The Other Other Woman

by Mallory Lockhart

  I do want to salvage that!!!

  All you want is my friendship, correct? (Yes or No is the only acceptable response) I’m talking ever again. The conference and beyond.

  Mal, if I have to answer today it would be yes. But I don’t know right now.

  Okay, well I’m just going to go beat my head against a brick wall for a while. Why are you keeping me hanging on like this? Do you just not know how you feel about me?

  Can we just talk in am? But I like you a lot, to answer your question.

  Well you have a funny way of showing it.

  Yeah, I guess I do sometimes.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The next day, he called just before lunch.

  “Hey, sweetie”

  “Hey.”

  “I have a question for you.”

  “Okay.”

  “Mal, why can’t you just meet for me for lunch or a drink? Why is it such a big deal that we have to sleep together?”

  “I could ask you the same question. The fact that you suddenly don’t want me anymore is supposed to somehow give me the warm fuzzies and make me want to hang out with you platonically?”

  “I never said I didn’t want you. I said I can’t right now.”

  “Even so. This wasn’t some one night stand, Matt. We had a relationship. You don’t get to go back to holding hands like it never happened.”

  “I’m not trying to pretend it didn’t, but you make it sound like if you can’t have my body, then you want nothing to do with me.”

  “Depends, does the body come attached to this personality?”

  “Don’t be like that.”

  “Seriously, what is the point of us seeing each other if we aren’t together anymore? So I can get upset and spend the entire time I’m down there being depressed because you can’t get your head out of your ass? Why do you want to see me so badly anyway?”

  “Hey, I’m trying. Because you are my friend and, believe it or not, I do want to see you and catch up.”

  “I’m pretty sure you are all caught up on the latest news.”

  “So you don’t want to see me at all?”

  “Of course I want to, Matt. But I have to start exercising a little self-preservation here. I can’t keep subjecting myself to disappointment over and over.”

  “So, if we don’t sleep together, it’s a disappointment.”

  “Look, I know where you are trying to go with that, but you are oversimplifying things. It’s not that we aren’t having sex. It’s that you don’t feel that way about me anymore. I’m so glad it’s no big deal to you, but it’s devastating to me. And the fact that I don’t know why doesn’t make it any easier to swallow. It’s bad enough I have to see your name at work all over the place. Now you want to meet with me just to rub it in my face a little more that you are no longer interested in me?”

  “That’s ridiculous, and you know it.”

  “Is it? Well, I’m sorry, but that’s what it feels like to me.”

  “So you are going to come down here and be within five minutes of the office, but you don’t want to get together at all?”

  “I don’t know, Matt. I’ll just have to see how I feel about it later, I guess.”

  “Okay, fair enough. But I would like to see you, Mal.”

  “I’ll let you know.”

  We didn’t speak for the rest of the week. I dropped my kids off at daycare on Friday morning and headed down there. Brooke wanted to leave work a little early, and I wanted to make sure I got there with hopefully enough time to see Cecilia before she left work. I desperately wanted to see him too; I couldn’t deny that. If for nothing else, just to be able to feel his arms around me for one last time, for maybe one last kiss. But I wasn’t about to tell him. Instead, I figured I’d casually stroll into the branch when I got there, say “Hi” to everyone, and see what happened. I hadn’t spoken to him, but Brooke mentioned in passing that I was on my way down. I guess I would see if he wanted to go out for a drink. If not, I could go visit Cecilia or go back to the hotel and go for a run. I always wished we had gone for a run together. That was just one of many things I wanted to experience with him. Things that now I knew I never would.

  When I got to the office, he was gone. Neither Brooke nor Molly had any idea where he was. He had left after Brooke went to lunch.

  “Do you know if he’s coming back?” I asked her.

  “I assume so!”

  “He knows I was coming, right?”

  “Yeah, I mentioned it earlier.” She looked upset.

  “What’s up?” I said.

  “I’ll have to tell you later. We had a meeting earlier.”

  “Oh, everything okay?”

  Her eyes filled with tears. “I’m not sure yet. It’s related to this…” she said, showing me a post-it note with some new broker numbers on it. “But we’ll have to talk about it later because I don’t want anyone to overhear.”

  “Oh, okay.”

  I decided I’d better go say hello to everyone. By the time I came back around to Brooke’s office, it was easily 30 minutes later. Still no sign of Matt. “You don’t think he purposely ran out, knowing I was coming, do you?”

  “Who the hell knows with him? How did you guys leave it?”

  “Well, he made it seem like he wanted to get a drink or something. But I’m not going to hang around here forever and then have him not show up.”

  She yelled out into the hall, “Hey Molly? Did Matt say he’d be back?”

  “Yeah, sure did. Not sure when though!”

  “Great. Typical,” I said, rolling my eyes.

  “Text him and see where he is.”

  “I guess I could,” I didn’t want to, but I didn’t want to leave either. So I sent him a quick message. I’m at your office. You around today?

  Hey. Yes, back in 10 or 15.

  Oh so I should run out the back door?

  Pls. Stay!!!! I will run to you!!!!

  In the meantime, I sat in the chair across from Brooke’s desk and Russo stood just inside the doorway chatting with us. We were all laughing, I’m sure at Jeff’s expense, when Matt quite dramatically flew in the door and scooped me up out of my seat, giving me a huge hug and kiss on the cheek right in front of them. I was so shocked I didn’t know what to do. I just played nice and said, “Hey, trouble, how are you?”

  “Good. Let me go grab this call in my office for a sec,” he said, and he stepped away.

  Brooke’s office was directly across from his, and the kitchen was perpendicular to both. I ventured into the kitchen and started talking with Russo and Kip, Matt’s nemesis. Kip had been joking about another co-worker to me and I lowered my voice to a whisper as I was trying to relay the story to Russo. Matt stood up, still on his phone, nearly jerking the cord out of the wall trying to see what we were talking so closely about. As soon as he was done, he motioned for me to come into his office.

  When he closed the door I was hopeful that maybe he would try to kiss me, but he only barely shut it. I sat at his table and he sat at his desk. I could not have possibly felt further away from him. His wife called, and I suddenly remembered I had the bottles of garlic sauce in my bag. I put them on his desk as I stepped out so he could speak with her. He gave me a confused frown as they began to talk. As usual, he seemed irritated to hear from her.

  When he beckoned for me to come back, he wasn’t happy about the sauce.

  “Why are you giving me both of these?”

  “Because you bought them.”

  “I bought one for you.”

  “I don’t want it.”

  “Why not? You aren’t going to cook with it?”

  “No.”

  “Why don’t you want it? I don’t understand?”

  “I just don’t, okay? I don’t need any reminders of that day,” I insisted. “Just take it, please.”

  “Mal… Come on…”

  “Do. Not. Want.”

  “Okay, okay… fine,” he said. “So, how was the trip down?”
>
  “It was fine. Well, until I got a speeding ticket in Spartanburg.”

  “Mallory!” he scolded.

  “I know, I know. It was just one of those places where the limit changes really fast.”

  “You gotta slow down, babe!”

  “It’s not me, it’s the car!”

  “Really?”

  He shot his eyes up at me with a dubious glance that made me feel weak. I hated how one single look from him could still cut me to the core. He reached for my chair and, with me still in it, rolled it closer to him. He parked it right in front of him and placed his hands around my knees. I stared at him and, for a moment, he looked like he wanted to kiss me but thought better of it.

  “So, do you have time to get a drink really quick?”

  “Yeah, Brooke and I were talking about that. We could go for a little while, I guess, if we go soon.”

  “Okay, good. I want to take you over to that Oceanaire place. They have a new appetizer menu that’s supposed to be great.”

  “A fish place, Matthew?”

  “I already checked, babe, plenty of dead carcasses besides fish,” he winked.

  “Well, all right, if you say so.”

  “Let me wrap up a few things in here and I’ll come grab you when I’m ready, okay?”

  “Sure, I’ll just go hang out in her office.”

  When I went into Brooke’s office, I shut the door behind me so we could talk. “Okay, I know you’re upset so what happened today?”

  “Well, we made up new broker numbers because Matt is splitting us up.”

  “Say what?”

  “Yeah, Mal, he’s ditching me and Molly and moving to Florida.”

  “What?! When?” My blood turned ice cold at first, but then I couldn’t help but wonder what this might mean for us. Did this mean he was really leaving his wife too?

  “He’s going to transition out over the next six months or so. They are going to transfer him to the Coral Gables branch and he will be there full-time eventually. He hopes by May.”

  “Oh. Wow.” I felt a little faint.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  “Yeah, I guess. I mean, I knew he wanted to move down there at some point. He talks about it all the time. I’m just surprised it’s this soon. As far as I’m concerned, I’m not sure it actually will matter where he lives. I don’t even know if we’ll see each other anymore anyway. But I can’t believe he’s leaving you, you just moved here!”

  “Me either. I thought I had years before he moved down there, and even then I didn’t expect him to bust us up, I figured I’d still handle the Atlanta folks.”

  This didn’t sit well with me. Why would he leave her just because he was working out of Miami? He had plenty of Florida accounts under their joint numbers. “Where does this leave you? And Molly?”

  “Well, that’s what I don’t know. Nearly everything I do is for Matt, I’ve been working to straighten out his clients all this time, since he pays me a percentage. I haven’t even started looking for my own. But now it sounds like he thinks he’s just going to leave me with a few crap accounts to be a broker all by myself.

  “What?! Like you on full commission?”

  “Yeah! I just don’t think I’m ready for that yet. I was supposed to work under him for five years or so, you know? Learn the ropes, transition some of his clients, and THEN work on building my own book…”

  “That’s nuts! Unless the branch intends to pay you for two years like they do other trainees?”

  “I don’t think they see me as a trainee but Wiley is going to check into it.”

  “Well, they better hurry up because Matt’s not going to give a damn about your pay once he’s out of here.”

  “I don’t think he gives a damn about it now.”

  “Ugh. I’m sorry, girl. I’ll help you figure out something.”

  Matt knocked on the door to let me know he was ready to go. I told him I would meet him over at the restaurant. Brooke was going to stay behind a few minutes but would come over after finishing up a few things. I knew that she was staying behind so I could have a few minutes alone with him, and for that I was thankful. But I’m sure she wasn’t too keen on hanging out with him at all after what he had just done.

  It was just after four when I arrived at The Oceanaire. He was the only one in the restaurant, so when I came in he gave me a warm hug and kissed me for a few seconds longer than the quick peck I was expecting. It was bittersweet to feel his lips on mine again. We sat next to each other and he ordered himself a gin and tonic and a cosmo for me along with some sort of spicy calamari and shishito peppers and spring rolls. Pork for me, lobster for him.

  “What are you doing tomorrow?” he asked.

  “Um, leaving, I suppose.”

  “What, in the morning?”

  “Well, no, but at some point in the afternoon.”

  “I’d like to take you to lunch if you have time.”

  “Really? Why?”

  “Why not?”

  “You and me, alone, at lunch? Isn’t that a little risky? What if someone sees you?”

  “It’s just lunch, Mal.”

  “Yeah, okay, I guess that’s fine. I just don’t want to get you in trouble.”

  “It’s fine, I have to go see a client in the hospital anyway. So she knows I’ll be out.”

  “Got permission, huh?”

  He rolled his eyes and sighed. “Tell me about it! The other night she was all upset because I came back home after my run and it had turned dark. I was in my exercise clothes and dripping with sweat and it was like she didn’t believe I was running. Last Saturday I spent the whole freaking day with her, just running errands and stuff, and she gave me grief about going out for one stupid drink with Graham. It’s so annoying.”

  Why was he telling me this? Was I supposed to feel sorry for him? I just patted his leg and said, “Well, it sounds to me like you two are a match made in heaven.”

  “Very funny.”

  That was right around the time Brooke came in to join us.

  “Hey y’all, what are we drinking?”

  “Gin and tonic…”

  “Cosmo here.”

  “Oooh those look good, what are those?”

  “They’re peppers in some sort of Asian sauce. Really good, but a little spicy. Try some…” I said.

  “Where are you ladies going tonight?” he asked.

  I answered, “You know, that’s a good question. Where are we going, hooker?”

  “I don’t know, some place to have dinner and drinks at least,” Brooke said. “I only have a babysitter until one a.m. though, so nothing too crazy. Got any suggestions there, Matt?”

  “Well, if you are going to be drinking, I think you should try to stay close to home. I don’t want you girls driving around all over the place. What about that Sutra Lounge place up on Crescent? We went there after the holiday party last year. It was pretty fun.”

  “Do they have dancing, babe?” I asked. “Did you shake your money maker there?”

  “Well, no, not me. But they do have a dance floor.”

  “You know, I’m not sure that you are the award winning dancer you claim to be,” I teased.

  He bumped up against me, smiling.

  We chatted for a few more minutes, but after he checked his watch and his phone he seemed to be in a sudden hurry to leave. I assumed she was waiting on him to get home for dinner. I didn’t mind, really. I knew Brooke wanted to get going and that I would see him tomorrow for lunch.

  “All right, ladies, I’d better get going. Let me get this for you,” he said as he started throwing down twenties to cover the drinks and appetizers. “In fact, here, you girls go out and have a nice dinner on me, okay? You deserve it,” and he continued to throw down at least a couple of hundreds.

  “Oh, Matt, you don’t have to do that…” Brooke started to say but I was already scooping up the money. I was keeping that shit… I earned it after dealing with him.

  “T
hanks, babe!” I said cheerfully.

  He leaned in to give me a quick kiss on the lips, right in front of her, which I thought was kind of sweet.

  “You girls be careful tonight. Stay out of trouble. I’ll call you in the morning about lunch, sweetie.”

  “Okay, bye.”

  Brooke and I went to Morton’s for dinner. I’m not usually a chain kind of gal, but I have to admit their steak is pretty decent. It also wasn’t far from both her house and the club that Matt had mentioned. We each got giant appletini cocktails, and as we drank them, she told me that she and Travis had just decided to move back to Raleigh. Both of them missed it and considered it home. And now with Matt ditching her, she felt there was no reason to stay in Atlanta anymore. I was beyond thrilled. Having her living so close to me was going to be so awesome. She was very excited too, so we celebrated with some cherry bomb shots. We were both pretty buzzed before our food even arrived, and it just got sillier from there. I could always count on her to keep me laughing.

  After dinner, even though we were only going a couple of miles, we sat in the car trying to sober up while listening to old school R&B songs on Pandora. That might have actually been the highlight of our evening. We eventually drove over to that club Matt mentioned, but we found that it was quite possibly the whitest place in America. It was filled with middle-aged women who appeared to be out for their once-a-year Girls Night Out, where they posed seductively for Facebook photos and danced as provocatively and awkwardly as possible to a terrible sound system. Not that we were judging. It just wasn’t our scene that night. One gentleman asked us why we weren’t dancing, implying that we were somehow too shy or scared. Brooke assured him that, “Oh no, Honey, we were in Miami. We got this. Don’t you worry.” We struck up a few conversations and danced for a song or two but left soon after.