by Scott, Lisa
“Oh, so you know,” Auggie said.
“About her dreams?” Lara nodded. “Since fifth grade when she pushed our teacher off a ladder.”
My jaw dropped. “Hey, I didn’t do that, I only dreamed it.”
Lara shrugged. “Same thing.”
I handed the dog to him. “Here’s your doggie, Auggie.”
“Don’t say that.”
“Seriously though, I need the story behind your name,” I said.
He pursed his lips. “It’s my middle name.”
My eyes widened. “Good Lord, what’s your first name?”
“It’s embarrassing.”
“Good thing Auggie isn’t,” Lara said.
I petted Fluffenstein. “This is a cute dog. It’s the big dogs I don’t like. But this little guy is adorable.” I tickled him under his chin, and I swear the fluffy thing smiled again. “I think he likes me.”
“All right, well, the ice is melting,” Lara said.
Auggie cocked his head. “Yeah, I guess we are getting along better.”
Lara sighed. “I meant in the cooler, but oh yeah, things are definitely heating up between you two.” She rolled her eyes. “Bet the wedding will be next week.”
“We’re not getting married,” Auggie said. “I don’t care what the dream shows.”
I headed for the car. “Put your dog on a leash, you brute. And stay away from the beach.”
Lara and I got in the car, went through the drive-thru for coffee—Auggie hadn’t suddenly picked up a part-time job there, yay!—and headed for the highway.
“Your children will definitely have red hair,” Lara said.
“You are neither a true nor nice friend,” I said.
“But I’m right.”
I sighed. “I just don’t see how he and I could ever get together.”
“He’s actually very good looking.”
“His pants don’t fit.”
“Excuse me?”
“I forgot to tell you, I tried on his pants last night when we were stuck outside the bar. They don’t fit.”
She pressed her lips together. She knew about my rule. “Maybe he’ll gain weight. Maybe you’ll lose it.”
Traffic was slowing down. Lara hit the brakes and we came to a complete stop. “Shit,” she said. “There must be an accident.”
I groaned. I was still slightly hung over, and I really wanted to sleep in the sun. I tipped back my head and looked out the window.
Auggie waved from the car next to us.
“No, no, no, no, no, no, no,” I said.
“Babe, it’s Boston. Traffic jams are a given.” Then Lara looked out the window and let loose an impressive string of curse words.
I rolled down my window. “Did you forget to give me a five dollar reward for saving your dog?”
“You think that’s all I’d pay?” he asked.
“Small dog, small reward. He wasn’t hard to catch.”
“I’m headed to my sister’s house.” Tom Petty played on his radio.
“I love Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers,” I said.
He turned it up. “Saw them in concert two years ago.”
“When they were in Foxboro? I was at that concert.”
“I’m surprised I didn’t see you,” he said, smirking.
Lara leaned across the seat. “So, Auggie, which household chores will you be tackling? I imagine Kim will expect to split household duties fifty-fifty.”
“I hate doing laundry,” I said.
“I don’t mind. I usually read a book while I wait,” he said. “It’s the vacuuming that gets me. Can’t read while you do that.”
“You could listen to audiobooks,” I offered.
He raised an eyebrow. “That’s not a bad idea.”
“I listen to them while I run. But sometimes I get so into the book, I get lost.”
He laughed. “Not many people literally get lost in a book.”
“Don’t bother registering for china,” Lara said. “Most people don’t use it these days.”
I ignored her. “What are you reading right now?”
“The newest book in the Outlander series,” he said.
I scrunched my eyebrows together. “Oh, that’s the big book that landed on my toe at the library. The one you recommended.”
He nodded. “We have a book club in our office. Everyone’s read the whole series. Some people have read it twice.”
“So you read romance?” I asked.
“It’s not just romance, it’s historical. There’s time travel in it. It’s epic. Killer love scenes, though.”
I sucked in a breath. He hadn’t skipped the love scenes. “Wow.”
Lara jerked her thumb toward her window. “Do you want me to get out and give you two some privacy?”
I glared at her.
“Let’s find out what the hold up is.” She pulled out her phone. “I’ll look up traffic information.”
“So, where will I see you this week?” Auggie asked.
I thought about my schedule. “The library, I guess, when I check out Outlander. I hope you don’t show up in my Pilates class.” Some of those positions were embarrassing. “I better not see you at my gyno appointment.” I wrinkled my nose.
“There’s an accident up ahead, it’s not just construction,” Lara said with a sigh. She pulled out the new nail polish she bought at the store—I knew she wasn’t just getting ice—and placed her bare foot on the steering wheel so she could paint her toes. “I’ll do yours next,” she said.
“I’m good,” I said. I looked back at Auggie. “So you’re headed to see your sister?”
“Yeah. Her kids like to see the dog once in a while. It used to be theirs, but then they moved into a place that didn’t allow pets, so I became a new dog owner.”
“That was nice of you,” I said.
He told me more about his niece and how his sister had perfected the art of tormenting him as a child. He had just finished telling me about the time she wrapped the toilet seat in saran wrap, when traffic started picking up.
“Well, I’ll see you around,” I said.
“I promise not to go to the beach. Don’t want Fluffenstein to get eaten by a shark,” he said.
“After seeing him in action today, I wouldn’t be surprised if he ran right into its jaws.” I waved goodbye and soon we lost him in traffic.
***
I thought I’d fall asleep at the beach, but every time someone walked by I looked up, expecting it to be Auggie.
“Want me to dump the ice water over you?” Lara asked.
“Why?”
“You’re burning with desire.”
I rolled away from her, but kept an eye open looking for Auggie. But he’d kept his word. He didn’t come to the beach.
***
On Monday, I stopped at the library during lunch to get Outlander. Auggie emerged from the New Fiction section. “There are eight books in the series. You’re going to be busy for a while.”
I smiled. “Maybe I’ll stay home and read. That way I won’t be running into you anymore,” I teased. I was starting to not hate our encounters so much. But I still didn’t see how the two of us would ever hook up, much less end up together.
“Soon you’ll be back to get the next one,” he said.
“And you’ll be here, too, so I can tell you what I thought about it.” I twisted my lips. “I’m actually concerned I’m going to get into legal trouble that will land me in your office.”
He laughed. “Not unless you’re married. I’m a divorce attorney.”
My eyebrows rose. “No wonder you assume marrying me would be a nightmare.”
“It’s hard to keep a good attitude toward marriage, that’s for sure.”
We stared at each other for a moment.
“So I should probably find out where we’re going to end up having dinner tonight,” he said.
I laughed. I hadn’t made dinner plans, but I wasn’t in the mood for cereal and almond milk again
. “Probably the Mexican restaurant by my apartment. I usually get takeout.”
“Maybe you can sit down and eat it with me, since you know I’ll wind up there anyway.”
I blinked at him. Was this a date? No, more like a surrender.
“Sounds good. Guess I don’t need to tell you when to meet me there.”
“I’m sure you don’t.” He smiled, and I tried to decide the exact shade of his hair. It wasn’t carrot orange. It was more of a bright red, auburn color. Quite nice. Actually, wouldn’t mind having it myself. I headed for the door, and the alarm went off because I hadn’t checked out my book.
“Maybe you are going to end up in legal trouble,” he said with a grin. “You don’t want to go to library jail, I can tell you that much.”
“Ha, ha,” I said, handing the book to the library clerk.
Auggie and I walked out together into the warm sunshine. “Where do you work?” he asked.
“Pretty Posies Floral Shop. I’m a designer there.”
His smile fell. “Looks like I’ll be seeing you in court.”
“What? Why?”
He reached into his pocket, pulled out a business card and handed it to me. “I’m representing a woman whose husband had an affair. He’s trying to claim it was a friendship, but apparently he sent his girlfriend dozens of bouquets. Whoever designed those bouquets will be getting called into court to testify about the messages he left with the flowers.”
I looked at his card, then dropped it into my purse. I closed my eyes and sighed. “That would be me.”
We both said nothing for a moment.
“Maybe we should just get together and end this madness,” I suggested.
He opened and closed his mouth.
“What?”
“I’m just worried about how this is going to turn into a nightmare,” he said.
“You don’t think it’s been a nightmare already?”
“Interesting point,” he said. Then he shrugged. “If you get there before me tonight, order some queso dip.”
“I’ll get two orders. I’m not sharing mine with you.”
***
I got to the restaurant and ordered two queso dips with tortilla chips and two waters before Auggie walked in. I waved him over.
“No lemon in the water?” he asked, sitting down.
I jerked back. “Are you kidding me? I can’t account for how well, if at all, they’ve washed their produce. Those rinds could’ve been anywhere.”
He raised his eyebrows and nodded. “My sentiments exactly.” He took a sip of his water, then reached for a tortilla chip to dip in the queso, but I pulled both bowls away.
“Hey, I thought you got me my own bowl,” he said.
“I did, but you don’t get it until you tell me what your first name is.”
His jaw dropped. “You’re devious. You can’t tease a man with cheese like that.”
“I’m going to find out eventually, especially if we get married. At the wedding, you’ll have to say, ‘I, Ulysses Augustus McGregor, take this woman to be my wife.’ What if it’s such a funny name that I laugh when I hear it for the first time?”
He glared at me.
“Is it Ulysses?” I asked.
He shook his head.
“Worse than Ulysses?”
Rolling his eyes, he sighed. “Is Orville worse than Ulysses?”
“Orville? Like the popcorn guy?”
“I prefer to think of it as the first-in-flight guy,” Auggie said, looking away from me.
“Orville Augustus McGregor,” I said slowly.
“It’s an old family name.”
“Someone else has had that same name before? I suppose a hundred years ago it might’ve been cool.”
“My mother hated it. She’s the one who started calling me Auggie to bug my father. Really, their divorce was no surprise.”
“Orvy,” I said. “Orv.” I made a face. “There’s really no cool way to go with that.” I shrugged. “I like Auggie.”
“Thank you,” he said. “Can I have my queso now?”
“Sure, Orville.”
He groaned. “You aren’t allowed to call me that just because you know it.” He sighed. “And here I’ve been wondering how a relationship with you would be a nightmare, when the truth is unfolding in front of me.”
I pushed the queso toward him. “You might have mentioned earlier that you’re no fun.”
“Oh, I’m lots of fun, just not when secrets are pried out and used against me.” He looked as if he were holding back a grin.
“Okay, here’s a secret of mine no prying necessary: I sleep eat.”
“You eat in bed?”
“No, I wake up in the middle of the night and raid the fridge without knowing it. If I didn’t, I’d probably fit in your jeans.”
He stood like he was going to leave. “I’m out of here.” Then he chuckled and sat back down. “I’m only giving you another chance because of your diligence with citrus rinds in beverages.”
We split a fried ice cream at the end of the meal, and then he walked me to my apartment building.
“Well, see you around,” I said, holding out my hand awkwardly.
He paused for a moment, then shook it. “Yes, I’m sure I will.”
***
We ran into each other several times during the week: the grocery store, the dry cleaners, at a nearby deli during lunch one day, and several times while walking along the sidewalk. On Friday morning when he saw me at the coffee shop he told me, “I’m not going out this weekend, so don’t worry about running into me.”
“I wasn’t worried. And I’m certain I’ll be seeing you somehow.”
***
I didn’t usually work Sundays, but my boss called me in, sounding desperate because our delivery guy was sick. “It’s only for a few hours,” she said. “I have half a dozen bouquets to be delivered.”
Always eager for extra cash, I went in and wondered which bouquet was for Auggie. None of them had his name, but I knew this task would somehow lead me to him.
No sign of him the first five deliveries, so maybe I was wrong. The last delivery was for a Marge Smith. It was a big bouquet of lilies and mums with a “Happy 80th Birthday!” pick stuck into the pot. Her apartment building was in the area Auggie told me he lived.
I looked for him in the lobby, but he wasn’t there. Nor on the elevator either. And his head didn’t poke out from any doorways as I headed to Marge’s apartment. I rang her bell, then knocked on her door, but no answer. So I went to her neighbor’s to see if I could leave the flowers there. I was certain I’d see a familiar face open the door, but it was a young woman. “Can I help you?”
“I have a delivery for Marge Smith, but she’s not home. Can I leave these with you?”
“Oh, she’s across the hall having dinner if you want to take them there. Number 65.”
“Is that where Auggie lives?”
“Yeah,” she said, suspiciously.
“Thanks.” I sighed and went across the hall to ring his bell.
He didn’t look surprised to see me.
“They’re not for you, they’re for Marge. For her 80th birthday—and she’s here?”
“I made her dinner. She’s like my foster Nana.” He stepped back. “Come in.”
I walked inside his apartment and saw a lovely woman sitting at his table. Her eyes brightened when she saw me. “Is this the girl you told me about?”
“You told her?” I whispered harshly.
“You told Lara!” he defended.
I turned to Marge. “I’m the one,” I said. “I’m the nightmare come true.” I set the flowers in front of her. “I have a delivery for you. Happy birthday.”
She opened the card and smiled. “Sit down and join us,” she said. “Auggie made me a lovely dinner, and there’s far too much for the two of us to eat. It’s almost like he was expecting you.” She patted the seat next to her, and I sat down.
“It smells great,” I said.
>
“I just took it out of the oven,” he said.
A quarter after five seemed too early for dinner, but I supposed an older woman like Marge might have an earlier mealtime.
Auggie set a beautiful turkey dinner on the table. Stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberries—the works. “I love Thanksgiving!”
“Me, too,” he said. “I don’t know why most people only have it once a year.”
“Because it’s a lot of work. I hate cooking.”
He stood there with potholders on each hand, staring at me. “I love to cook.”
“Isn’t that convenient?” Marge said, helping herself to stuffing.
I swear, I’d fight her for the last spoonful of that stuff. I loved stuffing myself with stuffing.
Auggie sat down. “Nothing like stuffing yourself with stuffing,” he said.
I stopped chewing.
“What?” he asked.
I swallowed and said, “Never mind.”
Dinner was amazing, and Marge left very quickly once she was done.
“You don’t have to leave on my account.” I stood. “I’m the one who crashed your party.”
“No, I gotta get ready for my Sixty Minutes,” she said. “That Morley Safer is a hottie.” She whistled, then kissed Auggie’s cheek. “Thank you for a lovely birthday dinner. And you two, hurry up with the wedding. I’m not getting any younger.”
“Okay, goodnight, Marge,” Auggie said.
“See you next week?” she asked.
“Wouldn’t miss it,” he said, closing the door behind her.
“You two are dating? You’re seeing someone behind your future wife’s back?”
“She makes me dinner every Sunday. But I insisted on doing it today because it was her birthday.”
“You’re friends. That’s so sweet.” Like seriously, ten bonus points for Auggie.
He shrugged. “My Nana used to have me over for dinner every Sunday when I was in college. She passed away during my second year of law school. I miss her so much.”
“That’s so sad. I’m sorry. How did you meet Marge?”
“She was locked out of her apartment one day, and I helped her call the super, and things just went from there.”
I got up from the table and started clearing the dishes.
“How do you like the book so far?” he asked.
“Good,” I said, setting a stack of dishes on his counter. “The main character just went back in time to 1700’s Scotland.”