Autumn and Summer

by Danielle Allen

  I pulled on the underwear, rolling the top down so they’d fit. Then I slipped back into Autumn’s white dress. Xavier came back in the room and tossed my clutch on the bed. He watched me as he put on a pair of jeans and a heather grey t-shirt. Using my fingers, I raked my hair up into a messy ponytail. Satisfied with my appearance, I put on my heels and grabbed my phone out of my clutch.

  Four missed calls. All from Autumn. And all within the last hour! I hope everything is okay, I thought as I called her back immediately. It was surprising that Autumn didn’t call last night or even this morning.

  “Finally! Please tell me you’re A) okay and B) able to talk because I’m freaking out,” Autumn greeted me.

  “I’m on my way home now.” I looked at Xavier and he held up his keys.

  I hung up the phone and we headed out of the apartment. When we reached the parking garage, Xavier’s car stopped me in my tracks. “Wow… is that a Maserati convertible with black birdcage rims?” I asked, impressed.

  “Is it wrong that it turns me on that you know that?” he asked, opening my door for me.

  “Only if it’s wrong that it turns me on that you have this car.”

  “So I guess that makes us even.”

  Fifteen minutes later, we pulled up in front of the rowhouse. “Here’s where I live,” I stated the obvious, a minute after the GPS said we had reached our destination.

  “Let me walk you to your door.” He jumped out and met me on the side walk. With the rush to get to Autumn, it only just hit me that I was officially leaving the bubble Xavier and I had been in since the gala.

  So what happens now? I wondered as we walked to the front door.

  “So… I had fun,” I said awkwardly, my heart beating erratically.

  “Me too. I hope we can do it again soon.”

  “Yeah, me too.” I looked down the block, avoiding eye contact.

  Rubbing my shoulders, Xavier moved his hands to my neck, forcing me to look at him and stroked my cheeks with his thumbs. “I want to take you out tonight.” He kissed me sweetly before he continued, “And every other night.”

  My breath hitched. “I’d like—”

  The door swung open and all three of us jumped. Autumn screamed.

  “Summer! You scared the mess out of me!” Her eyes quickly scanned Xavier before a huge Cheshire-cat smile spread across her face. “You must be Xavier.”

  He smiled back, seemingly pleased that I’ve mentioned him a time or two to my best friend. “I am. And you must be, Autumn. It’s very nice to meet you.” He extended his hand and she shook it.

  “It’s nice to meet you too. You’re welcome to come in. I just need to borrow her for two minutes.”

  “Summer mentioned that you two had something to talk about, so I’m going to head to the office for a couple of hours. Hopefully I will be back here soon to take Summer to dinner. She never formally agreed to my date.”

  They both looked at me. “Does eight o’clock work for you?” I asked him, looking up into his beautiful eyes.

  Autumn turned and walked down the hallway. As soon as her back was to us, he leaned down and kissed me hard. He trailed kisses to my ear and whispered, “I can’t wait to see you tonight.”

  I leaned into him, forcing him to kiss my ear. This man, I thought with my eyes closed. My whole body reacted to everything he did. He moved to kiss my lips and I sighed contentedly.

  I opened my eyes when he separated our lips fractionally. “You should skip work and wait for me upstairs,” I whispered.

  He groaned, “I would if I could.” He kissed me again.

  “Fine,” I sighed dramatically. I made a face. “But if I can’t have what I want right now, you can’t have what you want later,” I joked, fighting the urge to smile.

  Xavier looked at me with his clear, blue eyes and said, “I have you and that’s all that I want.”

  I froze. My heart stopped momentarily and then thundered in my chest. He took my breath away with one little sentence and I just stood in front of him with my mouth agape.

  Seizing the opportunity, he slid his mouth over mine. He slipped his tongue between my lips and I gave in to everything I felt for him. It didn’t matter that we were outside. It didn’t matter how many cars drove by. It didn’t matter how many people saw us. Xavier was the only thing that mattered. And I couldn’t get enough of him.

  When we finally pulled away breathlessly, we said goodbye. I kissed him one last time before I hurried into the kitchen where Autumn was pacing.

  “What’s going on? What’s wrong?” I asked, taking a seat at the table. I kicked my heels off and made myself comfortable.

  “Jordan is sweet and cute and fun and creative and he wants a relationship with me. Boris is…perfect and he doesn’t want to be in a relationship with me. But as soon as he has things worked out with his newest business, he says he will have the time to devote to a relationship. I know what I want. And I want what Jordan is offering me…but I want it with Boris. And then I get a text message from Jordan and I couldn’t get him out of my mind. So now I’m completely confused. In the back of my mind, I keep thinking that Boris might be the one because he’s so perfect. But then I get off of the phone with him, and I’m back to real life and Boris isn’t a part of my real life, you know? Ugh! I’m freaking out!”

  “Okay first, please sit down with me.” I pushed a chair away from the table with my foot. “When are you going to finally meet Boris? Because I’m almost tempted to just tell you all of his info so you can pop up unannounced. I know he’s busy, but you deserve someone who is going to make time for you,” I pointed out.

  “We’re supposed to meet on Thursday. And he said the same thing. That’s why he doesn’t want to pursue anything with me right now. He said he has a couple of important business meetings this week and on Thursday, we’ll talk.”

  Her emotions were written all over her face. I stood up and gave her a hug. “What do I do about Jordan?”

  “You like him, but he’s not divorced yet, so you aren’t interested in pursuing anything with him,” I recapped, cocking my head to the side. “Honestly, I would see what happens on your date with Boris and then make a decision.”

  “There is no decision. Jordan is married. But I almost feel like I’m stringing Jordan along because I can’t stop hanging out with him…or talking to him…or thinking about him, but I know that I can’t be with him.”

  “No, you’re not. You two are hanging out with no pressure right? And you already told him that his not quite ex-wife stuff was a barrier for you, right?”

  She nodded.

  “Well, you are single, Autumn. You can date whoever you want. Don’t feel bad about weighing your options. You’re so focused on the end-game, you aren’t looking at the here and now.”

  “I don’t know Summer. It feels wrong.”

  “That’s what dating around is all about. If you were exclusive with either of them, it would definitely be wrong. But you’re not.”

  She nodded again.

  “In four days, you will have the information you need to make a decision. You’ve met and like Jordan. You like Boris. So if you meet and still like Boris, you’ll have a decision to make. But let’s not forget there’s always the possibility that you could meet Boris and not like him. And even if you do like him, are you willing to put your life on hold for him while he works out his business stuff?”

  “No,” she uttered softly. “If it’s meant to be, it’ll be. If we meet and we have the crazy connection that we have now and he still chooses to put himself on a self-imposed dating hiatus, I’ll have to walk away. I don’t have a choice. But it’s one of those things where I just have to meet him. I have to see him face-to-face.”

  She blinked her chocolate-colored eyes rapidly. I saw her swallow hard a couple of times before she smiled.

  Even with tears in her eyes that I could tell she was trying to keep at bay, she smiled beautifully. “So that’s Xavier, huh? I need a distraction. Tell me every
thing.”

  I smiled. “Where to begin with James Xavier Ford…?”

  **********

  Chapter 22: Autumn

  I hadn’t slept all night because I was so anxious. I used makeup to cover up the bags under my eyes and I hadn’t been able to eat all day. Pacing my bedroom, I waited for Summer to get home. In typical Summer fashion, she stormed through the front door and treaded heavily up the stairs.

  “Autumn! Today’s the big day!” she yelled loudly.

  Summer stopped in her tracks when she saw me.

  “What’s wrong?” Summer asked quickly.

  “Jordan’s wife signed the papers,” I told Summer as I continued pacing the room. “He’s officially divorced.”

  “What?!” Summer’s mouth dropped open.

  “Yes. He’s divorced. He threatened her with another lawsuit and she decided it was more of a hassle to stay married than to divorce him.” I started pacing faster. I handed her my phone and showed her the text message.

  “Jordan being officially divorced is a good thing, right?” She drew her eyebrows together.

  I stopped, nodding slowly. “It’s a really good thing. But…” I let my head drop back in defeat.

  “The wife thing was the only thing keeping you from Jordan,” Summer guessed.

  “Exactly!” I lifted my head and stared at my best friend. “And I have this date with Boris tonight and I was excited about it. But ever since Jordan sent me this text message, I haven’t been able to stop comparing the two of them. And I realized…it’s Jordan. I want Jordan.” My body heated as I said the words aloud for the first time.

  Summer walked into the room as I plopped down on the edge of my bed. “Good for you! You made a decision. That’s the hard part.”

  I put my head in my hands as I continued, “I had Thursday circled on my mental calendar since Sunday and I was scared to get my hopes up. But since I hadn’t gotten a call or message saying that the date with Boris was off, I slowly started getting excited. And then Jordan texted me and I got all tingly at the news that he’s single. I realized in that moment that Jordan was the one for me.” I smiled, relishing in the feeling that came over me. I lifted my head up, looking at Summer, and continued, “But after giving Boris such a hard time about cancelling on me, I don’t want to just cancel, you know?”

  “Here’s what I would do: go on a date with Boris so you can say you did it. That way, regardless of what happens, you’ll at least be able to look back and say that you met them both. I love that dress, by the way.”

  “Thank you,” I said, my knee bouncing rapidly. “I don’t want to go on a date with Boris...especially since I already know who I want.” My stomach twisted in knots as I said it out loud. “But I feel like I owe it to him to meet him and tell him to his face. Is it wrong for me to have him come all the way down here for me to break it off with him?”

  “I don’t think so. Honestly, I think it’ll be really good for you. You’ll be able to see him and know that he’s real and then, you can say whatever you want to say to him face-to-face.”

  As I opened my mouth to response, my phone vibrated. Summer and I looked at each other and then she handed me my cell phone.

  My heart started pounding in my chest and I took a deep breath. Seeing Boris’s name flash across the screen of my cell phone, my knee bounced faster.

  “It’s him,” I announced, looking at her.

  “He’s probably texting to tell you he’s on his way or he’s stuck in traffic.” Summer’s face looked pale and I knew she didn’t believe what she was saying either.

  Boris: I’m going to be a little late….

  I looked at Summer and shook my head no before reading the rest of the message. She immediately started chewing on her thumb.

  Boris: …Even though my actions aren’t showing it, you’re so important to me. Having to disappoint you again is killing me. I plan on being there. I promise. My business partner called and said he was thirty minutes out, so once he gets here we have to review a few documents. After that’s done, I’ll be able to leave my office, get changed, and then get to you.

  And the paperwork couldn’t wait until tomorrow, I thought in frustration. This is exactly what I was talking about.

  Boris: I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I can change our reservations from 8pm tonight to 9:30pm. I feel so bad about this.

  Autumn Jones: I’ve been so understanding about your work schedule, but how many times are you going to cancel on me before we realize that this isn’t going to work?

  Boris: I’m not cancelling. I’m just pushing the time back. This came as a surprise to me too.

  Autumn Jones: No, our date is cancelled and I get it. You have to do what you have to do.

  I looked at my pointy-toed green shoes until they became blurry with tears of frustration. “Well, the date’s off.”

  “I’m sorry. Are you okay?” Summer asked.

  “Yeah. I’m just frustrated. And honestly, I feel like I’m being played.”

  Summer jingled her keys and I looked up.

  “Let’s go,” Summer demanded with her hand on her hip. “Don’t you dare mess up your gorgeous make up with tears. Get your bag and let’s go. We’re riding out.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “Out,” Summer said as she grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet. “And without tears.”

  “I’m not upset about the cancelled date, so to speak. I’m upset that I now officially think Boris might be catfishing me like Olivia said. I just wanted to be able to look him in the eyes once. I’ve already made my choice. I know I want Jordan. I just don’t like the idea that I was a game for someone.” Grabbing my green handbag, I followed behind her.

  “I get it.” Summer opened the front door for me and I walked out. “Let’s go for a ride.”

  We got into her car in silence. Once we maneuvered onto the highway, Summer said, “We are going to do what we should’ve done a long time ago.”

  I didn’t respond so she turned the music on. Her jaw dropped and she looked at me. “You know what this means, right?” she asked as she pointed to the stereo.

  “No,” I answered, closing my eyes and pressing my forehead against the cool glass.

  “It means that it’s meant to be,” she replied excitedly as she sang ‘Dream On’ loudly.

  I zoned out for most of the trip, my mind consumed with the idea that I was the victim of a practical joke. I remembered Olivia’s thoughts about Boris not really being who Summer gave my number to and I couldn’t shake that feeling that she was right.

  Because why else would he not be able to meet me, time after time after time? No one is that busy. I am the most cautious person in the world. I have a general distrust of people. And the idea that this man could be someone other than who he says he is is eating me alive, I agonized repeatedly. How could I be charmed by something like that? Every single time we’ve tried to meet, he always has an excuse as to why it won’t work out. Why didn’t I see this coming?

  While I worked through my disappointment in Boris and in myself, Summer didn’t try to talk to me and I appreciated it. She was giving me space and simultaneously being there for me.

  Rousing me from my thoughts, Summer bumped my arm. We had left the highway and were in an expensive-looking city. I looked around, confused. The sun was setting behind picturesque buildings and the people walking around were dressed like they were going to a movie premiere.

  “Where are we?” I asked as we pulled into a parking lot.

  “We are here for dinner. My treat. Fix your eye makeup. Your right eye smeared.”

  I touched up my makeup and smiled at my reflection.

  “You look beautiful,” Summer complimented as she popped in a mint. She offered me one and I took it.

  “Thank you. I can do yours too,” I offered jokingly.

  “Okay,” she said, surprising me.

  Even though I knew she only did it because I was sad, I smiled at her gesture. I have the be
st best friend, I thought as I lined her eyes, making them stand out.

  The sound of Etta James greeted us as we got out of the car.

  “This place looks fancy,” I pointed out as we walked up the stairs to the brick establishment. “What kind of food do they serve?”

  “Soul food,” she said simply as we entered the large front doors that opened up to a waiting area. A pretty Indian woman with long hair and a huge smile welcomed us. She sat behind a large dark wood podium and asked if we had reservations.

  “No, we don’t,” Summer said in a business-like tone.

  I looked around the restaurant taking in the art on the walls. It was a beautiful place—the décor and the modern design had a familiarity that nagged at the back of my mind even though I knew I’d never been here before.

  The hostess responded, “That’s no problem; we have a few open tables.”

  “You are doing a wonderful job. I’d like to speak to the owner and let them know how professional and welcoming you are.

  Blushing, the woman picked up a phone and called someone.

  “He’s in a meeting right now.” She motioned to a doorway along the far wall. “He should be done in about fifteen more minutes if you’d like to wait or I could get you seated at your table and bring him over to you when he’s available. One of the managers is here if you’d like to speak with him.”

  “We’ll wait for the big boss. Thanks, though.” Summer turned on her heel and sat in one of the wingback chairs.

  I smiled at the woman and thanked her. I took a seat next to Summer and something hit me, causing my stomach to churn in dramatic fashion.

  “Summer…” I started, my breath already starting to come out in erratic puffs. Even though I knew the answer, I had to ask the question. “Does Boris work here?”

  She looked at me calmly and said, “Yes.”

  I put my hand to my chest. “Why would you blindside me like this?” I asked, feeling myself becoming flustered. “I just told him I was walking away and now I’m going to look like a crazy person!”

  “He knows you don’t even know where he works. If anyone is the crazy person, it’s me. I just want you to make your next move fully informed and you can’t be fully informed if you haven’t met Boris. And with all of your imposter talk, you have me worried that Boris isn’t really who he says he is. Because I actually know what he looks like, I can introduce you to the man that I photographed for the magazine. And if he isn’t the same man you’ve been talking to, we’re going to have a problem.”