Something Borrowed

chapter 14. Messy

Chapter 14. Messy

(Tamara)

Tamara ordered for a traditional cheesecake, a coffee cake and a cappuccino to the waitress who had come to take her order. The coffee machine hissed as the barista effortlessly made the coffee with her expert hands. Tamara watched as the girl turned to her. "Whipped cream?" She asked and Tamara nodded to the girl. Tamara never said no to good food and good whipped cream.

Tamara looked at her phone and read another rant by Marianne, cursing the whole of Zealous employees. She also got a message from Sebastian.

Hey Tam, this whole place is colorless without you. When will you be back? I miss you so damn much and suddenly I can't look at anyone without thinking of you.

Tamara laughed at shook his head. She just couldn't take him seriously after knowing how much of a player he was. She typed a quick reply.

What am I doing when you were thinking of me? Asking you to stop being so damn irritating? She smirked as she pressed the sent button.

She looked around the small quaint looking shop and smiled at the familiarity of it. The small round tables were familiar and it had been here all her life. She had sat in these same tables back when she was in high school, too, too lost in thought, whenever June had done something that would put a damper in Tamara's mood. Outside the window, everything looked almost the same. Eerily same. As if the town was frozen in time.

Two years didn’t change so many things in this small town, but the years had made a massive change in Tamara. She had stopped being so trusting or blind. Sometimes Tamara felt like it was so wrong to have lost that trust in other people, but she had learnt her lessons, all thanks to June. Now, she always thought twice before she actually trusted a person.

“Tamara? Tamara Garett? It is really you. How are you, honey?” The famliar voice was like the hint of her old life. Tamara lifted her head from her phone. She had been replying to Alisha, her best friend and Marianne, her boss. Annie, the owner of The Bakery, stood in front of Tamara, as bright smile on her wrinkled face. She had once been a beauty. She was still a beauty though time had stolen some of her beauty from her.

"Oh, Annie, I am good, how are you doing? I am so happy to see you here." Tamara answered with a smile. "Oh, how are you, really? How is your life? How is Michael?" Tamara asked with a smile. Michael, Annie's son, had gone to school with Tamara and June and he had always had a crush on June.

Annie nodded with a sigh. "Michael doesn't talk with me anymore. Bad friends, bad lifestyle..."

"I am sorry, Annie." Tamara said with sincerity. Annie had always been so amazing to Tamara, whenever Tamara visited this place.

"It happened. So, are you here for June’s ceremony? You shouldn’t have left the town, girl!” She always called me ‘girl’, and she was the only one next to Holly who knew about Tamara's crush on Lucas and June’s betrayal.

“Yes, I was here for her funeral. No, I should have left town, or I would still be the same mousy girl with no knowledge about the world outside this town. I would have forever be trapped in June's betrayal and her life and her lies. I never regretted my decision Annie, ot was one of the best decisions I made in my whole life.” Tamara said sincerely and Annie nodded, understanding glinting in her eyes. The barista handed me the cheesecake and the coffee and Tamara tried to pay for it, but Annie waved it off.

"For my favorite customer," she said and Tamara nodded with a big smile.

"Thanks Annie." Tamara said as she grabbed her plate of cheesecake and Coffee and took a table by the far end.

Tamara smiled when she took the first bite of the cake. It was delicious. Annie's cake had always made the moody teenager Tamara laugh and smile. When she finsished eating, she waved good-bye to Annie before she left, a big smile pasted across her lips.

***

Tamara was laughing as she walked inside her house, but her smile fell when she saw a very angry looking Lucas standing in front of her with a brown manila envelope in his hand. He was shaking and his eyes were wild. Tamara narrowed her eyes at him as she took a step towards him and he took a step back as if he didn't want to stand anywhere close to her. It was like a hit in her heart, and she didn't know what brought about this change. She looked at him and he was glaring at her. His eyes were dark and dangerous, and no, it wasn't the kind of dangerous that made you want to grab his hair and kiss him senseless. It was the kind of dangerous that switched on your flight instinct.

He threw the thick envelope on the table, his eyes narrowed. He looked at her like she was the worst possible human in the world. His eyes were disgusted and full of violent storms.

"What?"

"Oh, don't look so innocent. You know... you know and still, you played me." He gritted his teeth. A vein in his forhead throbbed as he turned away from her and punched the walls. The sound echoed inside the space, filling the dark silence of rage and anger, that hung around them. He let out a string of curses and then turned towards her, his eyes dark, accusing.

"I don't understand what you are accusing me of, Lucas. Why don't you start from the beginning?" Tamara asked as she grabbed the envelope in her hand. It was heavy.

"Oh, don't look at me with those soft gray eyes, you manipulative witch. You are- you are just like June." He spat as he angry eyes found hers. If look could kill, Tamara would have died in that instant.

"I still don't understand what the heck you are talking about, Lucas. Just take a breath and-"

"Don't patronize me, you-" he took a step towards her as if he wanted to punch her or wring her neck.

His whole body was shuddering. Tamara wondered where her family had gone.

She felt like she was standing alone in the Lion's den, but damn... it was her den. Not his.

And she was not a deer.

She couldn't believe this was the same man who had looked at her so softly, so passionately just yesterday. She couldn't understand why this was happening, but it hurt her, too.

It hurt her more than she had anticipated, but she knew it shouldn't.

She opened the manila envelope he had thrown at her and she saw that it was legal document. She read it and her eyes narrowed as she continued to read.

What the heck?

F*cking June! The b***h is amazing! Tamara had to give her that.

"So... you are acting generous and kind, because you want to steal Joel away from me?"

Tamara shook her head.

She still couldn't grasp the magnitude of what was written in the document. It was a document submitted by June, to make Tamara the legal guardian of Joel, in case something had happened to her.

Tamara was sure no judge in his right mind would offer the legal custody of the child—a child she had only known for a week— to Tamara when the child's biological dad was still alive.

So Tamara wasn't sure why Lucas was blowing up like this...

This must have been another one of June's stupid trick, but really, Tamara didn't want the obligation of taking care of the child, even though she liked Joel very much.

"You know I would never do that. Also... no one in their right mind would just hand over the legal guardianship of Joel to me. I have never even met Joel until few days ago. Why would I be the suitable guardian when Joel's biological dad is still alive?" Tamara shrugged as she scanned the document again.

It said that in case anything might happen to the mother of Joel, that was June, the legal guardianship should go to Tamara Garrett, as the father was not a suitable guardian. But Lucas was the suitable guardian. Even June knew it was the fact.

"Unless you prove that I am not the right guardian." Lucas said as he handed another envelope to her. She opened it to see Tamara taking care of Joel during the funeral, Lucas looking helpless when Joel was screaming. It had photos of Joel and Tamara during the funeral and also the one where.... Tamara took care of Joel in Lucas' house.

Her body went rigid when she thought about someone following her and Joel and Lucas. She couldn't believe this madman was almost so close to Joel. Her body shuddered as the thought as panic trickled through her blood. She blinked her eyes and shook her head with frustration. She blinked her eyes and pushed the photographs inside the envelope.

"What? Don't you have something else to say? Why the heck would you do something like this? So cheap, so under the belt." He hissed, his eyes venomous. For a second, her eyes went under his belt and it looked like he saw her look too. He grunted and glared at her. She shrugged at him with a frown. If he could just stop throwing accusation after accusation she could explain to him. But he looked like he was wound tight and he would snap with a single push.

"Why don't we calm down and talk like actual adults?" She asked as she turned away from him and he grabbed her shoulders and turned her towards him. He grabbed her chin in his long fingers and glared at her. His eyes were full of hatred and fire. Tamara huffed.

"Do you think I am playing here, Tamara? This is my son and I have already lost a lot of time because of your friend. You think I am going to-"

"I wouldn't do something so sneaky like this. I am not that kind of person and you know that, too, Lucas. So why don't you stop being so angry and think for a while. Why don't you stop accusing me because you are so mad at June. I understand why you are angry, but I don't understand why you are angry with me. I don't do any damn thing." Tamara said in a calm voice and he clenched his fist and gritted his teeth.

"Don't patronize me, Tamara. I am not a child." He growled as he took a threatening step towards her and she stood her ground. She wasn't afraid of him. She raised her chin and gave him a defiant look that challenged him to take another step forward. He stopped and grabbed his head in his hands with a hiss.

"So don't act in a way that needed to be patronized." Tamara said with an angry look in her eyes. She didn't know why he was so angry with Tamara. "And also, Lucas, I love the little boy of yours, but I am not exactly in the place where I could become a single mom to a kid. So why don't you think about it too, as you chew on this? eh?"

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