You know the old saying 'when life gives you lemons...'? I know you're supposed to make lemonade, but sometimes that's just not enough.
Sometimes when life gives you lemons, you have to eat cookie dough.
A LOT of cookie dough.
The latest batch of lemons to knock me off my feet arrived two days before Christmas. I was at work, finishing up last minute things at work. The morning had started off on a high note, albeit one that would take some careful consideration.
With it being Oprah's last year for the show, things were transitioning to retain as many staff as possible for the new OWN network. I had been offered a position.
But it would mean moving back to L.A.
I didn't like the thought of being so close to my mom and my sister. Yet, on the other hand, I knew Nick had a house in L.A.
And so did Kevin.
I was still weighing my pros and cons and finishing a report at my desk when my cell rang. My heart skipped a million beats when I saw Kevin's number.
"Hey you," I said happily. "I thought you dropped off the face of the earth."
At first I thought that the connection was bad. Then I heard a deep exhale.
"No, I'm in Los Angeles."
My heart dropped. Didn't he say he wanted to see me before he left?
"Oh?" I said, trying to keep my tone light.
"I'm sorry I didn't stop by," he said. His tone was awkward. "I--"
He cursed. "Shay, I need to be honest with you."
Things never turned out well when someone started the conversation like that. Nervously, I brought the eraser part of my pencil to my mouth and gnawed on the metal.
"Okay," I said.
"When I took Mason back to Kristin that day, the day when the boys ran off, something happened."
Gnaw, gnaw, gnaw. "Oh?" I said again, feeling lame that I didn't have anything else I could possibly say at the moment.
"We started talking and one thing led to another and Mason declared that the only thing he wanted for Christmas was his mommy and daddy back together and--"
"Please stop with the run-on sentence," I said weakly. Kev paused.
"Shay, Kristin and I slept together."
I had gotten to that point of the call way before Kevin had. Even so, hearing the words come out of his mouth killed me.
"So let me get this straight," I said. I was surprised how calm my voice was. "You had sex with me in my bathroom in the afternoon and then you left and had your ex-wife for dessert?"
"I know how horrible that sounds," Kevin said hurriedly. "But, it was a mistake."
"Which part?" I asked. I dropped the pencil. My mouth tasted like metal. Tears filled my eyes. "Her or me?"
"What? Her! Her, of course. Shay, it's the holidays and the old emotions were being stirred."
"I tell you what," I said. I was trying not to sound like I was going to bawl. "Keep stirring the pot over there. My pot is closed."
"Shay? Shay? SHAY!"
He was still yelling my name when I hung up. I did a full head dive onto my desk and started to bawl.
Fast forward to the present. I was clutching a bowl of cookie dough ice cream looking out at Nick Carter and Lauren. She was much better looking in person than in any of the photos I had seen.
Just what I needed.
"Thank goodness you'we here!" Jake declared.
Jake had been trying to take care of me since the night I had picked him up at daycare sobbing my eyes out. He clung to my legs and looked up at Nick happily.
Nick's smile faded quickly. "What happened to you?"
I told myself I wasn't going to cry. Not in front of Miss Gorgeous. I dabbed at the stray drop that leaked from my eye. "Nothing," I said. "Come in."
Nothing my ass. Shay looked horrible. Lauren and I shared a look of concern as we brought the suitcases into the apartment. Jake danced around excitedly.
"Do I gots pwesents? Are the pwesents in hewe?!"
"I'll tell you in a minute, buddy," I said. I knelt down and he ran to me. I scooped him up and looked back at Shay. She had a huge hunk of dough on her spoon, ready to plunge.
"I'm sorry I'm not presentable," she said morosely. "I overslept."
Lauren, bless her heart, stepped forward. With a warm smile, she held out her hand.
"We haven't met. I'm Lauren. It's so nice to meet you."
Unfortunately, the hand she was holding out had her beautiful engagement ring on it. Shay might have been depressed, but she wasn't blind. Her eyes widened.
"We wanted to tell you and Jake in person," I said.
"Tell me what?" Jake asked excitedly. He leaned back in my arms and I smiled at him.
"Lauren and I are going to get married," I said.
Jake did an all-over body wiggle in my arms. "YAY! Is there gonna be a pawty? Can I have cake?"
I laughed. "You bet there's going to be a party. And cake."
Jake squealed. Meanwhile, I saw Shay examining the shiny bobble nestled on Lauren's finger. Her eyes were welling up with tears again.
"Congratulations," she said thickly. She looked at me. "You did a g-good job."
Before I could say anything, Shay put her cookie dough container on an end table and ran down the hall. I heard what sounded like her bedroom door slam.
"Jake, do you know what's wrong with mommy?" I asked. Lauren looked uncomfortable. I sat down with Jake on the couch and he wiggled off my lap and sat beside me.
"Kevin-Blake made her sad," Jake said.
I looked at Jake in surprise. "He did? How?"
Jake shrugged. I looked over at Lauren.
"Laur, why don't you give Jake one present to open?" I suggested. "I need to--" I nodded down the hall. Lauren nodded. Jake bounded off the couch and Lauren unzipped one of the suitcases. I heard his delight and the instant rip of paper as I headed down the hall.
Shay's bedroom door was closed. I tapped softly. When I didn't get an answer, I pushed it open.
Shay was sprawled on her bed, her face smashed into a pillow. I closed the door behind me and sank down into the mattress by her head.
"Shay?" I asked softly. "What happened? Jake said Kevin did something."
At the sound of his name, she sobbed harder. I wasn't well-trained on what to do with hysterical crying. I patted her back.
"Did he dump you?" I asked. She shook her head 'no.'
That surprised me; I was sure that was the reason for her distress. In fact, I had no other explanation.
"Then what happened?"
After another long minute of hard tears, Shay rolled over. She sucked in a quivering breath.
"He slept with his ex."
"Really?"
Shay glanced at me. I knew she wouldn't make something like that up. "He," she said, her voice laced with anger. "Slept with me and then turned around and slept with her."
"Same day?"
She nodded.
I know it shouldn't matter if it was the same day or not, but the fact that he had a bang-a-thon did seem to make it worse. It also made me angry. I couldn't wait to have a talk with Kevin. I reached over, grabbed a tissue from a box on Shay's nightstand, and handed it to her.
"I'm so sorry," I said. "So did you dump him?"
"I hung up on him," she said pathetically. "So, I guess."
The sight of Shay so miserable made me feel like crap for feeling so happy. I had a feeling that she had probably cried like this about me a few times in the past couple years.
"I don't want you to spend Christmas like this," I said softly. "Why don't you take a shower and get dressed. I'll call out for some lunch to be delivered and we can all watch Jake open his presents."
We looked at each other for a long time. Finally, she nodded. She sat up and tried to ran a hand through her tangles.
"Thank you," she whispered. I stood up and headed towards the door. "And congratulations."
I turned. Shay was smiling sadly. "You've changed a lot. For the better. Lauren's lucky to have you."
I smiled. It was nice to be one of the good guys, dare I say...a mature guy.
At the same time, it was troubling to know that while I was going forward, Kevin was going back. I already knew that he wasn't going to be smiling or smirking by the time I was done with him.
My newfound protectiveness of Jake was transferring over to anyone close to me.
Shay had gotten hurt. Kevin was going to pay.
