💫ANGEL💫

THE MOMENT I ARRIVED at the pub, I noticed how packed it was. Seeing a dozen familiar faces, being greeted by past friends and associates, yet emptiness invaded my heart. I found the darkest corner, planted myself in the booth, and immediately ordered four shots of tequila and a margarita.

"Need help drinking those, stranger?" A familiar face approached me.

I looked up at her face, having the hardest time putting a name with it. Instead of embarrassing her, I took down two of the shots and slid one over to her. She smiled, offered the empty seat in front of me her company, and began talking about a bunch of shit I had no problem tuning out.

"You seem occupied." She sighed.

"Um...What?"

"Did you hear anything I just said?" Rolling her eyes, she stood to her feet.

"I'm not in the mood for conversation."

"Clearly." She huffed, storming off to rejoin her friends.

My mind wandered in so many different places, from Angelina, to Bria, to her daughter, then back around to Giselle, my mother's illness, my poor father fighting to take care of the love of his life. There were just too many aches and pains to choose from. So many discussions to be had and decisions to be made. I had to start with Bria. Once upon a time, I loved her with everything I had. It was my purest form of love because it was the first. I hadn't known heartache or the let downs of having high expectations. All I knew was that I cared for a girl who cared for me.

We once did everything together. I'd get up, walk to her house and then we'd walk together to school. We ate lunch together, laughing and talking about nothing at all. And when went to bed every night, we were glued to the telephone until we fell asleep. The months leading up to when she left town were rough. She'd taken four at home pregnancy tests, two reading pregnant and two reading not pregnant. Her parents found them while we were in school and when I walked her to her door around four pm on a Thursday, they were waiting with cruel words and their fingers pointed. Apparently, it was all my fault, and I was ruining their daughter and her future. They never thought I was a good match for her. Using the infamous judgement of finances, feeling as though my family wasn't fortunate due to our lack of showboating. My father owned the most acres of land than anyone in town. Living off of old money and hard work, he was taught to invest his funds for the long run, only live off of what was necessary, and never overspend or try to outdo the next person. That's what he was taught and that is what he taught me. I hadn't even seen lump sums of money until my grandparents passed and twenty-five million was signed off to me. Followed by Lina's passing and me getting her twenty-five million plus her fifty million. I was officially loaded with no plans on ever going crazy about it.

"Your pizza." My waitress interrupted my thoughts.

"Thank you." I nodded, only looking up at her for a second before returning my eyes to the table.

"Are you okay?" She whispered, trying to be discreet.

"Another four shots. Two more margaritas please."

"Are you expecting someone? Because I can't serve you all of that."

"Yes. Yes, I am. She'll be here soon."

Almost two hours passed. Midnight was approaching and I hadn't heard from Bria. No, "I'm on the way" text or "Sorry, I'm running late" message. No calls. Nothing. I even found myself staring at Giselle's message thread, reading old messages of "I love you", "I'm on my way to your place", "What do you want for dinner tonight" messages. It brought me back to the week she spent cooking for me. We spent so much time picking each other's brains and just laughing and enjoying being together. We'd gone from taking it slow to pushing quickly through major steps.

Memories began to flood my brain of the first few times I saw her. The first time, in a setting like the one I found myself in at that very moment, a crowded and loud Hanigan's. I was sitting in a corner alone, eating, pouting like an idiot, being rude to innocent women who only were showing me a little love. There Giselle stood, at the bar with friends, laughing, smiling, lighting up the room with her beautiful glow. She never looked up at me. Every time I found my eyes wandering in her direction, I couldn't help but feel bothered by the fact that I never caught her eye. It wasn't until she spent that week at my place that I found out she had been staring the entire time. She only looked away when I looked her way, causing me to think that she had no interest in someone like me.

So, I guess, things aren't ever quite what they seem when it comes to my girl. I guess, forgiving her and moving on from mistakes that she made should come easily. I was being a child, that I knew for sure. Yeah, she didn't tell me she was invited to Germany, but maybe there was a valid reason. Maybe she wasn't sure if she was going. Or maybe she was afraid to tell me. I overreacted, storming out of the house like a fucking loser, not even allowing her a chance to explain. I should've stayed. But if I had, I would have never found Bria and found out there was a Lina. A Lina that looked like my Lina. A Lina that looked to be around the age our child would be if Bria was indeed pregnant at the end of our nineth grade year when she failed two pregnancy tests and passed two. Would she really leave town while carrying my child and go years without ever telling me?

My mind jumped back to Bria for a brief second. Then, I started to think of my parents again. My mother, losing her memories. My father, fighting to keep her together. The house. The farm. The help they'd needed. I had so many things I needed to put together. So many pieces had fallen from the board and were in desperate need of being put back in the right place. If I were to become the man that helped his elderly parents, the man that loved a beautiful woman correctly, the man that raised a daughter, I had to be a man first. I had to stop the tantrums. I had to stop dwelling on the past. I had to break the one law that Angelina taught me. "Head down, eyes forward", no longer existed for me. I had to keep my head lifted. My chin up. My eyes locked in on the future, while embracing the present.

I LEFT ONE MARGARITA and two shots sitting on the table for when Bria arrived. I figured she would be just as stressed as me and would need them before we began our discussion. Taking down the other two shots as soon as they hit the table, I realized why my waitress didn't want to serve me anymore alcohol. I was completely trashed. I attempted to stand, needing to use the restroom, but barely made it out of my booth without stumbling. A few people noticed but didn't say much. When I returned to my booth, one of the margaritas was gone. I searched around the room and found the eyes of my waitress. She nodded my way, telling me right away that she'd taken it. She was cutting me off.

"Are you sure you're expecting someone?" She came by asking at about one in the morning.

The margarita was watered down, and I'd taken both shots. I looked up at her concerned face, brows turned downward, eyes glossy. I didn't know this woman from a can of paint, yet she was genuinely concerned about me.

"I don't know. I thought I was, but now..."

"Angel, it's okay. I can close out your ticket."

"How—how do you know my—"

"Adrienne. I grew up next door to you. Well, if you call half a mile next door." She giggled.

"Oh." I frowned. "And we've met?"

"No. God no. I was homeschooled. And plus, I'm like four years under you. You know my brother though. Rod."

"Rod? Jeremy's cousin?"

"Well, they're not really cousins. But yeah."

"Oh damn. Okay."

"I can't serve you anything else. You're sort of beyond your limit."

"Damn. Okay." I lowered my head, feeling embarrassed.

"You can stay at this booth. But um...can I get your keys?"

"My what?"

"Your car keys. Can I hold on to them?"

"No. why?"

"So that you don't drive drunk." She grinned shyly.

"No."

"I have to." Looking around nervously, she held out her hand to me, waiting on me to hand over what I had already told her I wouldn't hand over.

"I'm not giving you my keys, girl."

"Adrienne."

"Hmm?"

"My name is Adrienne."

"Alright." I raised my brows, caring less about her name and more about how much longer she'd be in my face. "I won't drive, and I also won't hand over my keys. You have my word."

"Should I call someone?"

"Hell no." I frowned. "I'll be fine. I'm waiting on someone."

IT WASN'T UNTIL ABOUT THREE in the morning when I realized that I was waiting on no one. Nobody was coming to meet me. Nobody was concerned about me sitting at a fucking booth, drunk, all night waiting for someone who had just played me for the second time. Checking my phone every minute, my heart ached more and more. No Bria. No Giselle. No one. No one knew where I was, yet no one was looking. I shook it off. That's childish. No one should have to look for me. I was a grown man. I could handle the world without everyone who knew me knowing and caring about where I was at three in the morning. I would be just fine. I kept trying to give myself that pep talk. I kept trying to lift myself and not feel like a complete loser, but it was hard. I wanted to cry. I wanted to allow myself to feel that pain and disappointment. But I couldn't. I was a man. I was someone's lover. I was someone's father. Lina's.

***Author's Words****

Say it ain't so! Did Bria leave and hide a baby from Angel?

Is Angel a father?

Brace yourself...The Grand Finale of "Hearts We Mend To Break" has arrived.

Read on to conclude Book I

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