Beautiful Mistakes

by Sam Mariano

  "So… you want me to do what, exactly?"

  "I need you to watch Anna," she said, as if it should be obvious. "I'll pay you, of course. I just need you to keep her until probably about seven, then Matt will come over to Aaron's and pick her up."

  "I don't… think Aaron wants Matt to come here."

  "Yes, well, having my husband see you when I'm not present really isn't my ideal situation either, but even if I pushed my flight back, I would still have to be at the airport by one. There is absolutely no scenario in which I can keep Anna until Matt gets home. I… need someone to watch her. If you won't do it, put Aaron on. He is her uncle, after all."

  "No, it's… I'll do it, I'm just surprised you asked me," Julie replied, thinking that it seemed a little strange to be talking to Emma on the phone at all, let alone being asked a favor.

  "Yes, well, if I had any better options I wouldn't have, but you're better with Anna than anyone else I might have asked, and now that you're with Aaron, especially considering his past with Matt, I know that you're well supervised. If we're going to be family, we might as well make the best of it, hm?"

  Thoroughly repulsed by the mere thought of being considered Emma's "family," Julie could only grimace.

  "Anyway, I'll bring her over to you. I already have her bag all packed, and I have a cab on the way here now, so we should be there in about 15 minutes at most."

  Glancing down at the blankets, Julie figured she should probably drag herself out of bed and put on some real clothes. She was, after all, going to be faced with Emma, no doubt looking totally glamorous even as early as it was.

  Emma hung up without saying goodbye or thank you, and Julie rolled her eyes, putting the phone down on the end table and dragging herself into the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face, maybe throw on a quick coat of make-up.

  Halfway through her primping routine she realized she should probably call down to the doorman and tell him that if a vicious looking blonde with a baby came in, he should let her come up.

  Once that call was made, she went in and pulled on some pants and a maternity shirt, trying not to feel like a whale and dreading seeing Emma because a.) she was Emma, and b.) seeing Emma's slim figure would make Julie feel even larger than she already felt.

  In no time at all and there was a sharp knock on the door. Julie made her way over there and opened it up, trying not to notice as Emma took in Julie's maternity-clothes with a disgusted curl of her lip.

  How could someone asking for a favor be such a bitch?

  It boggled the mind.

  "Nana!" Anna said excitedly, pointing at Julie and then looking at her mom. "There!"

  "Yes, she's right there," Emma replied succinctly, hoisting Anna off her hip and putting her down on the ground.

  Toddling over to Julie, Anna hugged her around the leg and said, "Nana."

  Feeling as if she might just burst with joy, Julie bent down and picked Anna up, holding her on her hip and giving her a kiss in greeting.

  Not bothering to hide her annoyance, Emma thrust the black and pink tote at Julie and said, "This should be enough to take care of her until Matt gets here." Then, reaching into her purse, she extracted a fifty dollar bill. "And this is for you. I would normally pay better, but let's face it, you owe me."

  Taking the fifty dollars, Julie didn't argue, she merely turned and put it down on the kitchen counter.

  "When Matt comes to pick her up, do not talk to him. If you must, tell him something concerning Anna, but… other than that, don't."

  "Trust me, I have no interest in talking to your husband," Julie replied, toying with one of Anna's little blond locks.

  "Good," Emma replied. Leaning in to give Anna a very brief peck on the cheek, Emma said, "Well, I have the cab waiting, so I have to go. You have my cell number in case of emergency, and Shirley will be able to take Anna tomorrow because she's on her antibiotics already, so you're only needed to watch her today."

  "All right," Julie said with a nod.

  Nodding once, Emma spun around on her heel and just as quickly as she had appeared, she was gone.

  Sighing in relief, Julie shut the door, locking it and looked at Anna. "Well, now that that's over, what do you want to do?"

  "Cah!" Anna said passionately, pointing at the notebook lying open on the coffee table.

  Grinning, Julie took Anna into the living room to find out what she was trying to say, deciding just to enjoy the completely unexpected—and unlikely to happen again soon—opportunity to visit with Anna.

  ---

  When Aaron came home for lunch, he was brought up short by the cute little blonde who immediately ran over to the door, pointed at him, and said, "No!"

  Holding his hand up in mock surrender, he peered around the corner and said, "Julie, why is my niece here?"

  Dropping her hand and smiling, Anna said, "Hi!”

  "Hi," he replied, waving and cautiously lowering his hands.

  Turning around, Anna ran back into the living room to find Julie.

  Offering a little smile, Julie said, "Surprise?"

  "I'm surprised," he verified, nodding and looking around. "There aren't any other surprises in here, are there?"

  Grabbing one of the pictures they had colored off the floor, Anna walked back over to Aaron and held one up to him.

  Offering her a smile, he said, "Thanks, Anna."

  Anna didn't respond, she just went back over to her coloring station, plopped down in the floor, and quietly began to color a new picture.

  Sighing, Julie said, "I got a surprise call from Emma this morning. Apparently her new nanny is sick and she had to go to the airport, so she needed someone to watch Anna until Matt gets off work, then he's coming over to pick her up…"

  "You're an odd choice of babysitter," he remarked.

  Shrugging, she said, "I know, I was as surprised as you are. I guess Emma really doesn't have many people she can call when she needs a favor."

  "Shocking," he said dryly. "I would have thought she had at least a million friends who would lay down their lives for her."

  "You would think," Julie replied, smiling ironically.

  "So… Matt's coming here… to my apartment… tonight."

  "Remember how understanding I was last night when you said you were going for drinks with Leigh?" Julie reminded him.

  With a slight guffaw he said, "Oh, this definitely means you're paid back in full."

  "Absolutely," she said eagerly.

  "When is Matt picking her up?" Aaron asked.

  "He's supposed to be here around seven or so," Julie explained.

  Nodding, he said, "Okay. Well, Leigh's closing tonight anyway, so I was going to leave after dinner. Maybe I'll just leave before."

  Offering a smile, Julie said, "You know, not that I'm objecting to you coming home early, but you really don't have to be here."

  With a wry smile, he said, "I thought we were both clear that you were joking last night when you called me Mr. Understanding."

  "Yes, I understand that. But in all fairness, I was totally cool about you going out for drinks with Leigh last night…"

  "I've never slept with Leigh," he shot back.

  "Touché," she said, inclining her head. "Well, obviously it's not like I care, it's just that I know being around him makes you grumpy."

  "I'll be fine," he assured her. "What would make me grumpy would be not being here and knowing he is here."

  "Well, okay, then I guess that will work," she replied.

  Nodding, he said, "Hey, do you want to go out to dinner tonight?"

  Smiling a little, Julie replied, "Since we're in the process of basically buying a house, don't you think we should cut back on expenses and maybe eat at home?"

  As if he found the idea ridiculous, he replied, "No, why would we do that? I don't really feel like cooking tonight; I was thinking we could go to The Cheesecake Factory or something like that."

  "Well, I can cook," she offered. "I'm going to be home all day w
ith Anna anyway, so there's no reason I couldn't have dinner ready when you get home."

  Smirking a little, he teased, "What a good little wifey."

  "You know it," she answered, grinning. "What do you want?"

  "Cheesecake," he stated.

  Slanting him a dry look, she said, "I really don't know how to make cheesecake. Bring a couple slices home from the restaurant."

  "I don't want my own cheesecake, I want Cheesecake Factory cheesecake."

  "Are you sure you don't just want to show off to Matt that you're taking me out to dinner?"

  Smiling slightly, he said, "Maybe a little. It's my right."

  "Yes, it is," she agreed, nodding. "Fine, I'll make sure I'm dressed and ready to go out by 6:30, how's that?"

  "Perfect," he answered. "Well… I was going to visit for lunch, but since you've got Anna, I'll let you play with her and I'll just go back to the restaurant so I can tell Leigh when I'm leaving."

  "How is Leigh?" Julie asked.

  Nodding, he said, "She's better. I think talking about it was a good idea. I don't know, I guess we'll see."

  "How did her interview go?"

  "She got the job," he answered. "From now on I'm going to have to go in at nine on Sundays and just work all day."

  "Then you need to let me work more," Julie stated. "If Leigh isn't going to be working as much you need to let me have some of the workload. She won't be able to work on Saturdays anymore and you need to close at Flavor, so you need to start letting me close on Saturdays by myself. Sundays I could have off to do homework or whatever needs to be done, and then Mondays I can still hostess at Flavor—”

  "I can just get a different hostess at Flavor," he offered. "I don't want you working more than you do now. Really, the weekend is the only thing that changes—Leigh is just losing her weekends at the café. If I give you Saturday nights then you should stop working at Flavor altogether."

  "I don't want to. Just working there on Mondays is certainly not too much to manage. You're going to be closing at Flavor on Mondays anyway; our schedules are going to collide and cause us to not spend time together as it is."

  Shaking his head, he said, "I don't know, we'll work it out later. I will see you at about 6:30."

  Leaning in to give him a kiss goodbye, Julie agreed that she would see him later and then got down in the floor, smiling as Anna crawled into her lap, dragging along the coloring book, and she played with Anna's hair while she continued to color.

  ---

  Julie was sliding an earring into her ear when there was a knock at the door, and she smiled, unsurprised that Aaron was early.

  Anna babbled, toddling over to the door and pointing at it.

  "Honey, don't get behind the door," Julie replied, walking down the hall toward the door, fully expecting Aaron to open it up with his key.

  When the door didn't open, she frowned, picking Anna up and putting her on Julie's hip, then opening up the door.

  Her smile faltered when she saw the wrong brother on the other side.

  "Oh," she said lamely. "You're here really early."

  Nodding, he said, "I knew you had Anna and I was able to finish up early, so I thought I'd just come take her off your hands so you're not trapped with a toddler."

  "I never mind having Anna," Julie replied. "You know that."

  "Right, sorry. That's my wife who considers our kid an inconvenience; my mistake."

  Smiling with false cheer, she said, "I can see how you would easily confuse me with your wife."

  Ignoring the sarcasm, his gaze swept over her pregnant figure clad in a black and white polka dot dress with a red belt. "You look nice."

  Grimacing, she said, "I look like a polka dotted whale."

  Chuckling, he said, "No, you don't." Then, glancing past her, he said, "Are you going to invite me in, or…?"

  Frowning a little, she said, "Aaron isn't here yet."

  One eyebrow shot up. "We need a chaperone?"

  "Both of our significant others say yes," she verified, bending down and putting Anna on the floor so she could go color since Matt didn’t seem to be in a hurry.

  Rolling his eyes, he said, "It's not like they haven't hooked up themselves. We're all trapped in this tangled web."

  "Speak for yourself, my web is totally untangled."

  Unconvinced, he said, "How's my baby doing?"

  "Anna's fine," she replied, intentionally misunderstanding. "She watched an episode of Spongebob that made her giggle, and she's been coloring most of the day. My fridge is completely covered."

  "Is that so?" he murmured. Glancing at Anna, he said, "I think she's missed you."

  "I was a little shocked when Emma called me, to be honest. I kind of figured if it came down to leaving Anna with me or leaving her home alone for the weekend, Emma would have preferred the latter option."

  Nodding, Matt agreed. "I was a little surprised myself, but I guess now that you're with Aaron… Emma knows how he is, she knows he won't let you get far enough away from him to do anything wrong. My brother has big time trust issues, in case you haven’t noticed yet."

  "I wonder why," she said, narrowing her gaze on him.

  Shrugging, he said, "If you still believe all that, there's nothing I can do to change your mind. How are things with my brother, by the way?"

  "Wonderful," Julie replied. "He's… really wonderful. Thanks for introducing us."

  The dirty look he shot her bordered on a glare, but he eased up, shaking his head a little and said, "I guess I deserved that."

  "At least," she replied.

  "I really messed things up with you, Julie," he said on a sigh, looking regretful with his hands shoved in his pockets.

  "Well, I couldn't have really expected much more; I had an affair with a married man. It wasn't really a shining moment in my life."

  "I know, but I still regret how everything turned out. My feelings for you were real, Julie. I mean… Emma's my wife, but… you were still special to me."

  "Please don't," Julie said, shaking her head and glancing past him to make sure Aaron hadn't picked just the right time to come walking in.

  Nope, still no Aaron.

  "For what it's worth, I'm truly sorry," Matt stated.

  "I'm really not the one you need to apologize to, Matt. I mean, yeah, you treated me poorly, but… Emma's your wife."

  Scoffing, he said, "Don't be so naïve, Julie. My relationship with Emma…" He didn't finish his thought, he just shook his head.

  "Well, Emma is difficult, yes, but you should have known that before you married her."

  "She used to be different," he replied sincerely. "You obviously never knew her then, but… she wasn't always how she is now."

  "Well, an unfaithful husband can turn most women into something new and different."

  "I'm not the only one who's cheated, Julie. In fact, I'm not even the first. I don't suppose you ever heard about Emma's senior year spring break in Miami?"

  Not really wanting to, Julie said, "Can't say that I have."

  He looked like he was going to tell a story, but then he said, "Seriously, am I allowed to come in?"

  Reluctantly, Julie took a step back and let him come in, then she quickly debated whether or not she should call Aaron to tell him Matt was there so he didn't come home and get ridiculously pissed off because she was in the apartment with Matt without adult supervision.

  Deciding against it, she settled for keeping her distance.

  "Well, some of her friends were doing the spring break in Miami thing, and Emma wanted to go but I didn't have the money, so she went without me. She was drinking and partying basically the whole week, and then at like three in the morning on the Friday night before they were coming home one of her friends called me freaking out, asking me if I had heard from Emma because she had disappeared and she wasn't answering her phone. I tried to call her like 16 times, no exaggeration, and nothing, so I'm talking to her friend the whole time trying to get her to sober up enough to answer
the basic questions—where was the last place you saw her? Was she with anyone? Did she have her phone on her? Finally at about six in the morning this girl finds Emma, naked, strung out on something, and lying on the floor next to some naked guy who had bought her a drink earlier at the bar. Emma swears up and down she doesn't remember anything that happened, but I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure it out."

  A bit reluctantly, Julie admitted, "Well, that does suck. However, it was before you married her, right? You could have left."

  "I know," he said, looking at Anna as she drummed on Julie's hands.

  "Even this weekend, this trip to New York—she's going to New York a lot more now than she did before. Funny thing is, every time she's going to meet with the same artist. I'm pretty sure she's sleeping with him. Ironically, she brought home one of his paintings last time, so while she's gone I'm going to have to look at the big ugly canvas that she overpaid for last time she went to see him."

  "Or she could just be doing her job," Julie suggested.

  "She bought new lingerie before the trip—it wasn't for my benefit."

  "Maybe she wants you to think she's cheating so that you feel a little bit of the same hurt."

  With an almost paternal smile, he said, "There you go being naïve again."

  Shaking her head, Julie said, "If you guys are so unhappy, I really just don't see why you're still together. I don't see how it could be good for Anna to be raised with you guys as a model for relationships."

  "It's probably not," he admitted. "Anna would probably be better off if we split up… if only I thought Emma would play fair… but Emma doesn't play fair, you should know that by now. She's made it perfectly clear that if I try to leave, she's leaving and she's taking Anna with her—even though she really has no use for her, and she would just have Anna raised by a nanny."

  "Have you guys discussed this?" Julie asked, surprised.

  "Discuss is a generous term," he remarked ironically. "More like… Emma laid out the terms of our marriage and I had to deal with them."

  She knew it wasn't a good idea to take the bait, but she was also curious as to what the terms were. Getting involved even in a conversation about Matt's marriage—which she didn't care about—would only leave open the possibility of Aaron coming home to Julie and Matt discussing his problems like they were old friends.