by Candace Shaw
“Yes and no,” Megan whispered.
“Wait a minute. I know that look. You’ve fallen in love with Steven!”
“No! Perhaps. Yes!” she finally admitted to her sister. “We get along great. He’s really a nice, down-to-earth guy. One would think because of his status and his family’s wealth that he would be arrogant and cocky, but he isn’t. Well sometimes, but only when he’s joking about something. He’s a very simple and self-efficient guy. He’s so different than what’s-his-face who acted like he grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth and flaunted his money like it grew on trees.”
“Megan, that’s all Steven knows. He grew up having money so it doesn’t matter to him. Men like your ex want everyone to know they have made it. A show-off. That’s why Daddy never cared for him.”
“Syd, when I see him, a part of me wants to rip my clothes off and have him throw me against the wall and make me scream his name.”
“Up against the wall? Megan, that doesn’t sound like you.”
“My point exactly, but I can’t stop thinking about having sex with him in all kinds of positions. It keeps me up at night.”
“Girl, you got it bad. Real bad.”
“What should I do?”
“Well, the best advice I can give is to simply follow your heart. You’ll know if he’s the right man. It’s just a gut feeling that a person has when they know that there’s no one else who can make them happy.” Sydney spoke in a whimsical voice, which was way outside of her character.
“Syd, is there something you need to tell me?” Megan asked smiling, as they walked back to the table.
“No.” Sydney shrugged. “Just speaking in general.”
The ladies enjoyed the rest of their lunch for the next hour. Tiffani promised to be home by three to relieve her parents, and Sydney had to go back to the bureau. Jade and Megan rode back to the office in Jade’s convertible BMW.
“Megan, are you all right? You don’t look that well. Did something you ate not agree with you?”
“My stomach is a little queasy. Just a little jet lag, more than likely,” Megan answered. The truth was, she was having confusing feelings about Steven, and it was making her sick.
“When we get back to the office, just get into your car and go home. Lucy and I can handle our appointment. You look like you need some rest,” Jade stated.
“Thanks. I could use some more sleep. When I got home yesterday, I finished my project boards for Hilton Head and did laundry,” Megan answered. And I was up all night thinking about my so-called love life. Mostly, fantasizing about how many ways to make love to the Steven, she added in her mind.
“Well, just go home and get some rest. I’m sure being the girlfriend of a politician can be quite busy and exciting,” Jade said, as she parked her car in the parking garage.
Megan hugged Jade and then walked to her car. She didn’t need anything from her office. She had work at home to catch up on. Anything to get her mind off of Steven. Luckily, he would be in Washington, D.C., until Wednesday, and then he was going to Florida before coming back to Atlanta next week. If she was lucky, he wouldn’t call unless she needed to go somewhere with him, and she wasn’t sure if she would be up to going anywhere with him anytime soon.
Megan wanted time to reflect and think about the decision she’d made to date him. If she was falling for him, she didn’t know how much longer she could keep up with this charade, because the truth was, she was no longer pretending.
Chapter 9
Almost a week had gone by and Megan still hadn’t heard from Steven. It was Saturday afternoon, and she was preparing to leave for her godson’s birthday party. She wasn’t sure if she should call Steven or not. She tried staying busy by going overboard on projects for clients as well as helping her sorority with a community-service project she hadn’t originally signed up for.
She hadn’t thought too much about him by the end of the week, at least not during the day. But once her head hit the pillow at night, thoughts of him resided until dawn. She saw him on CNN Thursday morning while she was jogging on the treadmill. The bill he was voting on had passed, and a reporter outside of the capitol in Atlanta was interviewing him. Megan could see that he was freshly shaven and had recently gotten a haircut. His dimples were present and his teeth were white and sparkling.
She had picked up her telephone to call him, but quickly decided not to. She had nothing to say. But in a way she sort of missed talking to him. He was very easy to speak with and was usually in good spirits unlike her ex. She used to have to make him listen to her and even then she knew he wasn’t really listening at all. He never wanted to know how her day was, what projects she was working on or even the simplest of concerns like how she was feeling. Steven always asked those questions, and he actually meant them.
Well, I don’t have time to sit around and worry about Steven, she thought as she tried to wrap KJ’s birthday gift. She hated wrapping presents and would have preferred if she could put it in a gift bag. However, KJ was turning five, and her mother told her a long time ago that children like to unwrap their presents not look in a gift bag. Megan was trying to wrap the present as neatly as possible, but then she remembered KJ was going to just rip the paper off anyway. The finished product looked somewhat decent, but she placed it in a gift bag anyway and decorated it with colorful tissue paper.
“That’s better,” she said to Percy holding the bag up so he could see it. The cat raised a paw at it. She knew that meant he really wanted to play with the dark blue ribbon she tied on the handles.
Megan glanced at the clock and realized if she didn’t get a move on, she would be late to her godson’s birthday party.
Thirty minutes later she was dressed in a yellow, flowery sundress with matching yellow wedges. Chelsea had insisted this sundress would be perfect for a Saturday afternoon luncheon with the senator. Of course, a five-year-old’s birthday party didn’t fit into that category, but she really wanted to wear the dress. Megan pulled her thick hair back into a ponytail. She had been so busy trying to keep her mind off of Steven that she missed her hair appointment on Thursday and had to reschedule.
“Bye, Percy,” Megan said, walking to the door with the gift bag in one hand and a grocery bag with homemade potato salad in the other. Megan wasn’t much of cook, but she was always praised for her potato salad.
It was Saturday, so she knew traffic would be a little hectic from Atlanta’s Buckhead area to the suburbs in Stone Mountain where Tiffani lived. As Megan stepped off of the elevator, she literally ran into a familiar face with the yummy dimples that she immediately wanted to shower with kisses.
“Hello, Megan.”
“Steven, what are you doing here?” she asked surprised that he was there. She had just thought about him when she was in the elevator. Where was he when I thought about him in the shower? That’s where he should’ve popped up.
“Well, I was in the neighborhood and decided to stop by. No, that’s not true. I just wanted to check on you.” Steven raked his eyes over her body, settling them on her manicured toes.
“You could’ve called,” Megan, suggested walking past him toward the parking garage.
“I know, but I just got back in town this morning. I’ve been so busy with meetings all this week. Plus, I wanted to give you some space.”
“I see. Well, I have to go to my godson’s birthday party. I’m running sort of late. I should be halfway there now,” she said, putting her things in the trunk of her black Mustang.
“I thought you had a SUV?”
“I do. This is my weekend car. It was my first car straight out of college. An impulse buy, at least that’s what my dad says. Syd has a red one just like it.” Megan stood by the driver’s door waiting for him to leave, even though she actually preferred to stay and talk to him.
“So Sydney has a
SUV like yours, as well?”
“No. She has a motorcycle.”
“Really? Bryce has one, too.” He paused and looked around as if he wanted to say something else.
“I really need to go,” she said even though she didn’t want to.
“I guess I should’ve called first, but I wasn’t sure if you were taking my calls after what happened last weekend.”
“All is forgotten,” she lied. She couldn’t get it out of her head.
“I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out today. Grab some lunch or something. I remembered what you said about me needing to relax. I actually have some free time if you can believe that!” Steven said, opening the door for her.
“Really?”
“No, not really, but I am giving myself free time. I feel like I eat, sleep and dream about politics. There’s always some bill I need to read over, complaints from constituents and don’t get me started with the rumors in the press. Sometimes, I just want to have a normal day without distractions,” Steven complained.
“Well, you can come with me to the birthday party if you want. I mean it’s a kiddie party with the pony, face painting and the clown, but you can still come. Tiffani won’t mind. She’ll probably put you to work though,” Megan offered, surprising herself.
“Cool. But I don’t have a gift,” he said, walking around to the passenger side of her car.
“Do you have cash on you?” she asked as she started the car.
“Why do you need some gas? I know the gas prices are getting outrageous, which is another issue we’re dealing with,” he said, shaking his head.
“No, this car is always on full. But Keith Jr. likes money and saves it faithfully in a tin box under his bed.”
“Smart young man. It’s best to start now. By the time he retires, there won’t be any more Social Security, and he’ll have to invest in the stock market or some annuities. But even all of that is questionable.” Steven looked through his wallet. “Yeah, I have a few twenties to add to his investment portfolio.” Steven took out two twenties from his old worn out wallet.
“One twenty will be fine. You can use the other one to buy a new wallet,” Megan said.
“I like my old wallet. I have some new ones, but this one is special to me. It belonged to my grandfather,” he said, patting it affectionately. “We were very close.”
For the rest of the ride, Steven told her about his meetings at the capitol as well as the recent comments about him in the press. People liked the fact that he had settled down with one woman but most importantly, they liked Megan.
“So, how much longer am I supposed to be your girlfriend?” Megan asked wanting it to end soon so she could go back to her normal life and stop thinking she was in love with him.
“You know, I really hadn’t thought about that. It’s up to you. Why you have your eyes set on someone else? The ex back in the picture?”
“No. I just want to know so I can move on with my life, and I’m sure you want to get your life back to normal with the ladies,” Megan said even though she didn’t mean it. But she felt once they were no longer “dating” she would be over him.
“I guess we can cross that bridge when we get to that point. I hadn’t thought about being without you. I still want to keep in contact with you.”
“Of course. We can still stay in contact. You’re a really nice guy, Steven.” Megan smiled as they turned onto Tiffani’s street. Her house was a beautiful two-story, cream-colored stucco in the middle of the cul de sac. There were plenty of cars already parked in the driveway. Megan hated parking on the street. She always feared someone would hit her car and drive away without leaving a note.
“You ready?” she asked once the car was parked.
“Yeah. Who’s all here?” Steven asked, looking at all of the cars. “I can’t believe there’s almost fifteen cars for a child’s birthday party.”
“Jade and Syd are here. Kids from Keith’s playgroup, karate class and cousins,” Megan answered, taking her things out of the trunk.
“Great. I love kids.”
“Good. I’m in charge of face painting. You can help me with that,” Megan suggested as they walked around to the backyard.
“Wow!” Megan exclaimed as she saw the scene before her. There were about two-dozen kids lined up at different stations. Keith Jr. was on a pony with his grandfather holding the reins. There were kids in the moonwalk and the older kids were in the pool. Megan saw Tiffani and Syd grilling hamburgers and Jade was fanning herself on the deck and setting out the paper goods. Megan was surprised that Jade had even bothered to show up. She didn’t care much for a lot of little screaming children running around. Megan set her present on the gift table that was overflowing with nicely wrapped boxes and colorful gift bags.
“Megan, Steven, great to see you two. Steven, I’m so happy you came. I didn’t know you liked kids’ parties,” Tiffani smiled, taking the potato salad from Megan and hugging her at the same time. She then turned to Steven and gave him a big hug.
“I need a break from adults,” he said, looking around at the children who were playing and running around.
“How is everything going so far?” Megan asked as they walked toward the grill.
Tiffani placed her hand on her forehead and shook her head as her curly ponytail that was sitting on top swung.
“Girl, terrible! My friend who knows how to make balloon animals was supposed to come, but he called an hour ago and said he wouldn’t be able to make it. My dad has to do the pony station, which stinks by the way, and my mom is in charge of the moonwalk area. I can’t have these kids getting hurt,” Tiffani said in a flustered manner. Megan was used to Tiffani always remaining calm under pressure but at the present moment, she understandably couldn’t control her frustrations.
“I can do the balloon animals,” Steven volunteered.
“Steven, that’s wonderful! The station is already set up next to the face painting,” Tiffani said, pointing to the two stations by the back of the fence.
“All right, let’s get started,” Megan said, but she wanted to say hello to the birthday boy first.
“Godmommy!” Keith Jr. screamed as he ran to give Megan a big hug.
“Hey sweetie. Are you having fun?” she asked, picking him up and giving him a tight hug.
“Yes. Who’s this man with you? Where’s Dr. Alfonso? He always brings his stethoscope for me to play with. Why isn’t he with you?” Keith Jr. asked as she put him down. He was no longer the little baby she used to carry around. Megan glanced at Steven who was snickering at the little boy’s comment.
“This is Mr. Steven. He’s a friend of mine.” Megan hoped that would answer the curious child’s question. “Remember, I told you that the doctor and I are no longer friends.”
“Nice to meet you little fellow,” Steven said, shaking the little boy’s hand.
“Did you bring me a present?” Keith Jr. asked as his mother walked over to join the conversation.
“KJ, go play. That isn’t a nice thing to ask,” Tiffani scolded.
Steven reached into his worn wallet and pulled out the crisp twenty dollar bill and handed it to KJ. “As a matter of fact I do, young man. I heard you like to save money.”
“Aww...cool,” KJ exclaimed admiring the bill. “Thank you, Mr. Steven. I just got a new wallet, so this is going in there right away.” He gave Steven a hug before he skipped away.
Tiffani then made an announcement on her megaphone that lunch would be served in thirty minutes. She also reminded her guests that the face painting and balloon stations were open.
For the next thirty minutes Steven made really cool balloon animals for the children. His station was the most popular next to the pony. Megan watched him as she painted stars and hearts on the little girls’ cheeks.
“So, birthda
y boy, what animal would you like for the great balloon master to make for you?” Steven asked KJ.
“A puppy!” KJ exclaimed jumping up and down.
“Okay, a puppy it is,” Steven said as he began to make the puppy out of black and brown balloons. The children sat in awe as Steven twirled the balloons around each other. Sydney walked up behind Megan whose station was now empty.
“I’m surprised to see him here,” Sydney whispered.
“Yeah. Me, too, but he stopped by my apartment as I was leaving. When I invited him, I never thought he would actually say yes. I was just being polite,” Megan said as she watched Steven make the puppy for Keith Jr. The kids clapped loudly at the finished product and begged Steven to make more animals. He glanced over at Megan and smiled. She clapped her hands and smiled back.
“What was that?” Syd asked observantly.
“What was what?” Megan asked somewhat annoyed.
“The smile he just gave you and the one you gave him back. Megan you forget I’m a profiler. But most importantly, your twin sister. I know all your facial expressions because I have the same ones and usually for the same exact reasons. That smile and stare meant he loves you girl!” Sydney exclaimed.
“Syd, please stop always trying to read other people’s minds. He did a good job on making the balloon puppy for KJ and that’s why I’m smiling, so please let it go,” Megan answered, agitated. She was never good at hiding her expressions from Syd.
“Well, I know what I saw. And I’m glad I saw it,” Sydney said as Megan rolled her eyes.
Megan and Sydney walked over to the balloon station once they were done cleaning up the face-painting materials. Sydney picked up a few of the balloons that had popped.
“You did a great job with the kids and the balloons,” Sydney said to Steven.
“Thank you. It was one of my duties when I was growing up. I used to entertain my younger siblings and cousins,” Steven answered as he placed the unused balloons back into plastic bags.