear of being stolen too.  I take the quiet stroll to Bonnie's Brew, the only cutesy cafe shop for 50 miles.The store fronts are clean with fall decor decorating each one of them. Most shops are closed as it is a holiday and around here they take family time seriously. 

Bonnie's is only open to appease the breakfast crowd before closing early for Thanksgiving Dinner. After last night I need a giant cup of coffee so my neurons can fire out a solution to solve the predicament I am in with Michael. 

Do we tell Walt? 

Do we hide it for a bit to see if we can date and see if it works? 

How does this affect our co parenting situation? 

If it crashes and burns in secret there will be no hope lost for Walt. Ok maybe my brain would benefit from decaf but I'm not a crazy person so I'll stick to half caf.

The door chimes above me announcing another guest  again one of those small town charms I didn't realize I missed til now. The street was misleading as it was empty and deserted but here it is packed with a line wrapping around the tables. I take my place praying for a miracle that there is enough but more importantly coffee to go around.

I pull my phone out of my purse to check the time. I have a message from Michael.

Michael: It doesn't take you that long to get dressed and walk across the yard. Quit hiding out and get over here.

I can't help but smile. He clearly isn't sick of me yet.

Me: Coffee run! Want one?

Michael: My mom is already pissed that I wasn't here first thing this morning. If I pass on her coffee and take Bonnie's she might cook me instead of the turkey. Hurry up though.

I can't help but eye roll. Of course Mrs. James was offended he stayed with me. I never wanted to be that person who despised her Monster-in-law but I don't feel like there is any hope of a reconciliation. The years might have put distance between us but it only allowed her resentment towards me to fester. I chuck my phone in my purse when a patron behind me causes me to bump into the blonde ahead of me.

"Sorry." I exclaim as the blonde whips her head around scowling at the accidental intrusion.

Forget what I said. I hate small towns. Small towns mean running into people you don't want to see. I know that scowl of disgust anywhere.

"Allison? Is that you?" She asks in her sultry predator tone. 

"Hi Colleen. How are you?" I can be polite. Maybe unlike Mrs. James, Colleen has used these years to grow....into a human instead of a snake.

She is wearing a sly grin. I brace myself because that little tale tells me she KNOWS. Small towns also spread gossip like a contagious plague.

"'I am marvelous." She enthusiastically chimes like a predator who just saw its next meal. She flaunts her ring finger harboring a massive rock that she is obnoxiously dangling in my face.

"My fiance and I are just here for the holidays before we have more wedding planning to do. I heard you are something of a little wedding planner. Glad you were able to find something ."

She makes it sounds like I had an IQ of 80 and the way she says "little" makes me want to sock her in her ovaries. I might not be doing what I love in life but I am damn good at my job. My office only handles the elite clientele, not some small town bimbo.

I force a smile, " Yes it's true. I wish I could fit you in but we only service a niche high end clientele."

She nods deflecting my dig, "I heard you were in town to meet the grandparents. What a scandal?! Keeping Michael James's son a secret for so long. Sounds like an episode on a telenovela." She hair flips in satisfaction at what she thinks she will be the victor in this verbal sparing match.

I grind my molars. "It's a long story. Obviously didn't mean to get knocked up the week BEFORE prom." I inflect the part BEFORE prom for emphasis. It's satisfying when I see the faint glimpse of shock in her eyes as she processes the timeline. She shrugs her shoulders dismissing the long forgotten betrayal. I wish I could do it that easily.

"Anyways. How is your mom doing?" The reporter in me can't help but want to verify the story that Mrs. James painted so long ago.

Colleen pinches her eyebrows together in confusion.

"Um  thanks for asking, she is fine. She's still head of the Women's Garden club." She lifts her chin smugly.

"Oh that's great news. I was worried about her after her health crisis our senior year."

Colleen looks genuinely confused. " Health crisis? My mom is and has always been healthy as a horse. Never so much has gone to the ER. Honestly where do you come up with these things." She rolls her eyes like I am a nut case. I know I am not but I do know who is.

"Oh, I heard a rumor she had cancer after we graduated."

Colleen chokes on her newly handed latte. "The rumor mill got that one wrong. My mother never had cancer."

I KNEW IT! I want to scream it from the rooftops. I knew that Mrs. James was making up a sob story to push Michael away from me. She knew we were getting close. I am not dense enough to believe that Michael wasn't blameless that week for how he treated me but sure feels a lot like entrapment from his mom. If he didn't take Colleen to prom he would have taken me and I would never have left that summer. We would have been together when I found out I was pregnant. 

My mind is frenzied darting down every rabbit hole and the what if scenarios. This coffee run was supposed to clear my mind and it has only made it more muddled. How can I share a meal and be "Thankful" with a woman who took away my child's Father?

This deceptive lie will undoubtably also go unpunished because I know if I tell Michael the truth he would NEVER believe me. She is a maniacal genius. She knew Michael would be leaving his senior year and would eventually break it off with Colleen therefore never figuring out her mother never had cancer. I can't believe my son shares the same DNA pool as this monster.

"Speak of the devil." Colleen's mom strolls by the window in one of those matching work out ensembles as she jogs down the sidewalk. I forgot I was mid conversation with Colleen when that revelation occurred.

"Have a good Thanksgiving, Colleen." I genuinely mean it because this conversation was more than insightful although I am happier to see her leave than stay. 

Small towns also mean short drives so I don't have much time to mentally prepare myself for a day with Satan aka Mrs. James. The only thing preventing me from marching through that door and grabbing my son and heading home to safety is the fact that he deserves an opportunity to have a relationship with his Father's parents. I will be making sure though that these trips are infrequent to prevent Mrs. James from poisoning my good name to my son.

Is this a sign that Michael James and I are just not meant to be? Our timing is just habitually off. From us sexually exploring the week of prom, from me getting knocked up away at college, and then planning his original wedding. It feels a lot like these are signs that we shouldn't be together.

I feel a headache forming behind my eye trying to solve the meaning of life. I don't have to decide anything today with Michael. I need time.

I down the last bit of my iced americano and grab the pie, the last pie they had available. I might be white trash but I know you don't show up to a hostess house empty handed. I grabbed Cherry pie which happens to be Walt's favorite and Michaels'. It's an added bonus that it will probably piss of Mrs. James since I am taking away from her baking glory.

I have a plan. I am going to just try to stay as far away as possible today from Mrs. James. If she is in the kitchen I'll be in the living room and vice versa. I'll use Walt as a distraction and throw Michael to her as a distraction as well. I can get through this.