Souled [Editing]

Chapter 27

Meredith's sour mood the next morning was just as intrusive as the blinding sunlight peeking through the curtains in her bedroom. She was still upset with Nate showing up out of the blue and even more with Ella being in contact with him.

Returning home meant that she was going to get her life back on track, instead it seemed that her life was falling even further off track. Ella didn't truly understand how badly Nate hurt her, and Nate was trying so hard to see her that she couldn't think through things objectively without her emotions rising every time she saw his face. Worse still, she wanted to talk to someone and think through her thoughts out loud but she was too busy being mad at Ella to make amends immediately.

She wasn't going to waste the day away wallowing, she decided. She had done enough of that back in Oklahoma. Standing in her closet, she searched for grungy clothes to garden in. The flower beds were looking sad and spring was finally starting to settle in which meant flowers would survive. Tossing on jeans and an old shirt, she grabbed her keys and headed to the local flower shop.

Meredith's trunk was filled with flowers, mulch, fertilizer, and about anything else needed to get a garden up and running. Gardening was a nice outlet for her. It required enough active attention for her to give her thoughts a break and focus on the task at hand.

The sun beat down on her back as she raked through the flower bed and got rid of any leaves, old mulch, and weeds. She was already breaking a sweat and she hadn't gotten to the hardest part yet. Spreading the fertilizer across the dirt, she grabbed the rake again. She was working on mixing the two when a person-shaped shadow descended over the garden. Meredith turned around and looked up. Squinting, she realized it was Ella. She turned back towards the garden and continued raking.

"Why are you here?" Meredith spit out.

"I came to talk."

"I don't want to talk to you right now."

"Okay. You don't have to talk then, just listen." Ella walked over to the porch steps and sat down.

Meredith said nothing. Instead, she grabbed a shovel and started digging a hole.

"I know you're upset and I'm sure I would be too if I was in your position. But you don't know the whole story." Ella paused, seeing if Meredith would say anything. She didn't.

"When you left, Nate was a mess. And I'm not saying you should feel bad for leaving him high and dry like that. He deserved it. At least for a little bit. But you dropped off the map, Mere. You know you scared the shit out of me when you weren't responding for a couple days? That was fucking scary. I didn't know what happened to you. Thankfully you responded, but my mind was going crazy. Now, imagine Nate. He didn't get a text." Meredith shot Ella a glare and Ella held up her hands. "Again, not saying he deserved one at the time. That's why he turned to me. He knew I was the one person who knew where you'd be.

"I told him you were home. I didn't tell him more than need-to-know basis. Still, he persisted. I'm not sure if either of you understand it completely yet, but everything changes when you meet your soulmate. It's not like dating someone you know you won't end up with. You can't just run away. Both of you ran, except you took it to the literal sense of the word. When I met Josh, everything about my life changed. For the better, of course. But I couldn't do some things I had before. But that's the nature of being in a partnership with someone. That's what it is. A partnership. For better or for worse. You two are acting like this relationship is disposable, but it's not. You and Nate are supposed to be together for a reason. You balance out the other and together you can work through this.

"That's why I told Nate you were back. And before you get mad again, we both know you came back to talk to him. I know you didn't want to do it immediately, and that was a shock to both of us, but you have to know I didn't do it with malicious intent. I'm rooting for you always even if it doesn't seem like it at first glance."

Meredith set the shovel down and turned to Ella. "How bad was he?"

Ella leaned forward on her knees. "I don't know the full extent of it, but it wasn't complete rainbows. He was torn up. I think he knows he fucked up so you need to go talk to him."

Meredith joined Ella on the steps. "What if I'm not ready to talk to him yet?"

"If you keep waiting until you're ready you'll be waiting a long time. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet and do it."

"I'm afraid I won't be able to keep it together. Or stand my ground."

"I believe in you," Ella murmured. "Let him grovel a little then you need to admit that you also messed up."

"Mine wasn't as bad," Meredith defended.

"That doesn't matter. If this is going to work, you need to admit that you also aren't perfect and people mess up. Especially if you want to reconcile this."

Meredith rolled her eyes. "I hate it when you're right, you know that?"

Ella grinned. "Oh. I know."

Giving Ella a playful shove, she stood up. "Now that you've given me a much needed pep talk, do you want to grab a shovel and help me?"

Ella looked down at her outfit and grimaced. "I'll get dirt all over my new dress."

"This is your fault. You know I garden when I'm particularly upset. You should've came prepared."

With a groan, Ella grabbed a shovel and got on her knees. Meredith smiled and handed her a plant. Together, they gardened and finished just as the sun started to dip behind the houses surrounding Meredith's house.

After they cleaned up outside, Meredith cooked them dinner. Ella popped open a bottle of wine and poured them both a glass. Ella was good and only drank one since she had to drive home but Meredith finished the bottle and half of another on her own. Hell, she deserved it, was Meredith's reasoning to herself. It had been a stressful couple weeks and she was about to start a new job in a couple days.

Ella bid Meredith goodbye at nine and told her she needed to call Nate. Meredith waved her off and curled up on the couch. Lily climbed into Meredith's lap and fell asleep. Stroking the cat, Meredith pondered what Ella had said.

Many good points were made and Meredith knew that she had to call Nate. She thought over what to do for twenty minutes before picking up the phone and dialing.

"Hello?" the voice on the other side of the phone said.

"Nate?" Meredith asked. It was such a bad idea to do this when she had drunk so much.

"Meredith." His voice audibly perked up.

"We need to talk," she said.

"I agree. Are you ready to talk?"

"No."

"Oh. Well, I can wait until you're ready. I know you said you needed your space."

"I'm not ready but we need to do it now."

Nate hesitated on the other side of the line. "Do you want to meet for coffee tomorrow?"

"No. Now. Can you come to my house now?"

The line went silent.

"Meredith...are you alright?"

"I'm fine. But we need to get this going now or it'll fall apart even more." She was starting to whine...and slur.

"Okay, okay. I can be at your house in twenty minutes. Are you completely sure you want to do this tonight?"

"Yes. Get over here please."

"I'm on my way," Nate said before hanging up.

This was a bad idea, the sober part of Meredith's mind thought. This was a very bad idea.