Her Greatest Mistake

by Eve L Mitchell

  “I have to go.” I cannot cry in front of her.

  “You running after him?”

  “No!” My horrified look convinced her. “God, no. I don’t ever want to see him again.”

  “You should go.” Her eyes ran over me again with disgust. “You look like you’ve been thoroughly used.”

  “I’m so sorry…” I had turned and fled.

  Used. That’s what she told me. I had been used. That’s exactly how I had felt. Played. Used. Made a complete and utter fool of. Now as I stood at the top of the stairwell where he had tried to use me again—I felt my resolve harden. Never. He would never use me again.

  He was a bastard. A mistake that I should never have made. It was time to toughen up and stop wallowing. People made stupid mistakes all the time. Life moved on, the damage was done, and the only person I was hurting now…was myself.

  A couple of weeks had passed since I saw Aiden in the office. He hadn’t returned to the office, that I knew of, and I was finally losing the knots in my stomach every morning at the thought of seeing him. Ben was mid-twenties and a little young to be donning the task of site manager in my opinion, but what was my opinion worth at the end of the day? As long as it kept Aiden away from my workplace, I was happy.

  The snow had fallen with a vengeance in February, more than we had been expecting, and Ben was very vocal about the fact that they were going to start running into delays. He would come down on his coffee break and sit with me and Nadine. It was silly, really; he was desperate to ask Nadine out, and she was desperate to be asked, but somehow they just wouldn’t take that step. Of course, it was awkward because Richard thought he was down for my attention, and although I denied it every time, he was not to be dissuaded. Perhaps that’s what was wrong with Nadine? She thought I was competition. Impossible. I wasn’t in the same league as Nadine—she was so curvy and sexy, whereas I was just a shapeless flat stick.

  As a result, I was happy the working week was over. I was browsing through the boutiques and stores at Cherry Creek North on Saturday morning when I heard the clearing of a throat again. I had ignored it the first time, and when it happened again, I turned curiously and looked at the man who stood behind me. He looked vaguely familiar, yet I couldn’t place him. He was maybe hitting six feet, maybe just under, dirty blond hair cut close all over, a little longer on top, with hazel eyes that were looking at me nervously and a hesitant smile hovering over his lips.

  “Hi?” I asked him.

  “Hi.” He smiled wider.

  I looked at him and then around him before I checked my woollen coat—was there something on it? “Am I in your way?” I asked uncertainly as I sidestepped from the shop window that I had been staring through.

  He gave a small chuckle and shook his head. “Not at all. I don’t think you remember me?”

  I pursed my lips together as I ran my eyes over him again. He really did look familiar, but I had no recollection as to why. “I’m sorry,” I admitted. “I don’t think I remember.”

  “New Year’s Eve,” he told me.

  I felt my face drain of colour. Oh my God, did he know? Did he know what I did?

  “I was your driver to the gala.”

  My knees weakened, and I almost sagged against the window with relief. “Yes! You were the driver!” A nervous laugh of hysteria escaped me, and I saw him frown. “Sorry, I didn’t recognise you without the hat,” I added lamely.

  I watched his eyebrows rise, but thankfully he was too polite to call me on my obvious lie. “Yeah, the hat makes a difference.” He pulled a knitted beanie out of his jacket and pulled it on. “Got me now?”

  I laughed at his attempt to lighten the awkwardness. “Yes, sorry. I’m in a complete fog this morning.” I smiled at him properly for the first time. “So yeah, sorry. How can I help you?”

  It was his turn to look nervous. “Well,” he cleared his throat. “I saw you and thought I would say hello.”

  I smiled again as he shuffled his feet. “Well, that was very nice of you.” I took in his nervousness. “Are you okay? Is this because I didn’t get a return journey?” I bit my lip as I watched him. “Did you get in trouble because I got a taxi?” I had run from the gala, not saying goodnight to Richard or Karen, terrified I would see Aiden and lose complete control. I had run straight for the exit and flagged down a cab—which I miraculously got on New Year’s Eve. In the taxi, I had texted Richard and told him I got sick.

  “What?” He gave a surprised laugh. “No, I just wanted to say hello.”

  “Oh.” I knew my face showed my surprise.

  “Can I be honest?” he asked me.

  Given my recent experience with men and their interpretation of the word honest, I looked at him uncertainly. “Um…”

  “I saw you, and I wanted to ask if you wanted to get a coffee?”

  “Me?”

  “Yes, you.” He shoved his hands deep in his pockets. “I asked your friends the night of the gala if you were single,” he admitted. “If that was out of line, I’m sorry, and if that’s changed, then I’m also sorry.” His look was so hopeful I felt the smile starting.

  “Are you allowed to ask personal information like that?” I asked lightly.

  “No.” He flushed. “But your lady friend was quite willing to tell me.” He looked around with uncertainty. “Did I mess up?”

  “No.” I studied him for a long moment as I remembered how kind he had been in the limo. “Coffee would be nice.”

  “Really?” His whole face lit up, and I again found myself smiling at how open he seemed. “My name’s Calvin by the way, Calvin Henderson.”

  “Jemma Leighton.”

  “Oh, I know,” he told me as we stood there a moment longer. “Shall we?”

  “Sure.” The two of us walked along until we came to a coffee shop, and Calvin asked me if it was suitable. Coffee was coffee, so I nodded.

  “Tell me what you want, and I’ll get it.” Calvin pulled out a seat for me, and I sat down.

  “Oh, a caramel latte, please,” I told him as I took off my gloves and hat.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  I sat and unbuttoned my coat as I thought about our encounter. He had been very pleasant the night of the gala, and I smiled to myself as I remembered him telling me I looked stunning that night. A sharp pang of remembrance of how the evening turned out for me made me lose my smile. I frowned as I wondered what Calvin would have thought had he seen me running from the gala, dishevelled some hours later. Would he still think I was stunning? Probably not, I mused.

  “Here you go.” Calvin set a steaming latte in front of me, and I thanked him. “You want to share a blueberry muffin?” He gestured to the muffin in front of him. It was huge and looked delicious. “I thought one would be enough, but I can get you one to yourself if you would like one?”

  Shaking my head in protest, I laughed. “No, I’m happy to share with you.” I watched him cut it deftly in two and then carefully pick up one half with a napkin and place it on another napkin as he pushed it towards me. “Thank you.”

  We sat in silence for a minute or two before Calvin broke the silence. “Was I too forward?”

  “What? No.” I sipped my latte. “I was just wondering if you would judge me if I picked this up and shoved it in my face?” I pointed at the muffin.

  Calvin let out a loud laugh and then looked around to make sure he hadn’t brought attention to himself. “Please go ahead, enjoy it.”

  “Okay, but you can’t hold it against me,” I teased him as I picked up my half and took a hearty bite. It was delicious, and I beamed at him around a mouthful of muffin.

  Calvin seemed to relax and, mimicking my movements, took a bite too. He hastily put the muffin down again as he chewed, whereas I was holding mine like I was afraid someone was going to take it from me.

  “So you asked me, and I was remiss”—I took a deep breath—“but are you single?”

  “Yeah.” He nodded as he took a drink of his latte. �
�For seven months now.” He held up his hand and pointed to the faint line on his wedding finger. “Divorced, not brutal, but it needed to be done.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be, my wife and I just weren’t meant to be long term.” He shrugged.

  “Still, it’s a difficult thing, a breakup.”

  “Yeah, it can be. I guess we were lucky. We both recognised it wasn’t working, we don’t have kids, so we agreed to sell the house and start fresh.” Calvin pulled his muffin apart as he spoke.

  Reaching over, I placed my hand over his. “I’m sorry.” I pointed at his muffin. “I think you got it, it’s definitely dead.”

  Calvin appreciated my attempt to lighten the mood. “Sorry, that was probably too much information on the first date.”

  “Date?” I blurted in surprise, my eyes wide.

  “Oh gosh, I’m sorry, I’ve made you uncomfortable.” He groaned out loud. “I haven’t done this in ages. First, I stalk you in the mall, then I tell you about my wife, and now I spring a date on you.” He rubbed his forehead. “Sorry, Jemma, do you want to leave?”

  I watched him with growing amusement. He was so obviously flustered it was kind of endearing. “Calvin.” I got his attention and smiled. “It’s fine, I’m enjoying my coffee.”

  He gave out a relieved breath. “Okay.” He nodded.

  “Let’s just enjoy our drinks and muffin and not put too much pressure on morning coffee.”

  Calvin nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I’m awful at deception, I’m the irritating guy who just blurts out what he’s thinking.”

  “It’s nice, honesty is refreshing,” I assured him. “So do you drive all the time?”

  “Limos?” he asked. “Oh no, I did that for a friend on New Year’s Eve—the money is great. No, I’m an accountant.”

  “Really? Well, that’s one job you can definitely guarantee.”

  “Yeah, never a dull moment in the world of accounts,” Calvin nodded earnestly.

  I almost let my laugh escape before I caught his expression. Oh, he’s serious. “No, I can imagine that it’s constant work,” I floundered.

  “Oh, it really is,” Calvin agreed. “It’s not just nine to five, you know.”

  “I bet,” I replied as I hastily took another drink of coffee.

  “But we’re not talking about my job, I want to know about you,” Calvin said as he leaned forward eagerly.

  “Me? Oh, there really isn’t anything to tell.”

  Calvin leaned over the small table to tip my cup and sat back. “More coffee?”

  “Um…”

  “I’ll get us fresh ones and stop talking, and you can tell me about you.” He must have seen my hesitation, because he smiled. “Only if you want to.”

  Again I considered him, and then I felt myself relax a little. “Okay, another coffee would be nice, but I should get it.” I went to stand, but he stopped me.

  “I can buy you another coffee, Jemma.”

  “Okay, thank you.” I watched him head over to the counter and idly marvelled at the strange turn of events my morning had taken. I considered Calvin as he talked easily with the barista and they both shared a laugh. He looked over at me sitting there watching him and smiled. His cheeks flushed red as he hastily turned away, and I covered my smile at his obvious awkwardness. I took in his appearance, plain dark washed denims, a heavy knitted navy sweater, and I could see that he wore a white T-shirt underneath it as it showed at his neckline. He was attractive, I couldn’t deny that. With his lean frame, he obviously took care of himself. As Calvin headed back over with our coffees, it wasn’t a stretch of the imagination to picture him as an accountant.

  “Here you go,” he said as he placed my latte in front of me.

  “Thank you, Calvin.”

  “You can call me Cal.” He seemed hesitant as he said it. “My family calls me Cal and some of my friends.”

  “Only some?”

  “Poppy preferred it if people called me Calvin.” He studied his hands as he spoke.

  “Your wife?”

  “Yes.” He gave a small chuckle. “And here I am, talking about her again.”

  “It’s going to happen, you were married for…how long?”

  “Eight years.” He pulled the sleeves of his sweater down. “Well, eight and half years.”

  “Long time,” I acknowledged.

  “Yeah.” Calvin looked out of the coffee shop window for a moment before he returned his attention back to me. “I’m so very bad at this.”

  “Don’t be silly. We’re just two people having coffee, there’s nothing to fail at, and you don’t need to worry about impressing me,” I told him.

  “I think you may be too easy to talk to,” Calvin said as he took a drink of his latte.

  “That’s a nice thing to tell someone,” I replied. “Okay, I don’t usually go for coffee with men who ask me on a Saturday morning,” I admitted. “So I’m gonna give you the crash course to Jemma.” I waited and Calvin nodded eagerly. “My fiancé left me in September for another woman who he had been seeing for several months before he left. Our condo was shared, but I still live there. I’m working out how to get him to sell me his share without having to pay full price. He and his new fiancé got engaged on New Year’s Eve, and I haven’t been in contact with him since before Christmas when he asked me for my engagement ring back.” I took a drink of my coffee. “So you mentioning your ex-wife is perfectly alright; we all have baggage, Calvin, some just heavier than others.”

  “I’m so sorry you’ve been through that.” Calvin looked at me with sympathy. “How long were you together?”

  “Five years, engaged for three,” I told him as I gave a half-hearted shrug. “It’s fine. I know I am better off without him.”

  “You really are. Poppy and I were lucky in that respect, I guess.” He nodded thoughtfully. “Neither of us strayed to another, we just drifted apart.”

  “That’s a shame, but it’s good that you ended amicably.”

  “Yes, so much easier. You hear of so many horror stories.” Calvin grimaced as he realised what he just said.

  “Don’t worry about it,” I told him quickly. “In a way, I’m lucky that it didn’t happen when we were married.”

  “You are.” He looked at me and at our almost empty cups. “This isn’t how I imagined this would go.”

  “I’m sorry.” I finished my coffee hastily.

  “Don’t be.” He smiled as he placed a warm hand over mine. “This was much better.”

  “Seriously? Talking about exes?” I asked him in disbelief.

  “Definitely, now that we have all the hard stuff out of the way, when I take you to dinner next Friday, we can have small talk.”

  I laughed at his mischievous smile as I sat back in my chair. “And you said you had no moves! That was pretty slick.”

  “I’m rather proud of it myself.” Calvin chuckled, and I gave a wide smile as it was quite obvious that he was not used to this, at all. He was nervous and tentative, and I genuinely appreciated his apparent honesty. “So…dinner? Friday?”

  I thought about it as I weighed my options. Think about the man who left me and why he left me. Pine for the man I couldn’t have—who I so desperately wanted. Or…option number three, a seemingly kind and honest man who aired all his laundry over coffee?

  “Sounds great,” I answered with a smile.

  “What do you think you’ll wear?” Nadine asked me eagerly as I told her about my Saturday morning coffee “date.”

  Sitting back, I thought about it and realised I had nothing to wear. “I don’t know…”

  “Well, where is he taking you? Accountants are always loaded.”

  “I don’t think that’s true,” I chastised Nadine gently. “And he didn’t tell me. I should ask. Should I ask?” I looked at her for instruction. Nadine was a lot more fluent in the dating game than I was. I had been with Tim for five years, who cheated on me, and my only other encounter of the male species
since then had been Aiden. And I knew only too well how that had turned out.

  “Of course you should ask!” Nadine rolled her eyes at me. “But not yet, wait until Wednesday—Thursday at the latest.”

  “Why?”

  “You don’t want to seem too eager,” she answered me as she got up and came over to my desk. “We could go shopping together if you want?”

  “Really?” I looked at her in surprise as I turned my chair to look at her. Nadine never went shopping with me before.

  “You’re so adorable,” she said as she leaned over and tugged my ponytail. Her attention was caught on something as she went to lean back.

  I knew who it was without looking. I could feel him approaching.

  “Where you been, stranger?” Nadine asked coyly.

  “Miss me, gorgeous?”

  Goose bumps ran over my arms as Aiden spoke.

  “I always miss my eye candy.” Nadine’s smile was sexy and sultry. I hated her for flirting with him and immediately berated myself for it.

  “I’ll try not to stay away too long next time.”

  I could hear the laughter in his voice, and I wanted to slap him again. How dare he flirt with Nadine in front of me! How dare he flirt with anyone when he was married.

  “Looking for Richard, he with a client?” Aiden asked Nadine. I saw her glance at me quickly as I moved my chair back into my desk.

  “Err…yeah, he is.” I could see her looking between the two of us out of the corner of my eye. “What’s going on with you two?” My eyes snapped to hers in warning. “What am I missing?”

  I felt Aiden’s hand on the back of my chair, and I fought the urge to stiffen. “Absolutely nothing is wrong,” he answered smoothly.

  “Bullshit.” Nadine narrowed her eyes on him. “Jemma?”

  I forced out a laugh as I leaned back in my chair as my insides somersaulted at his touch. “Nothing’s wrong, is it, Aiden?” I tilted my head up to look at him. Holy Mother, he looked amazing. His hair was styled, and he was clean shaven, wearing a white T-shirt under an open flannel shirt.

  “Nothing wrong with me.” His warm chocolate eyes met mine, and I felt my breath catch.