The Singer and the Teacher

The shock was gone, and now I was sad and angry. Whenever the image of Derek kissing somebody else resurfaced, my heart hurt so much it was palpitating. I ended up at the coffee shop that Alex took me to the last time I flew out to this gods-forsaken state. Aphrodite was a bitch. I can't believe I thought I was going to marry Derek. I can't believe I wanted to. Let's look at this realistically, shall we?

He told me he loved me within a couple of days of meeting me. How is that possible? Oh yeah. It's not. I fell for every word and I melted every time he sang; it wasn't fair that he used music to lure me in like that. I found myself fighting the urge to break down into tears again; it was bad enough that he saw that much. My hiding place was not the greatest, but I was still irritably surprised when I saw him blow his way through the double doors and beg the cashier for some kind of information as he held up a picture. She almost looked scared as she pointed straight at me and I hated how I wanted to smile at the pure joy that he had found me was plain on his face.

"You have to let me explain," he said, sliding into the chair across from me. I took my hands off the table and stuffed them in my pockets. "Relax, I won't touch you. Not until you understand." Curse him and his silly sense of reason. I gave him a level look to let him know I was ready to hear his lies.

"She's been following us, Adriene," he said, and I glanced down at the table. "First, she shows up in San Francisco to bully you. She was watching me while I had coffee with my cousin Danielle the other day, and I saw her. I drove away, I didn't even acknowledge her.

"She was waiting for me at the airport. I was going to hide until you got closer, and she was there. I've already told you she wants us over, and you're letting her win!" he finished passionately, gesturing wildly with his hands now. "Do you have any idea what she did to me?"

"No, you failed to mention anything about it," I snapped, and I instantly regretted it. His eyes got that far-away look in them like he was reliving the entire experience as he spoke.

"I'm not going to lie to you, Adriene, I was in love with her," he said calmly. "We were planning our wedding. The invitations were out, the wedding rings were bought and I left it to my mom and her to get everything ready by the time I got home from tour.

"Just before I left, we found out she was pregnant, at least six weeks in. As soon as I heard that fast little heartbeat, that was all it took for me. I was as in love as ever. I wanted to cancel the entire tour, but she insisted that I couldn't do something like that. While I was gone, I was picking out names and calling her every night, making her put the phone to her stomach so I could sing to it." He had my attention now. My knowledge of Derek and Jenny's lack of a child in their life made my mind jump to the wildest conclusions. He wasn't looking at me anymore, but I didn't need to see his face to know this was painful for him.

"When I got home, she looked exactly the same. She had no doctor's appointments. I demanded to know what went wrong, and I can't tell you what it's like to hear that the woman you loved stopped the life of the child you were supposed to love even more. She got an abortion less than a week after I left, and she led me to believe we were going to have a family shortly after our wedding." The coffee shop seemed to have a lot less people in it now, and tears were already dripping off his chin and onto his lap.

"I called every last guest and told them to disregard the wedding invitation, I returned her wedding ring and I burned my vows. I gave her dress to a much better woman that couldn't afford it. I said goodbye to Jenny that day and threw my ring into the Atlantic. I still hate her, Adriene," he said and looked at me this time. I can't say that I understood what it was like to lose a child, but I can say that I knew he was telling the truth.

"Can I um, get you a coffee?" I asked, and he laughed while he wiped his face dry. "It's kind of the least I can do, agóri tragoudistí̱s." I didn't wait for an answer before going to the counter and getting him one anyway.

"That was kind of an underhanded way of getting you to stay in Florida with me," he said with a small smile. "But you had to know."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I would never do that to you," I said, and I didn't know that a smile could hold that much affection.

"Do you still want to meet my parents?" he asked. He asked some stupid questions sometimes, but as a teacher, I was a firm believer that there was no such thing as a stupid question.

"Yes," I said firmly. "Don't tell them how foolish I am."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

* * *

Jenny hadn't spoken since she came over from the airport. We were at my pool side again, and she had changed into her bathing suit to be polite, but something was wrong. Very wrong.

"Pilar, it didn't work," she said finally, staring down at her bare feet.

"Of course it didn't," I said. "Derek's an idiot."

"You knew this was going to work?!" she asked incredulously, and I shrugged.

"He loves you, Jenny!" I said loudly, sitting up. "This isn't right. He can't do this, not to you. He can do whatever he wants to me, I knew we weren't going to last. You are an amazing person."

"You only wanted me to try," she reasoned, and I nodded. "He did kiss me back."

"See?"

"Come on," she said, her mood brightening significantly. "We should swim. You have a pool for reason, don't you?"