by Cee, DW
Brendan: Apologizing For History
“Nolan!” Regardless of the beautiful woman at the table, my son came first. “Hey, Buddy. You had a good day with Auntie Cat and Lottie?” After picking up my mini-me, I kissed my three-year-old cousin on the top of her head.
“We had a stupendous day! We went to the play gym in the morning and now we’re having lunch with this pretty lady.” My son pointed to a very surprised Chloe. Having a gorgeous swimsuit model for a mother, this five-year-old understood pretty.
“Hello there, Pretty Lady. I always knew my son would grow up to have good taste in women.”
She stood from her chair, still befuddled, and gave me a half-hug. “Hi,” she spoke. “I didn’t think we’d ever see each other again.”
“That’s because you’d done your damnedest not to ever see me again.”
“Not sure that’s true,” she spoke without assurance. She knew I was calling her out. “I didn’t realize this cutie was your son. Now that I see you next to one another, it’s a wonder how I could have missed the resemblance. You are a replica of one another.”
“Is that good, Daddy?”
I kissed my boy again and assured, “Of course it’s good, Son. Your father is the most handsome man in the world. That means that you are the most handsome boy in the world.”
“Ain’t that the truth!” My son high-fived me. I adored this little boy. All those years with Veronica weren’t a waste; they produced a healthy, bright, and loving child. He was my world.
“You’re just a regular comedian, aren’t you?” Cat called. “Sit and enjoy your rib-eye and fries.”
Nolan behaved like the good kid that he was. Chloe was still dumbstruck.
“How have you been the past decade, Pretty Lady?” I sat next to her and picked at the salad she wasn’t eating.
“Have a fry, Daddy.” Nolan attempted to shoot it into my mouth but it missed badly. It landed in the ranch dressing instead.
“Thanks, Bud.” I noshed on the fry and pieces of the rib-eye that Cat had cut up.
“Cat told me you had a son, but I didn’t realize…he’s lovely, Brendan. It’s nice to see you again and to have met Nolan. You’re very lucky to have him.”
I was saddened to see loneliness in Chloe’s eyes. She should have been a mother by now. I thought she would have married and started a family. During the first five years of our time apart, I was so enamored with Veronica, I couldn’t see straight. The next five years were mostly about giving Nolan a stable life as his flighty mother cared more about her body and career than her son.
“Any chance you’d have drinks with me later on? Maybe even dinner?”
“Thank you but I can’t. I’m meeting Michael and Niles for dinner.”
“I’d heard they were in town. Cat tells me you’re planning the duke’s wedding?”
“Yes. I’ll be here for at least a month, probably two.”
Cat joined the conversation once she had the kids settled. “I thought Michael said you had to have the wedding finished in a month.”
“Michael forgot that the duke and his cronies were headed to Lake Como in a few weeks. They will have their yearly vacation and then his friends will bring him back to LA. Michael should be working out the details with the duke’s uni buddies.”
“Wow. At their age, they’re still traveling?” Cat inquired.
“They’re all healthy and they love spending time with one another. Michael didn’t want His Grace to miss this last opportunity.”
“How about a quick walk about the park with me after lunch?” I wouldn’t be deterred. We needed to talk.
She watched me and spoke with determination. “There was a reason why I chose not to see you the past ten years. Cat and Daniel’s wedding would be a good example.” She was still a spitfire. I loved it.
“Can’t a man apologize for the errors of his ways?”
She was resolute when she said, “Nope.”
“Chloe. Now that’s unfair. You’ve always been a kind person. Why can’t you show some kindness to me?”
“Is Chloe being mean to you, Daddy?”
“No, Son. I was mean to Chloe a long time ago and I’m trying to apologize.”
“Did you tell her you’re sorry? You always said that sorry works for almost everything. Tell her you’re sorry.” My five-year-old sage—he was helping me make right a bad situation.
“You know, Son, you’re right. I didn’t say I’m sorry. Thanks for the tip.” I tousled his hair before telling Chloe, “I’m sorry. I was an ass to you when you came to see me in LA. There are no excuses for this late apology. Just know I’ve regretted my actions for a long time now. I’m just glad you’re here so I can tell you in person just how deeply I’m sorry.” Nolan’s thumb went up in support. “Did I do a good job, Nole?” I whispered to him.
“You did a great job, Daddy.” His thumb was still up in the air.
“Thanks, Son.” He gave me a high-five again.
Glancing over at Chloe, she was torn between smiling over my exchange with Nolan, and being pissed with me for cheating on her so long ago.
In my head, I had dreamt up scenarios of how our reunion would happen. Chloe would be surprised to see me. I’d charm her with my usual self. Nolan would serve as my added mojo. I’d eventually apologize and earn her forgiveness. Then we’d all live happily ever after.
My head was messed up. This was no happily ever after. Another scenario needed to happen—FAST!
Michael: History—What The Hell Did I Do, Now?
“Why are you so off tonight?” I asked the woman who spilled her glass of wine for the second time. “What’s wrong with you?”
“It must be my presence,” Niles spoke with mischief in his eyes. “Chloe can’t get over losing me to Elaine. I know it was a shock to you since I had a crush on you for most of my life, Chloe. And I know that’s why you haven’t married yet—you can’t get over my loss.”
“Shut up, Niles.” I stopped him before he waxed on any further. “What happened today?”
“It’s nothing. Let’s enjoy dinner. For all the wine that I wasted, dinner’s on me. How have you been, Niles? You have pictures of your little girl?”
Chloe was avoiding my question. She wouldn’t get off so easily at home tonight.
“Are you kidding me? This 128-gigabyte iPhone holds every picture of my baby since she was born. Why, I think the phone memory is almost full already.”
“Oh Niles,” Chloe giggled. “How about one picture from each month since birth?”
My cousin happily looked through his gallery of photos.
“Did Cat say or do something that upset you?” She shook her head no. “Did the Reids say or do something that upset you?” Once again, I received the same no. “Did I say or do something that upset you?” Her head stayed eerily still. Shit! What the hell, now? “What did I do?” I couldn’t believe she was like this because of me.
“We’re trying to have a pleasant dinner with your cousin.” Her pretend-whisper fooled no one at this table.
“Asshole!” Niles’ pretend-cough was even more annoying. “Is he being his usual pompous self, Chloe? Has he been bothering you since he finally came to his senses and reacquainted himself with his ‘best’ friend?”
“Seriously?” My cousin was going to get his arse kicked back to London if he didn’t shut up. Chloe looked like she was kicked in the gut, herself. “What’s the matter, Chlo-No? You’re making me nervous. What’d I do wrong this time?”
“Can we talk about this when we get home?” No tears fell from her eyes, but her shaky vocal chords killed me.
“All right,” I agreed for now. Until we got home, I’d have to think through what I might have done since this morning. Hell. It was difficult courting women. I should give up now and save myself the aggravation.
“I would really love for you to meet Elaine and our baby girl, Chloe. Can we meet before Grandfather gets married?�
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“Why didn’t you bring the family with you? There’s a huge mansion in Bel Air waiting for someone to inhabit it. You should come with Ruby and her family.”
“That’s a great idea.” Niles was happy with the thought.
“Rubes already has dibs on the west wing.” I informed him.
“Can we take the east wing?”
“Where the hell will Chloe and I stay if both your families take up all the rooms?”
“In the cozy guesthouse?” The suggestion wasn’t without merit and definitely full of innuendos. “There are two rooms there. You wouldn’t want to be in the same house with two screaming babies, would you?” My cousin was a genius at times.
I turned to Chloe and she ignored me. Shit! Tonight was going to be a long night as it was. We needed to wrap it up and move on.
“Are we settled, Niles? You’re bringing Elaine and Emma here?”
“Uh, yeah. Sounds good.”
“Great. I’ll see you tomorrow at the meeting. Chloe and I need to leave now.”
“Wait, Wha?” We didn’t stay long enough for Chloe to finish her last word. We were out of here.
Before she could complain, I led this woman into the car and drove away from the restaurant.
“What was that?” she questioned.
“Dammit, Woman. What have I done now? I’m sick of this. Tell me my wrongdoings. I can’t stand this. It’s bad enough that we stopped being friends for ten years. I thought we were headed in the right direction.” Once all those words were out, I felt free to breathe.
Chloe looked at me in shock at first, and then started laughing like a lunatic.
No matter the nasty look I gave her, she wouldn’t stop laughing. “Oh…my…gosh…!” she spewed in between laughter.
“What the hell, Chlo-No!” I pulled the car off to the side of the road. My head felt like bursting and she was laughing her head off. “Talk to me. NOW!” I roared.
“All right! Keep your knickers on.”
“Why were you so off tonight? You’re usually composed and generally cheerful when Niles is around. Tonight, you couldn’t keep your emotions in check and you were jittery from second you came to dinner. You intimated that I’d done something wrong again. Explain in plain English and in full detail of my wrongdoings.”
“I did not intimate any sort of thing.”
“You almost cried when you told me we’d talk later. ‘Did Cat say or do something that upset you? Did the Reids say or do something that upset you?’ To both those questions you answered no. ‘Did I say or do something that upset you?’ When I asked that last question, your body froze and you eventually told me we’d talk later.” I was still huffing and puffing. I needed some damn answers, and now!
“Michael…” I knew that coquettish tone. It generally surfaced when she wanted something from me or when she did something wrong.
“Chloe!” She couldn’t miss my tone. This one surfaced when I wanted something from her and wanted it this minute. Patience wasn’t a virtue with me.
“I…it wasn’t you who made me this way tonight. I’m sorry I led you to believe otherwise.” What? What the hell? “I saw Brendan O’Shaughnessy at lunch today. He’s who’s been on my mind tonight.”
“Brendan O’Shaughnessy!? All this time I was feeling guilty and you were thinking of another man? Tonight, and from here on out, you will no longer think of any other man, Chloe Noel Darcy!”
New Beginnings
Chloe: New Beginnings With An O?
Ah hell. What have I done? There was a crazed look in Michael’s eyes. I’d seen this look before. Generally, that look came just before we had sex. As of this second, he was more likely to strangle me than to make love to me. The former, I could do without, the latter, I wouldn’t mind. This dry spell was too embarrassing to mention.
“Hello?” I asked quietly. “Are you mad?” I kept my voice sweet and soft. There was no need to grate at his nerves any further.
“You’ll find out just what you did wrong, Chlo-No. I will find pleasure in showing you how mad I am.”
“Shit.” I squealed. “I’m sorry. It was a joke. Ha ha ha.” He didn’t reciprocate in the laughter. “I didn’t think you’d be this upset. Brendan and I had a bad falling out after he moved to LA, and I was pissed he showed up to lunch. I’d been harboring a ten-year grudge.”
I looked to Michael for some kind of reaction. He didn’t give me anything different from a scowl. “I don’t give a shit what happened between you and Brendan. Ruby already told me he cheated on you or something like that. When you date a man with a nickname like ‘Babe-magnet Brendan O’ you should know there’d be trouble.”
“That’s not fair. How was I to know that when I visited him in LA, he’d be naked with some supermodel?”
“Serves you right, Chlo-No.”
Now that just pissed me off. “Your stupid logic equals that of telling a battered woman that it was her fault for getting punched in the face by her husband. How could you say that?”
“Ten years ago, you asked me all these personal questions about my feelings for you. You moved along with life without ever giving me a chance to answer you. In my opinion, you played both Brendan and me back then. You wanted to see who would be the better prize. Considering you went to visit him after he moved, obviously you tried for a relationship with him. With me, you barely called.”
“What the fuck, Michael Bennington! You take that back. Back in Florence, you crushed me when you said that Laney was your one and only true love. What the hell was I to you all these years—just a body? Did it ever cross your mind that I dreamed of being your duchess? All those years you played eeny, meeny, miny, moe—I WAS WAITING FOR YOU TO PICK ME!” Shit! That was too much info. These were feelings I admitted to no one but myself. A damn smirk was now permanently glued to his face.
AARGH! I was an idiot. To keep myself from divulging any more life-altering info, I shut myself up. Barring a miracle, I was no longer communicating with this man. I didn’t give a damn where and when he found his princess.
“Follow me,” was the idiotic command I received when we arrived at home. He asked me to go west. I went east. “Damn you, Chlo-No. Must you make everything this difficult? We could’ve been married with four kids by now.”
“Ahhh!” Without a warning, Michael came at me like a football player—the American kind—and flung me over his shoulder. “Put me down, Tarzan!”
“Never fear, Chloe. I’ll put you down so we can have a very serious meeting of the bodies.”
“Meeting of the bodies? What the hell does that even mean? My body is not meeting yours. You may not touch any part of me.”
That’s when the humiliating but kinda arousing spanking happened. “I’d calm down if I were you. Unless of course, you want more of my hand.”
Something about the thought of having heated, angry sex was such a turn-on, there was no way I was fighting this if he really was going to tear at my clothes and devour me—figuratively speaking, I think.
“Um, are we really doing this?” I squeaked when I saw his massive bed.
“We are long overdue; this is fifteen years in the making.”
My first thought—thank God I’m wearing matching knickers and bra. Second thought—Shit! I should’ve exercised more. I’d gained at least a stone (or two) since he last saw me naked. Damn. It was too late now.
When Michael threw me on the bed and tore away at his shirt, I knew this was real. He would never do anything against my will, nor would he ever hurt me, but I was damn scared...and excited.
“Um, may I say a sentence or two?”
“No.” He soon changed his mind when he saw me huddled in the middle of the bed. “What’s wrong?” he asked gently. “Am I forcing myself on you? You don’t want this?” Insecurity replaced the gruff Tarzan.
“It’s not that.” How to explain that I was almost a virgin again. “It’s just that…I’m not too experienced�
��it’s been a while, Michael. Please be gentle.”
“Chloe.” The look of love and tenderness on Michael’s face made me burst into tears. “Ah damn. Now what?” His voice went up a level or three.
“You’re so sweet all of a sudden. Why couldn’t you always be this way with me? One day you’re friend-Michael. Another day I get angry-Michael. For the past ten years, you were in-love-with-someone-else-Michael. Today, you’re I’d-do-anything-for-you-Michael. That’s the Michael I fell in love with, but I couldn’t find him.” I was killing the angry, lusty, I-wanna-rip-your-clothes-off-Michael.