by Kiki Leach
He smiled the moment he heard her voice as if someone had informed him that he had just won the multimillion dollar lottery. “You haven’t blown anything. But I do have to wonder if you always keep quiet when calling someone on the phone? That defeats the entire purpose of it. Next time just text me if you want to and it’ll be all good.”
“I’m sorry, I just get really nervous when I’m talking to someone on the phone for the first time. It makes me feel like I’m back in high school.”
“I understand. I get that way sometimes too.” He continued walking and smiling the entire time. “Now having said that, I wasn’t expecting for you to call me up so soon, even if you didn’t speak first. But I’m glad you did.”
“To tell you the truth, I wasn’t actually planning to call you at first--”
“Ouch,” he said as he hurried to cross the street over to Madison and 5th. “A beautiful woman like you sure knows how to bruise a man’s ego.”
“You didn’t let me finish,” she told him. “You seemed like a really nice man when I met you this afternoon. Maybe a little older than what I’m used to--”
“There’s that bruised ego again--”
“BUT,” she continued. “I thought why not give you a chance to prove just how nice you can be, regardless of what your age is.” She took a moment to think. “How exactly old are you by the way?”
“Age is nothing but a number,” he said.
“I’m twenty-three.”
He stopped walking and looked at his surroundings. He dropped his head, his eyes facing the ground as a small wrinkle formed between his brows. He wasn’t sure if he should tell her how old he was in return, fearing it might scare her away. But he had the opportunity for the first time in his life to be honest with someone he could potentially care about, and he wasn’t willing to risk giving that up.
“Add about fourteen more years to that and you have my age.”
She gulped and squeezed her eyes shut. “Thirty-seven isn’t that bad.”
“You thought I looked old.”
She laughed. “I didn’t, I said that you were older. And you do – are” – she cringed at her choice of words – “but that’s not terrible. Believe me, I’ve had men my dad’s age that have tried to…” She cut herself off and cleared her throat. He chuckled and continued walking. “So about that restaurant opening that you were telling me about for Thursday? I’m free if you still want me to accompany you there.”
“Is that your way of saying that my age isn’t a problem for you?”
“Not at all. In fact, I think it’s probably the best thing for me right now. Someone wiser, more equipped to handle a woman like me.”
He loosened his collar and arched his brows. “Are you a lot to handle?”
“I’m a pretty spicy Latina and can be a lot to take from time to time,” she said.
“I’m always up for the challenge, and glad to hear that my age isn’t as much of an issue as I thought it might be. It just makes me even more eager to see you again. In fact, why wait until Thursday when I’m free right now and for the remainder of the day?”
She leaned back, a wide grin crossing her lips. “That’s great, but I’m not. I have things to do, errands to run…” She looked to the floor and crossed her legs. “This is the number to where I live, so when you call me, just use this.”
“Okay, I’ll store it in my phone. And you’ll be the one to answer?”
“Yes. Or one of my roommates will.”
“Ahh, so you have roommates. Would one of them be the man I saw you with earlier today?”
“Maurice? He’s one of them, but the other one is a woman.”
He lifted his brows in surprise. “That seems pretty unconventional, but I can work with it. I took a big risk asking you out not knowing if that guy was your man or not.”
“I assumed you didn’t care.”
“You assumed right. I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to get to know you either way,” he said. She blushed while trying to hold back a smile. “What time can I expect to pick you up on Thursday?”
“Why don’t I meet you there? What’s the name of the restaurant?”
“Angelino’s Bistro Bar and Grill, around the corner from Eleven Madison Park. You know it?”
“Very well.”
“Good. The doors open at 6:15, mostly for those who don’t plan to stay long. So I’ll see you there around 7? 7:30?”
“7:30. I’ll be there.” She hung up the phone, still nervous from their interaction, but wholly satisfied and more intrigued by him than she had been earlier that afternoon. It was a big leap for her, the first time she was actually putting herself out there and allowing a man to take her someplace without the possibility of sex before or after. This wasn’t like her occasional hookups pre-Oscar where she loved them and left them before the sun came up. This had the potential to be something real, which is what she needed and felt she deserved considering her current circumstances. “No puede ser el elegido, pero por favor, Dios, que será más de lo que ya tengo.” She crossed her finger over her chest and looked toward the ceiling, exhaling. When she heard Maurice coming down the stairs, she quickly got up from the chair and stuffed the card inside her bra next to her cash.
“Who was on the phone?” he asked.
She thought for a split second to tell him the truth, but then decided against it. “No one. I was just calling to see how much money was left in my checking account.”
“You couldn’t do that earlier while we were at the actual bank?”
“I wasn’t thinking about it then. I had planned to after you gave me the cash I needed, but seeing Melanie got my brain all screwed up. I was confused.”
“How do you feel about her staying in town? You talked about Oscar’s new shop but never said anything about how his wife staying here for the duration--”
“It’s not the duration,” she interrupted.
“It’s for a lot longer than you planned.” He looked aside and tilted his head. “You never said how it makes you feel.”
“I don’t want to talk about my feelings with you, Mo.”
“You have to talk to someone and Vanessa’s not here.”
She sighed heavily and lifted her shoulders. “I don’t know, I feel like…” She looked around the room and dropped her hands to her sides. “I feel like Oscar and I won’t get to have as much time together.”
“Which is probably a good thing,” he said. “And it’s just more proof that he’s not leaving her for you.”
“I don’t want to hear any more of this right now. I’m heading out to clear my head, do you want anything while I’m gone?”
He knit his brows, confused at her sudden reaction. “Where are you going?”
“I won’t know until I get there.” She knew where she was going and exactly how long it would take to get there. Leave it to Maurice to say all the wrong things to make her so unsure of her previous decisions. She knew that something felt so right about her moving forward with William, but in thinking of Oscar, what they still had and what she was so unsure of them ever having again, she started to feel like something bigger was missing from that initial leap.
He shook his head. “No, I don’t want anything, no matter where you go. Just be careful with yourself, alright?”
“I always am. I’ll be back later.” She headed for the foyer and out the door.
Part Nine
Hours later, Nikki still hadn’t returned home, and neither had Vanessa, who had been wandering around the city after leaving Nathan. Maurice was sitting in the living room waiting for her when Alexis finally called the house, demanding to speak with her daughter, though she never mentioned to Maurice, who was nervous for the first time in his life in talking to her, what she needed to speak to her about.
“It’s urgent,” she told him in a stern voice. He almost swallowed his own tongue. “She’s not answering her cell phone and she’s not answering this phone, and I have no other way of getting aho
ld of her. I need to know where she is now.”
“I can…” He cleared his throat in an attempt to cool his growing nerves. “I can give her a message--”
“Tell her if she expects to still work for me tomorrow morning or any other day following that, she will stop by here to see me or call me back before this night is over.” She hung up on him without saying goodbye. He stared at the phone, his hand slightly shaking as he placed it back down on the hook. If Vanessa was the only woman to ever make him want to settle down, her mother was the only one who ever made him feel the need to run away.
When he heard the front door open, he peeked around the corner and saw Vanessa walking through. She tossed her clutch on a small table near the door and immediately removed her sweater. She looked at it, seeing nothing but dirt and filth, and immediately headed for the laundry room, tossing it into the washing machine. She stood there and thought about it mingling with her other clothes and pulled it back out, balling it in her hands and placing it on top of the lid.
“I think I need to burn this,” she said to herself. “Burn every single reminder of that useless son of a bitch.” She left it there and went through to the kitchen to search the drawers for a lighter.
Maurice heard her rummaging and came in, staring at her as her back was turned to him. She was mumbling something to herself while slamming doors and he chuckled, crossing his arms and leaning against the frame of the archway.
“What the hell are you doing?” he asked.
She spun around and bumped into the counter. “You scared the shit out of me -- what are you doing here?”
“I still live here, V.”
“I know that, I mean… I wasn’t expecting you to still be home when I got back.”
“I haven’t been here the entire time. I ran a few errands with Nikki, then came back here.”
“Oh.” She nodded. “I guess I should be glad that you two didn’t kill each other while you were out.”
“We came close a few times, but--”
“Have you been standing there watching me the entire time?”
“No…” He moved inside and bobbed his head. “Yes. I like watching you sometimes because you fascinate me.”
“Please.”
“I’m serious… What are you even looking for?”
“Lighter fluid and a box of matches…” She slammed the drawer shut and rested her hand on the counter. “Or anything to burn my dignity with because I completely lost it this afternoon.”
“If it’s lost, no need to burn it.”
“Very funny.”
“I didn’t mean to…” He stopped and raised his hands. “I guess brunch didn’t go as well as you thought it would.”
“It went worse than what I thought, which is saying a lot because I didn’t expect it to be good in the first place. But whatever, I don’t want talk about that anymore because it’s not important. I went, I saw, I conquered the jolly green bitch. And then it was over. Now, where’s Nikki?”
“She went out to clear her head. We were at the bank today--”
“Oh, really? Mm-hmm.”
“I know what you’re thinking, V.”
“I’m sure you do. But go on. You were at the bank, and, what?”
“Melanie was there--”
“Melanie!” Her eyes widened and she grabbed either side of her face. “Oh my God! Ugh, damn it. I completely forgot to have Samantha snail mail her a copy of the magazine so that she could pre-approve it, and the issue comes out in TWO DAYS! Maybe she can stop by to visit and pick it up tomorrow so that we can make any quick changes if need be before it goes to global printing. But we might have to delay it. Fuck, I don’t know how I could’ve messed this up even further by forgetting everything. We’re supposed to be having a launch party tomorrow night at Alexander’s restaurant that I originally planned, but I’ve been so preoccupied with everything that’s happened since then. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, FUCK, gotdamn!” She exhaled and looked toward the ceiling as she shook her head. “Did she say anything to you about any of this?”
“All she told us today was that she was planning on staying in town to help Oscar build his new coffee shop.”
“She never mentioned anything about the magazine?”
“Not unless she said something to Nikki before I got over to them.”
“That probably means she’s been preoccupied too. Probably why she’s thinking of permanently relocating here, and with that I have to ask, why the hell is Oscar building yet another shop? Who are these people telling him that he should continue on in this business? Because they must be stopped. Does Melanie know that his coffee is nowhere near that good – that it’s not even passable for consumption? Where is it going to be located?”
“Inside your office building from what she said.”
“What?” she snapped. “Exactly where inside the building?”
“Some place on the first floor, I think.” He shrugged. “You don’t want him there?”
“No. He’s a prick and we have enough of those occupying that building as it is, why bother adding one more who doesn’t even deserve it? This is such a terrible idea. Things are already complicated enough for me at work, I don’t need him adding to it even more by sucking up space he doesn’t need, and coming up to ask me about Nikki every five minutes while trying to use his bland coffee as an excuse to get inside my part of the building. That has to be his only reason for choosing to move in there.”
He raised his index toward her and moved closer as he looked to the floor. “Speaking of work,” he started.
“Oh God no.” She sank down like a turtle inside its shell and felt like bursting into tears before he even said another word. “What did she say?”
“She wants you to call her back before the night is over. She said something about you maybe going over there if you couldn’t--”
“Hell no. No way, I’m not going over there to see her in person. Alone or with a bodyguard, even with Alexander there, she would find a way to kick my ass from here to kingdom come, HER will be done. I’m not calling her back either.”
“She sounded really pissed, V. She even scared me.”
“Well, I’m sorry about that, but I can’t deal with her lashing out at me today. I’ll wait for it tomorrow morning where she can see me inside my office. There’s glass everywhere so she won’t be able to do anything to me in front of my employees, at least not anything physical. I may not be able to guarantee it, but it’s more likely that she’ll wait until later and then I’ll have to make up some kind of excuse to leave the office early without her knowing. When I come back here, I’ll probably need to get the locks changed because she still has a key. I…”
She hadn’t noticed Maurice moving closer until he was in her breathing space. She leaned away from him as she felt the tension rising between, nearly suffocating them both. He made her nervous even when he wasn’t trying. He slipped his hands on other side of her, resting them on the counter. Her heart beat fast as he moved himself against her, her skin pricked as he grazed her arms.
She stared at his lips, remembering how full they were, how they tasted, then refocused on his eyes as he gazed deeply into hers. For the first time, she noticed a hint of yellow swirling around that root beer color of his irises. It was something she had never paid much attention to in all the years she had known him. Then again, she never really looked at him in the same way she had now. She breathed out as he leaned forward and smiled at her.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Just making a memory,” he said, staring at every feature on her face.
“A memory of what?”
“Of us in this moment, as we’re still friends.”
“We’ll always be friends. You’ve said it more times than I ever have.”
“I know. But I’m starting to understand what you mean in that we might not always be friends like this. Not anymore.”
This is exactly what she was afraid of. “Look, Maurice, I�
��” She paused and tapped her fingers against her forehead, hoping to remain calm. “I don’t have an answer for you yet.”
“What was the question?”
She made a face. “Mo.”
“Alright, okay, I know.” He grinned. “Where did you go after brunch today? It’s after 5 o’clock. I know that Sheila offered to pay, but she couldn’t buy you the entire restaurant.”
“She might try doing that next time if it keeps me from yelling at her,” she said. “I didn’t go anywhere important, I just… walked around the city. I needed some time alone to think about more things than I had this morning--”
“Things like what?”
“This. Us, whatever.”
“You think about us more than once a day?”
“I think about us all the time, just not always in the way that you’ve probably convinced yourself that I have.”
“What have I convinced myself of, V?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
He looked down at her shaking hands and took them in his own. She felt something flush through her, a wave of intensely deep emotion that started from the bottom of her stomach and led straight down to her toes. It was a response to his touch she didn’t seem to recognize, much stronger than the electrical current she always felt the moment he came in contact with her on any level of physicality.
She snatched her hands from his and moved across the kitchen. He was left a bit stunned. When he turned to face her, she was looking out the window, thinking.
“V--” he started.
“We need more curtains. These are old and dreary, we need something to lighten up this room.”
“Sure, yeah, we can stop by IKEA this weekend and get whatever kind of curtains you want – what the hell is going on with you?”
“Nothing. I…” She couldn’t tell him about Nathan. It wasn’t like before, when she could complain to him about whatever man she was dating being a complete asshole, not when he was so openly attempting to be a contender for her himself. It was over, she thought. Done. From the way he looked at her and things he said about making a memory, she realized she now had a lover in Maurice, and the friend she always knew was long gone. “It’s nothing. Just the whole Oscar thing is really bothering me. I don’t understand why he chose my building when there are plenty of abandoned buildings surrounding New York City as we speak. He said something about it when he came to see me a few weeks ago, but I didn’t think to take him seriously.”