Year of Living Blonde (Sweet Life in Seattle, Book 1)

by Simonne, Andrea

  “I’m on my way in. I should be there in a few minutes. Why?”

  “You know that empty space next door?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, it’s not empty anymore.”

  “What do you mean?” Natalie wonders if she’s misheard.

  “I’m saying there’s a group of contractors in there right now.”

  “Seriously!” Natalie’s nearly swerves her van off the road with excitement. “Is Anthony finally giving us that space?” Her mind races through different scenarios. Maybe he wanted to surprise them? Give it to her as a gift?

  “No, that’s not it.”

  “It’s not?”

  She can hear Blair let out a deep sigh. “Just get in here.”

  Natalie parks in her usual space in the alley right behind La Dolce Vita. The air smells like diesel, and it’s cold and damp outside. The back door to the space next to the bakery is open.

  Blair comes out to meet her. “I went over and spoke to them. The contractors said they were hired by the people who are leasing the space.”

  “Somebody’s leasing that space?”

  “Apparently so.”

  “Who?”

  Blair shrugs. “I don’t know. From the way they’re talking, it sounds like a clothing store.”

  Natalie is shaking her head. “That can’t be right. Anthony would have told me—told us. I’m going to call him and find out what’s going on.”

  She dials his number with Blair standing there. It goes directly to voicemail. Natalie leaves a message describing the situation. “Call me, Anthony, okay?”

  “Maybe there’s a mistake or something,” Blair says, though it doesn’t sound like she believes it.

  Natalie leans back against the van trying to make sense of the situation. There’s a knot in her stomach along with a growing sense of dread. She recognizes this feeling. The feeling of relying on someone, trusting them, and being let down.

  I should have known.

  “Are you okay?” Blair asks.

  Natalie takes a deep breath. “I’m fine. Let’s just unload all this stuff from the back.”

  They get Carlos to come out and the three of them carry in all the baking Natalie did that morning. Natalie goes out front to make herself a latte while Carlos unloads items for the pastry case. They have a new barista working the cash register and Natalie says a quick hello to her.

  Finally, she sits down in their little office and tries calling Anthony again. There’s still no answer.

  “It looks like someone else just arrived next door,” Blair tells her. “Let’s go talk to them.”

  They head over and enter through the back. Natalie’s only been inside this space once, ages ago. She steps over rolls of plastic and other tools.

  Natalie sees a couple of people with Starbucks cups and gets a bad feeling. It’s a woman and man, both talking to a couple of other contractors.

  As Blair and Natalie approach, the group turns to look at them.

  “Hi,” Blair says. “We’re the bakers from next door and just wanted to come over and find out what’s happening.”’

  “Oh, hello!” An Asian woman with black hair and short blunt bangs puts her hand out. “I’m Amy and this is my business partner, Daniel. We’re going to be your new neighbors!”

  Amy goes on to explain how they’re opening a clothing store. “Tasteful, but for the younger set. That’s why being near the university is such a perfect location.”

  “And you’ve spoken with our landlord, Anthony?” Natalie asks.

  “We signed contracts, but we haven’t met him yet. Just Graham, his lawyer.”

  “So Graham handled the whole thing?” Blair asks.

  Amy nods. “Yes, I got the feeling that was typical though. Is there a problem?”

  “No, no problem.” Blair turns to look at Natalie.

  “You’ll have to come to our grand opening!” Amy tells them. “We’ll hire you to help cater desserts!”

  Natalie tries to smile, but feels queasy.

  When they leave and walk back to La Dolce Vita, she stops Blair. “I have to go find him.” She doesn’t need to say who she’s talking about.

  Blair nods. “I’ll cover for you. Do you want to drive Isadora? You’ll need her today. Let me get you the keys.”

  Natalie is so furious she can’t even enjoy driving Blair’s amazing car. Her hands grip the steering wheel as if it were Anthony’s neck. She finds a parking spot near the Astronomy-Physics building, remembers where his office is, but when she gets up there only finds Maya.

  “Where is he?”

  Maya looks at her with surprise. “Anthony? He’s in class. What’s wrong?”

  “Where is this class?” Natalie asks, trying to control the anger in her voice.

  Maya gives her instructions. “Do you want me to write it down for you?”

  “No, that’s okay. I’ve got it.” Anthony’s not the only one with a good memory. She remembers things too, very well, in fact. She remembers how he told her he’d lease them that space. He said they only had to prove to him they could afford it, but apparently, he forgot about that.

  Natalie finds the room number that Maya gave her. It’s another lecture hall, but when she pulls the door open to go inside she discovers it’s empty. She hears voices though and down near the front she can see a few people. Some are sitting at a table while Anthony is standing in front of them writing on a whiteboard.

  As she makes her way down, a couple of the people at the desk turn to glance at her. Anthony is still writing and doesn’t seem to notice she’s entered the room.

  Taking a seat behind the group, Natalie stays quiet. Anthony is talking as he writes, something about the Schwarzchild radius—whatever that is, and his voice carries authoritatively. His blue shirtsleeves are rolled up and reveal the dark hair on his forearms. He’s not wearing a watch or any other kind of jewelry, not that he should. It would only distract from his blinding appeal. Even now, she’s still drawn to him. It angers her further. He should look like an ugly toad with warts all over, but he still looks like the handsome prince.

  One of the students asks Anthony a question. He still doesn’t seem to notice that she’s sitting there.

  Finally, after he answers the question and still doesn’t notice her, she speaks up.

  “I have a question, Professor Novello.”

  He turns to her, pushes his nerd glasses up on his head. His expression changes from confident to surprise. “Natalie?”

  “Maybe you can explain the hypothesis of keeping a promise.”

  Anthony is confused. “Natalie, I’m in the middle of class. Could you wait and we’ll talk afterward?”

  “What I have to say won’t take long.” She leans forward. “This has to do with an empty space that now contains matter.”

  “What?”

  “The matter is a group of contractors setting up a clothing store right next to a certain bakery.”

  Anthony grows still. She can see understanding wash over him. He opens his mouth. “Wait . . .”

  She pushes herself up and wishes she could kick something, kick him, kick herself for being such an idiot. “Don’t,” she says, putting her hand out to him. “Just, don’t!”

  And then she leaves. She hears him excusing himself to his students, hears his footsteps running up behind her, but she doesn’t slow down. Finally, his hand is on her arm.

  She shakes him off. “Don’t touch me.”

  “Stop, Natalie, let me talk to you. I need to explain this.”

  They’re at the top of the stairs and she turns around. Up close, his expression is worried and she can see that he’s rattled.

  “How could you, Anthony?”

  “I’m sorry. I meant to tell you sooner.”

  “Then why didn’t you?”

  “Things were just starting to get good between us. I didn’t want to screw it up.”

  Natalie is incredulous. “Are you kidding me? You signed contracts! You couldn’
t have maybe mentioned that?”

  “You’re right. I should have. I was planning to tell you this week, actually.”

  “How could you rent that space out when you know how much we wanted it?”

  He plows a hand through his hair in frustration. “Look, you and Blair don’t have the income.”

  “Yes, we do. But you didn’t even give us a chance. Your stupid program is wrong and so are you!”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “You think you know everything, don’t you? Poor Anthony, always the smartest person in the room.”

  “I don’t have to be the smartest person in the room to be able to add and subtract!”

  “Why couldn’t you have waited just a little bit longer? Why?”

  He’s silent.

  “That’s all we needed to prove it to you.”

  “I just admitted it was a mistake not to tell you, but I doubt more time would have made any difference with your financial information. It wouldn’t have changed anything. Your rent would have doubled. You and Blair can’t afford that.”

  “You don’t know that for sure. We would have extended our hours. That extra space would have been a deal changer for us.”

  Anthony shakes his head. “And I thought you said you never gambled?”

  “That’s not gambling!”

  “Nothing you’re saying changes the fact that you don’t have the income and I have bills to pay and mouths to feed just like you do.”

  “You never should have told us you’d give us that chance, then.” Natalie hugs herself in frustration. “How could you not tell me what was going on?”

  Anthony lets out a deep breath. “You’re right. I admit I made a mistake there. I should have told you sooner, but it doesn’t change the facts.”

  “Well, it looks like I made a big mistake, too. I thought I could take you at your word, but I was wrong!”

  ANTHONY DOESN’T COME into the bakery all week, doesn’t call or text. Natalie doesn’t hear a word from him, not that she expects to, but still. Apparently, there’s a small part of her holding out hope that somehow he would come through for her and fix this mess.

  Meanwhile, she and Blair have been getting to know their new neighbors, Amy and Daniel. They get coffee and pastries every day, along with some of the contractors who are building the fixtures for the clothing store.

  “I wish they’d stop coming over,” Blair says. “I know it isn’t their fault, but it’s like having our faces rubbed in it.”

  “I know,” Natalie sighs.

  “Maybe we should keep looking for a new space.”

  “Probably.” Natalie sighs again.

  Lindsay’s eyes narrowed with anger when she heard. “Who knew geeks could be so sneaky?”

  By the time Friday rolls around, it’s hard for Natalie not to feel depressed, though she’s doing her best to try and put it out of her mind. Especially since it was the night Anthony was supposed to cook dinner for her and they’d have had their first sleepover. She’s bummed thinking about her little joke.

  I was ready to go to bed with him.

  She wanted to more than she cared to admit. And it wasn’t just because he would have been the first man since Peter, or even because she felt so strongly attracted to him. Oddly, it wasn’t his outer appearance at all. It was because of what happened on that Ferris wheel.

  He took care of me.

  She had to give him that. Anthony didn’t get annoyed, or tell her she was being silly, or to get over it. Instead, he took care of her without hesitation. It was the first time in a long time she felt she could rely on a man.

  And now what?

  And now she’s sitting here at home alone on what would have be their first night together. Chloe and Lindsay wanted to stay, but she told them to go ahead with their plans. Peter picked up Chloe with his usual phone call from the driveway, still avoiding her.

  Watching from the front window, it occurred to Natalie that she hasn’t actually seen Peter in ages. He’s never even seen me with blonde hair.

  “I can always invite Oliver over here,” Lindsay tells her. “I think he’d be cool with it if I explained everything.”

  “No, I’m fine. Go on. It’s been a while since I had time to myself. And you guys already have tickets.” Lindsay and Oliver were going to see the Arctic Monkeys.

  Lindsay studies her and then gives her a hug. “Okay, but remember I’m only a phone call away.”

  Once Natalie is alone, she starts a thorough search of the entire house. It takes her almost an hour to find what she’s looking for, but in the end, she’s victorious.

  “Ah ha!” Natalie grins, holding up her brown Lord of the Rings hoodie. “I knew you were still around here somewhere!” It was well hidden, tucked away in the back of the linen closet behind an old bottle of fabric softener. She holds it up to her nose and gets a whiff of laundry soap. “Perfect.”

  Natalie showers and then puts on black sweat pants, a white camisole, and her comfortable hoodie, which used to be merely large on her when she was more overweight, but now fits her like a circus tent.

  “That’s okay. I’m not dressing to impress anyone tonight.” The hoodie feels as good as a hug from an old friend.

  Padding barefoot into the kitchen, she makes herself a big bowl of buttered popcorn and some fruit salad. She glances at the wine cabinet, but opts for ice water with lemon instead.

  She studies her collection of movies. She considers The Fellowship of the Ring, but for some reason her eyes keep going to The Empire Strikes Back.

  “Oh, what the heck.” She isn’t going to let any memory of Anthony ruin one of her all-time favorite movies.

  Anthony stares into his refrigerator.

  There’s a bottle of ketchup, a bottle of mustard, hot sauce and a jar of mayonnaise.

  I really need to go grocery shopping.

  No salami. No cheese. He sees a box of crackers on the counter and considers squirting ketchup on them for dinner, but that sounds pathetic. There isn’t even peanut butter and jelly. Serena must have eaten the last of it. He usually keeps more food in the house, but he’s been too busy. Plus, he didn’t want to think about the grocery list because then he’d have to think about the dinner he was planning to make Natalie and the reason he’s no longer making it.

  Closing the fridge with a low sigh, he goes upstairs to take a shower. He’s drenched with sweat from lifting weights in the garage, trying to take his mind off how pathetic he feels. He gets under the hot water and debates whether he should jerk off or not. That sounds pathetic, too. It depresses him to think of what he could have been doing tonight. Natalie, with her pin-up girl body and that x-rated mouth. God. Her charms are more than skin deep though. She’s insightful and down to earth. Basically, the whole package. Her good opinion matters to him, and he wants to be the man she thought he was. A smile grows on his face when he thinks about the way she plays him. He likes it. Few people can shine him on like that.

  And I fucking blew it.

  He’s wanted to call her all week. Keeps picking up his phone—staring at it, then putting it down, trying to figure out the right thing to say to fix this. Anthony soaps up and starts thinking about the night he should be having. Natalie, so soft and luscious, and then decides—what the hell—closes his eyes.

  So I’m pathetic.

  Later Anthony sits at the dining room table with his laptop and reads the latest research papers on the astro-ph website. He considers calling Maya, they’ve become pretty good friends, but she has a toddler and he doesn’t want to bother her with his woman problems. He picks up another cracker and squirts it with ketchup. And just as he pops it into his mouth, the house phone rings. He doesn’t bother checking the caller ID.

  “Hello?”

  “Ciao, Antonio?”

  He recognizes his mother’s voice. They haven’t spoken in a few weeks.

  “Ciao, Mamma, come stai?” he says, switching to Italian.

  “Not so good. I’m glad I got h
old of you. There’s a problem with your father. He called me a few minutes ago from Seattle and—”

  “Wait a minute, did you just say Dad’s here in Seattle?”

  “Yes.” She goes on to explain that his father has been in Seattle for the past few days attending a medical conference and that the hotel shuttle he was in had some kind of accident. “It doesn’t sound serious and I spoke to him on his cell a few minutes ago, but we were cut off and I can’t get hold of him again.”

  “Where is he?” Anthony is already stuffing the crackers back into the box. He gets up and searches around for his phone and car keys.

  “The ER at University Hospital. I called, but the switchboard has me on hold and I can’t get through to anyone. I’m sorry to bother you with this, Antonio, but would you go make sure he’s all right?”

  “I’m leaving right now.”

  He takes the quickest route to Seattle. When he gets to the hospital ER, he parks and heads straight for the main reception. After waiting in line briefly, he explains who his father is. They tell him to take a seat, and Anthony finds a spot near the large fish tank.

  It’s been years since he’s been in a hospital.

  He watches the fish swim in the tank peacefully, a kaleidoscope of tropical colors. Everything comes back to him from when he was a kid and used to visit his dad at work. The acrid smell of antiseptic, the bland artwork, and the brisk sense of purpose hospital workers always have. Back then, he wanted nothing more than to be just like his father.

  “Are you Dr. Novello’s son?”

  Anthony turns and finds a nurse in blue scrubs standing in front of him.

  “Yes.”

  “Come on back,” she motions for him to follow. “Your dad just had stitches.”

  Anthony follows her through the double doors and into a long hallway with patient rooms lined up like honeycombs. Finally, she pulls the glass door open on one.

  His father is sitting on a bed, fully dressed, speaking with another man, presumably another doctor.

  He turns. “Anthony?” The inflection in his deep voice is the only thing that gives away his surprise. “What are you doing here?”

  And a big hello to you, too.

  “Mom called. Said you were in a car accident.”