The Man of My Dreams

by Stephanie Aviles

  THE MODERN JANE AUSTEN: And what makes you so sure?

  FLYER GUY: Because I can see it in your eyes.

  Elena stared at the words in front of the screen. She cleared her throat, pretending not to be affected by his bold words.

  THE MODERN JANE AUSTEN: Are you drinking?

  FLYER GUY: Don’t change the subject.

  THE MODERN JANE AUSTEN: What subject?

  She didn’t want to talk about destiny with Daniel. She didn’t want to speak to him at all.

  FLYER GUY: Destiny.

  Apparently, he was not letting the topic go. This was just typical of him. Push her to the limits until the ugly side of her came out.

  THE MODERN JANE AUSTEN: I told you I don’t believe in destiny.

  FLYER GUY: Liar.

  Elena could imagine the smirk on his face as he challenged her.

  THE MODERN JANE AUSTEN: Believe what you want. I don’t care. She was already uncomfortable with this conversation and no longer cared to carry on with him.

  FLYER GUY: Don’t you think destiny played a role in getting us matched?

  Elena didn’t know what Daniel was after, and she was suspicious of his every move. She would not become one of the many naïve girls she was sure he had used for his own needs and then put to the side when they were no longer useful to him. He was the enemy, and she needed to remember that. She had to come up with a way to get rid of him, and he was distracting her from her mission.

  THE MODERN JANE AUSTEN: No, I think it’s a bad programming algorithm and someone not being very truthful on their profile.

  FLYER GUY: You don’t have to lie on your profile to get a date.

  Elena was infuriated. This man had some nerve to turn things around on her.

  THE MODERN JANE AUSTEN: ME? How DARE YOU! I was very honest on my profile.

  FLYER GUY: Are you sure?

  Elena was done playing games with him tonight. She went to sign out of her profile when another message popped up.

  FLYER GUY: I’m pretty sure the Modern Jane Austen would believe in destiny.

  Daniel had to be the most hard-headed man she had ever cast eyes upon.

  You are infuriating. She typed back.

  FLYER GUY: Why do you hate me so much? Is it because I gave you a hard time with paperwork seven years ago? Come on. You can’t be that petty. Why don’t we let bygones be bygones and start anew?

  Wouldn’t that be easy for him? How could he act like he was oblivious to what he had done? Elena would not give him the pleasure of making her feel like she was the crazy resentful person who couldn’t get over the past. What he did was unforgivable. She couldn’t continue with this conversation. She had to put an end to it.

  THE MODERN JANE AUSTEN: I have no interest in starting anything new with you. Goodnight.

  She signed off and closed her laptop. Why couldn’t she ignore him? Why did she let him get her all riled up? Why on earth was he back in her life after all these years? She got up and started pacing the living room like an animal in captivity. She wanted to start a new life, not relive the past, and all this talk about destiny was nonsense. Of course, she believed in destiny. But she refused to believe Daniel had anything to do with her destiny. He was everything that was wrong for her. He had caused so much pain in her life, and she refused to believe he could bring any happiness to it.

  Chapter 11

  She ran toward him, the rain pouring down on her face. She ran faster. “Wait.” She screamed, her legs giving out from underneath. He walked toward the fog, disappearing little by little. He turned. His face a blurry image.

  “I’m almost there. Wait!” She screamed, running out of breath. “Please don’t leave me,” she begged. She could hear the whisper of his voice—so close yet so far away.

  “It’s okay, baby,” he said with a smile on his face. “You can let go now.”

  “No…don't go.” She fell, scraping her knees. She looked up, and he was gone. “NO! NO! NO!” She pounded the ground with her fist. She cried, covering her face with her hands. “Wait, Dad, please wait…I’m so sorry I wasn’t there.”

  Elena woke up sobbing. “Papi, why did you leave me?” She wiped the tears from her eyes. She turned and looked over at the clock on her nightstand. It was 5:00 a.m. —almost time for her to get up and get ready for work. She picked up the photo of her parents sitting beside her alarm clock. She looked at her dad whom she adored and missed more than words could express. As a little girl, she thought her dad was a real superhero. He was brave and bold, and she had always wanted someone like that for her. She ran her thumb against his face. “Papi, I miss you so much. If only I could hold you one more time and tell you how much I love you. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.” She looked at her mom smiling next to him. Her mother had been so lonely without her dad since his passing seven years ago. She had never remarried and had remained alone, with Elena over Skype as her main source of company. Her parents had been married for forty years. They had fought like crazy but loved each other with a passion that she one day hoped to find. She put the picture frame back in its place.

  She managed to get out of bed with a heavy burden in her heart. Every time she had that dream, it brought so much pain back into her life. She would never see his face again or hear one of his crazy adventures she had heard a thousand times but was still mesmerized by.

  After a quick shower, it dawned on her she had no way of getting to work. She would have to call a tow truck to get her car to a mechanic and try to call Emilio and see if he could give her a ride into work. She walked over to the kitchen to grab her phone when she heard a gradual knock on the door.

  She sighed. It was too early to deal with people. She walked over to the front door and stood on her tiptoes to look through the peephole. “Dammit,” she muttered under her breath. Daniel stood on the other side of the door. She swore he was like a homeless dog that just kept coming back.

  She swung the door open.

  “Good morning, match mate,” he greeted with a wide smile. He was wearing a black jacket with a hood. His face was freshly shaven, and she could smell the soap still lingering on his body.

  It was too early in the morning for this nonsense. “What are you doing here?” She snapped.

  “I figured you needed a ride to work, so here I am.” He held his arms wide open for a hug.

  “You must still be drunk from last night.” Elena was convinced there had to be something behind this pleasant behavior of his. She should give him the benefit of the doubt, but who was she kidding—she never would. He must want something from her, and she just had to figure out what it was.

  Daniel put his arms down. “Hey, I’m just trying to be helpful.”

  Elena thought he was the devil in disguise. “Well, that’s nice of you, but I’ll have to pass. I have to make a couple of phone calls to get my car taken care of.” She started closing the door, but Daniel reached in and held it open. “I already did that.”

  “Excuse me?” She was confused. What exactly had he done?

  “After I had dropped you off last night, I called a friend of mine who owns a tow truck, and he towed it to my mechanic. Your car will be waiting for you outside after work today.”

  Elena stared at him, and for once she was speechless. “I um…I really don’t know what to say. You didn’t have to go through all the trouble.” She couldn’t believe he had taken care of her car. She was taken back by such unusual kindness.

  “A thank you will suffice,” he said, smiling.

  “Oh, of course. Thank you. Please tell me how much I owe you.” She turned to go back into the apartment to get her checkbook.

  He stepped inside, inviting himself in. “You don’t owe me anything. It was a quick fix, and my guy owed me a favor.”

  “Well, that’s very kind of you—surprising actually.”

  He chose to ignore her last statement as he glanced around her apartment. “So, are you ready?”

  Elena wasn’t sure if she was ready
to be near him right now. The dream of seeing her dad was still so vivid in her mind, she didn’t think it would be a good idea. “To be honest, I’m not sure if I’m up for another motorcycle ride so soon after last night.” She hoped her excuse would be enough to get him out of her apartment.

  “I brought my car with me today. My sides are still sore from your bear hug.” His smile revealed his dimples.

  What was wrong with her and why was she noticing these things? “You know, now that I’m thinking about it, I asked Emilio to come get me.”

  “Liar. You did not.” He teased. “We have to get going if I’m going to make it on time to my lesson.”

  “Oh, that’s right, you don’t want to keep Mr. Morton waiting.” Again she was out of choices. She sighed in defeat. “Let me go get my purse.” As much as she disliked Daniel, she hated being late for work.

  “So, are these your parents?” Daniel asked.

  Elena turned to find him holding up a picture of her with her parents before she left Venezuela to go to back to the States. “Yes.” Elena wanted to snap the picture out of his hand.

  “Do they live near?”

  Why did he care? “No. My mother still lives in Venezuela. My father has passed.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.” He placed the picture back on the table.

  Elena just looked at him and ignored his condolences. “I’m ready.”

  They headed downstairs where a shining black Mustang waited for them. Elena snorted. Of course, he would have a black mustang. From the looks of it, she expected Batman to come jumping out any minute. She reached out to open the door when his hand suddenly appeared brushing gently against hers—she froze. He opened the door for her. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  She got into the car, already regretting her choice of accepting his offer for the second day in a row. She glanced around before he got in and spotted several bags filled with toys in the backseat of his immaculate car. They must be for his nieces and nephews, she concluded without giving it a second thought. She wondered what he would think if he saw her car, with her library of romance novels in the back seat with half-naked guys on the covers of the books.

  Daniel stepped inside of the car, and his presence filled the small space between them. “How is your friend getting into my car, when I have the key?” Elena asked.

  He looked at her and smiled. “He can make a key to open it.”

  “Is that legal?”

  “Depends. Are you going to press charges?” He joked.

  “Of course not,” Elena said.

  “You got a dead body in the car or something? Cause you know, he would probably take care of it if I asked him to.” He smiled.

  This version of Daniel was unsettling. He was trying to get her guard down, but she could see through his disguise. “Why are you doing this?” she asked him. She didn’t believe for one second he was filled with remorse for his transgressions.

  He put the key in the ignition, and the engine came to life. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” One thing Daniel was well versed at was avoidance.

  “Don’t be coy with me, Daniel. Why are you being so helpful all of a sudden? It’s against your nature, so why don’t we just drop the pretense.”

  “What makes you think I’m pretending? Because a long time ago, I was some young, overconfident captain who disliked paperwork and gave you a little bit of a hard time—I didn’t know that made me such a bad person.”

  Elena snorted. “Let me trigger your memory: you treated everyone like they were all beneath you and now you act like it never happened.”

  He was pensive for a moment, choosing his next words carefully. “I admit I was a tad overconfident back then, but it came with the territory. Doubting myself meant risking my life. And for your information, I didn’t treat everyone like they were beneath me. I looked out for my people.”

  Elena remembered that night in the club when he had taken care of her, and for a brief moment, she had seen a different Captain Grant, but it had all been a lie. Her judgment had clearly been clouded by the alcohol she had imbibed that night. “So you reserved your rudeness for me?”

  He shifted gears as he sped up entering the highway. “You took everything too personally.”

  There he was trying to twist the truth again and excuse his behavior. Elena knew he would never change and trying to argue with him was as effective as beating her head against a wall. “It was hard not to when it was directed at me.”

  “People change, Elena.”

  “Not that much,” she murmured.

  His jaw tensed. She could tell he wanted to change the subject, and she was getting so upset that she wanted to change the subject as well. He turned up the radio, a clear indication he didn’t want to talk anymore. Elena welcomed the sound of the music instead of his voice. They rode the rest of the way in tense and uncomfortable silence. After twenty minutes, they pulled into the parking lot. Elena reached over to unbuckle her seatbelt when Daniel halted her escape and placed his hand over hers. “Listen,” he paused as if dwelling on what he was going to say next, “I’m sorry for being a jerk to you all those years ago.” He spoke in a tone filled with sincerity.

  Elena looked at him, and all she felt was pain. Sorrow from the damage he had caused her and her family. “I’m sorry, but I’m not ready to forgive you.” She snatched her hand away from his. She could feel it burning where he had touched it.

  Daniel waved his hand in frustration. “What is it with you?”

  Elena spun around, her amber eyes clawing him like talons. “What is it with me?”

  “Yes, I mean for God’s sake, it was seven years ago. Enough already. Get over it.”

  Elena could feel the adrenaline of rage rushing through her body. “You have no idea the pain that you have caused me. You don’t get to come here and expect me to bend over backward to forgive you, so you don’t have a guilty conscience. What you did was unforgivable.” She opened the door and got out.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” he yelled from the other side.

  Elena slammed the door, and Daniel flinched like any guy who adored his vehicle would.

  “Hey, I’m talking to you,” he yelled after her in an attempt to make her stop. “Coward,” he continued throwing jabs her way.

  Elena stopped dead in her tracks. “Coward?” She turned around. “If anyone is a coward, it’s you.” Elena glared at him with hatred in her eyes. “I was THERE—there listening when you told the commander that he should send me to Kuwait because I was getting involved with the wrong crowd, who by the way happened to be your crew!”

  Daniel stiffened at Elena’s accusation. His brows drew together in an angry frown and once again, the familiar mask of egotism fell upon his face. “I did that for your own good.” His voice was harsh and with no signs of remorse.

  “And who the hell made you judge and juror? What I did was none of your business.”

  “Steven wasn’t good for you,” he replied sharply.

  “That wasn’t YOUR decision to make.”

  Daniel looked at Elena in disbelief. “Is that’s why you are so angry with me? Because you didn’t get to hook up with some loser.”

  “No, you jerk! I despise you because I never got to say goodbye to the one man I loved the most on this earth.”

  Daniel threw his hands in the air in frustration. “You barely knew him.”

  “Not Steven, you moron. My father was sick. I had made plans to see him. But I never got to go, all because of you. He died…” Tears were welling up in her eyes. “He died, and I never got to say goodbye to him. You hated me so much you had to send me across the world. All because I wouldn’t write your stupid reports because you were too fucking lazy to do it yourself. So please save me your I’m sorry because I will NEVER forgive you for what you did.”

  Elena walked away and left him standing there in the parking lot. She wiped the tears from her face. All these years she had been holding it inside, and now it
was out. But for some reason, she only felt worse.

  Chapter 12

  Elena ran to the bathroom to clean up before anyone could see her red eyes. She examined herself and inspected her face, trying to wipe away the evidence of tears. She had tried for so many years to cope with the pain of losing her father, and she thought she had managed to deal with the loss, but today the grief had come back again in an unexpected wave knocking her off her feet. She cradled her head in her trembling hands and ruined her makeup for the second time that morning.

  After cleaning herself up in the bathroom, she made it to her desk. She put her purse inside the bottom drawer of her desk and turned on her computer. She pulled out her chair and noticed a folded piece of white paper sitting on it. She prayed it was Daniel’s resignation, but luck had not been on her side these last couple of weeks. She grabbed the piece of paper and unfolded it. The note was from Jake asking if she could stop by and talk to him later. She threw the paper in the trash and made a mental note to see him after the staff meeting where she would have the tremendous honor of seeing Daniel again and feign a smile for everyone.

  After printing enough copies of the agenda for everyone, she grabbed her notebook from her desk and headed to the conference room. Her heart was still racing from her confrontation with Daniel, and all she wanted to do was run away from there and as far away from him as possible. But duty called, and she had to put her problems aside and do her job. She turned the corner and walked into the conference room. Daniel was sitting there alone waiting for her.

  Daniel shot up from the chair. “Elena, please hear me out. I had no idea about your father.”

  Elena turned around to leave then stopped in her tracks—she was tired of running away. She straightened herself with dignity and walked over to the small conference room table ignoring Daniel’s plea. “Of course you had no idea,” she said surprised by her cool tone. “Because you never stop to think how your actions are going to affect other people. All you think about is yourself.”