She isn't married to me

Chapter 18: back home

ADRIA

1 year... 1 year had passed since I saw him that night. The night I told him I'm in love with him, too. The night I knew I had to leave that town and Andrew, too, for our own sake.

Sophie and I have been living in Texas all this time, far away from California. Lucky me, she loves everything in here. I wish I can say the same. I miss him so bad. I don't know where he is, where he went, or how he is, I know nothing about him and it has been driving me crazy.

That night after he left, I called his sister and asked her to persuade him to leave the town, too. There was no way in earth we could leave together, I have fans everywhere. One picture in Texas with him on the news and that would be the end of my story with Sophie.

And about Fred, well, he is a smart jackass after all. I don't know how he did it, but after one month in jail, he was out and with a clean criminal record. Ingrid has kept me aware of everything. Fortunately, my lawyer made me win Sophie's case. I have full custody of her and Fred can see her on Christmas and her birthday. Unfortunately, and funny at the same time, he is broke and I have to take Sophie back to San Diego so he can see her, but only because she asks me to do it, she loves her dad after all.

Still, if Fred sees or knows I'm with Andrew, he will make my life hell until we separate or worse yet, until he finishes with him.

I want to know so bad about Andrew that I'm about to ask Ingrid if she can go to Taylor's house and talk to her. 

My phone rings taking me out of my thoughts. It's a comment on my latest Instagram picture of my new book. It says "I just bought your new book. I wish you could sign it for me @lonelywolf."

Lonely wolf, that name intrigues me, so I type back "I'll be signing my new book next month in New York, the address is in my bio, bring your copy."

One second later and he types back "I'll be counting the days, see you there."

Is there any chance it could be him? I really hope so, although I don't know how could I react if I see him.

***

Tomorrow is Christmas and I have to take Sophie back to San Diego. Fred can only be with her in public spaces so I will take her to the playground in the biggest mall in town so she can be and eat with him.

After a flight that took hours, here we are, he's playing with her and I don't mind to walk around the mall until it's time to leave. I'm still terrified to be with him, so I bought a ticket flight for the same day in case Fred has other plans, and I also followed Jackie's advice. I hired a bodyguard to follow Sophie everywhere, I will never trust Fred again. He doesn't know he's been followed and I can be in calm.

It's Christmas day and I'm walking around the mall when somebody touches my shoulder from the back, I turn around and I see her, it's Taylor, she takes her hand to her mouth and screams, after two seconds she says "It's you! I was afraid I was touching somebody else's shoulder. My family and I have missed you and Sophie so much, how are you?"

The first thing that comes to my mind is Andrew, should I ask her about him? Do I really want to know? "Hi Taylor, I'm so glad to see you, too. Sophie and I are fine, she is hanging with her dad now, we will be in town until night and then go back home." I don't let her answer me before I ask her "What about your family?" Please tell me everything about him, please!

She smiles and winks an eye on me -she understood well- and says "They're great and healthy. My dad completely recovered from his shoulder. And about him. Well, he is fine, he is in a law school now and having his practices with the best lawyers in the city where he lives in. I wish I could tell him I'm with you, but I don't want to make him feel sad. I'm planning to visit him in one month. He told me yesterday that he wants to go to New York soon, and I can't be more excited for him. He has a normal life."

New York? He wants to go there?

She notices I'm thinking about it with hope in my eyes but she says nothing, instead she says "You and Sophie should eat with us tonight, of course, if you don't have plans, we have plenty of food and my parents would love to see you two."

Gosh, I wish I can say yes "I'm so sorry but we can't, I booked a flight for tonight, our plane takes off at 21h30. But we will come back for Sophie's birthday. If you want to, we can celebrate at your parent's house, she would love it."

I can tell by the look in her eyes that she is disappointed and I feel bad about it, but I don't want to put them in risk, I'm still afraid Fred can try to make something bad to them, too.

But Taylor is Taylor. She doesn't receive a no for an answer. She insists "But what about this afternoon? Is Sophie going to be with Fred after lunch?" She begs with her eyes. How can I explain to her that being in his parents' house will make me miss Andrew more than I already do?

"Oh, we don't have plans. We will be there at 3pm." I tell her more excited than I intended.

She smiles from ear to ear "My mom will be so excited. Today she woke up telling me and my dad she has a feeling today will be a good day. She won't believe it when I tell her this. See you at 3, Adria."

She leaves jumping like a little girl with a candy on her hand. I turn around and see Sophie and Fred staring at me 10 steps from where I am. Fred saw me with Taylor, I hope he didn't listen anything I talked to her.

They walk toward me and Fred mumbles "So, you don't lose time while you're in town, right?" He gets close to me as if he wants to hug me. He doesn't want Sophie hears when he says "You know, he doesn't live here anymore, I scared the hell out of him. I suppose you were asking for homeless boy." With a hypocritical smile he comes back next to Sophie and hugs her.

I stare at him and breathe deeply. Don't say anything to him Adria, you are better than him. I grab Sophie's hand and say "Sophie, give daddy a hug, we have a flight to catch."

Sophie gives him a sad look and hugs him, I can see it on her face, she wants to cry. Fred glances at me a mad look, tells her how much he loves her and walks away from us. I'm relieved. I'm sure he didn't hear the conversation I had with Taylor.

On our way to the car Sophie starts to cry. She doesn't tell me anything, but I know how she's feeling, she misses her dad every day. Having video calls with him is not enough. I start driving, but I don't tell her where we are going. Once I stop the car, I see her through the rear-view mirror. She turns her head to the right and opens her mouth in surprise. She screams "Mom? mom! Is this Andrew's house? Are we finally seeing him? I've missed him so much."

I really thought she was going to ask for Taylor, and I don't want to make her feel worse, so I get out of the car and hurry to her door, I was about to open it when Andrew's parents and sister come out of the house with a smile on their faces and waving their arms, they look excited to see us. Andrew's mom hugs me and says "We have missed you two so much, dear. I'm so happy Taylor found you at the mall. Come inside, you two are more than welcome."

Sophie has an ear-to-ear smile plastered on her mouth. She holds Andrew's dad hand and jumps instead of walking inside the house.

Once we are inside, I can't help to remember the last time I was here with him and how good it felt to be with his family.

I was so caught up on those memories that I didn't hear somebody was next to me talking. It's Andrew's mom, I apologize, she smiles and says "don't worry dear, I was just telling you, I miss him, too. We talk on the phone once or twice in a month. He's fine and he misses you, as well. I know you two will eventually find a way to be together. That's what true love is all about, you learn how to fight for the one you love."

She can see the tears start appearing on my eyes, so she says nothing else, but she hugs me, I hug her back and I feel better, like somehow my way to him is around the corner.

And here is the next part I was talking about on chapter 17. What do you think of Fred? Do you think he'll try to hurt Adria, again? Will Adria see Andrew in New York? Sometimes I feel like her and I want to make big changes to get big results. Do you relate with her? Hope you are enjoying Adria and Andrew's story. Xoxo.