“You were with a woman,” she interrupts.
“Yes. But not like that. I just got talking to her in a bar, and I realized she wasn’t you Sierra.”
“And I’m supposed to be what? Pleased that you compared me to some other woman and I won? Wow Chance, I didn’t think you were that sort of guy,” she says.
“No, Sierra, you don’t understand,” I reply.
“Actually, I do understand,” she snaps. “I understand perfectly well. You thought you could forget about me by sleeping with someone else and it didn’t work, so now you are calling me.”
“I didn’t sleep with her,” I protest feebly.
“Maybe not, but it still took a night with someone else for you to even think about apologizing, let alone anything else,” she says. “Listen, do me a favor and just leave me alone alright? Don’t call me again.”
Dammit. I’ve really lost her now. I blabbered everything out and it came out all wrong and now she’s even more angry with me than she was in the first place. She sounded like she was actually on the verge of forgiving me too, until I started in about last night. “Wait, please don’t hang up. Let me explain,” I plead.
“I don’t need an explanation. We’re not together. You can do what you want with whoever you want to do it with. And if it makes you feel any better, I accept your apology. I have come to realize how much more there is to life than just working all day every day. Hayley and I have spent so much time together and we’re getting closer every day. And I’ve even given some thought to getting out, maybe to another city like you wanted me to. In fact, I’m making plans to do just that. So you’re forgiven.”
“I—you’re leaving town?” I ask, deflated.
“Yes. Goodbye, Chance,” she says and ends the call.
Fuck! That was even worse than I imagined it would be. I finally decided it was time to fight for Sierra, and now I’m too late. She’s leaving. I almost throw my phone across the room, but I think better of it. If she changes her mind and calls me back, I don’t want to miss that call. I know she won’t though. I could hear the steel in her voice when she told me to leave her alone and not call her again.
I’m not going to do that. I won’t. I… I can’t. I have to make her see I know I was an asshole but I’ve changed and that I will never ever hurt her again. I have to get her to talk to me, and once I’ve explained everything, I think she’ll understand. But how do I get her to talk to me?
I sit down on the couch and rub my hands over my face. Dating and romance isn't my area. Obviously. If it was, I wouldn’t have made such a spectacular mess of this.
I think about my friends and who would have any idea how to fix this. My thoughts keep going back to one person… Matt. When he first met Callie, he made a terrible job of it all and a big misunderstanding almost kept them apart. But he didn’t give up on her. He fought for her and proved himself to her. And if I want to do the same thing for Sierra, which I do more than anything, then I’m going to have to swallow my pride and ask Matt for his help. It’ll mean telling him everything, but I’m willing to do that if it gives me even a half a chance of getting Sierra back.
I pull my phone out again, and call Matt.
He answers quickly, “Hey bro, what’s up?”
“Can you come over before work?” I ask. “I need to talk to you about something.”
“Is everything all right?” he asks.
“Not really…” I sigh. “But I think it can be. If you’re willing to help me.”
“Sure. I’ll be right over,” Matt says.
I end the call and go back to pacing the living room while I wait for Matt to show up.
Matt shows up after what feels like forever but in reality is probably no longer than half an hour.
By the time he arrives, I’ve managed to calm myself down, work myself back up into a frenzy then calm down again. I’m jittery, nervous, but I don’t feel like a complete wreck now… I’m ready to take action.
“What’s up?” Matt asks as he comes in and sits down.
“You’re not going to believe this, but just hear me out okay?” I ask.
Matt nods. He looks a little nervous himself now, like he’s not quite sure what bombshell I’m going to drop on him. He will be more than shocked when he hears this is about a woman. I have no doubt that at the moment, he’s most likely thinking it’s about work.
“Something did happen in Vegas between Sierra and me,” I say.
I wait for Matt’s mouth to drop open, for him to exclaim in surprise but he just nods. I narrow my eyes at him.
He lets out a laugh. “Come on,” he says. “Like I told you at the time, it started out as a joke but when I spoke to you outside of the restaurant, it was clear to me that something had happened. So what went down?”
“Basically, we woke up in bed together that
