Obsessed With You

by Jennifer Ransom

  Cathy cursed as she watched her phone slide beneath the surface.

  Would the phone company have a record of all her numbers that were stored in her phone? She thought so but wasn’t sure. She’d have to go into Fort Walton to deal with it, but she wasn’t in the mood for that on Valentine’s Day. She knew she’d see decorations with hearts and pink and red streamers all over the place, and she just couldn’t deal with that. Valentine’s Day was cruel for the unattached, the broken-hearted.

  She tried to occupy her mind with TV and was successful for a while. But around two, she got restless again and went outside. She walked down her long driveway and went along the side of the road to the Laughlin house driveway. The owner was gone according to Neil, so she thought it was a fine time to look at the house.

  The white Victorian looked shabby as she got closer to it, but the turret and scroll work on the porch were fantastic. Cathy knocked on the door and a minute later Neil opened it.

  “Is it okay if I come in and look at the house?” she asked him.

  “Come on in, the weather’s fine,” Neil said.

  Cathy followed him into the foyer. A magnificent chandelier was above her head and dark hardwood floors at her feet.

  Neil took her on the grand tour, from the first floor and its ghastly kitchen to the second floor, with its tall ceilings and decorative crown moldings. She went through every bedroom and stopped in one for a long moment.

  “What is it?” Neil asked her.

  “Nothing,” she said. “That suitcase on the floor over there looks just like one my fiancé had.” She shook her head and left the room.

  She followed Neil up the turret steps and marveled at the curved walnut bookcases.

  “This place is amazing,” she said. “Thanks for showing it to me.”

  “No prob,” Neil said. “I’m about to finish up for the day. I’m taking Lindy to the B and B for Valentine’s dinner.”

  “Say hello to my grandfather,” Cathy said as she stepped out onto the wide front porch. “He’s gonna be there tonight.”

  “Are you all right?” Neil asked.

  “I’m fine,” she said. She forced a little laugh and waved at him.

  Valentine’s Day stretched out forever as Cathy went back into her cottage. She made a smoked turkey sandwich and ate it in the living room. When she was finished, she lay on the couch flipping the channels until she settled on an episode of “Everybody Loves Raymond.” She dozed for a while, and when she woke up the TV was blaring a Valentine’s Day commercial for a drugstore on the coast.

  Wasn’t Valentine’s over yet? She glanced at the clock on the cable box. 5:13. Time for wine. Cathy went to the kitchen and poured herself a big glass, then moved through the channels until she found an episode of “Will and Grace.” No worries about romance with that one since Will was gay.

  She wondered what Aaron was doing. She had no idea what his work situation was since he had obviously left Peachtree Financial Consultants. Was it possible he was dating again? Could he be planning a night on the town with someone? Did he buy her roses and maybe a box of Godiva chocolates. She loved Godiva, and Aaron bought her a box of mixed chocolates for every occasion he could think of. Her birthday, Christmas, the day they got engaged. She loved the rich gooey goodness of the intricately formed chocolate pieces.

  When she finished her glass of wine, she got up and poured another big glass. It was past six by then and it was dark outside. She started thinking about contacting Aaron, but she didn’t have her phone anymore. She couldn’t call him or text him.

  But she could email him. What would she say after all this time? She ran the possibilities through her mind, from “Missing you” to “Where the hell are you?”

  She sucked on her wine glass until it was finished and she poured herself another. She was getting close to drunk-emailing Aaron. “Will and Grace” was still on. Apparently it was a special Valentine’s Day marathon, ironic since there was no hope of any romance between the characters.

  Cathy stared at her laptop on the coffee table. It was her only form of communication. She sat up and dragged it over in front of her. She turned it on and watched Grace make an idiot of herself at the therapist’s office while it booted up.

  When it was finally booted up, she checked her email. It had been nearly a week since she’d checked it and the inbox was full. She didn’t bother to read the incoming messages. She only had one thing on her mind. Email Aaron. She opened up a Compose Mail window and wrote “Thinking of you today.” That was all. Her wine-infused courage allowed her finger to hit the send button. Then she sat back on the couch.

  By that time, the wine had gotten to her, so Cathy pulled the throw from the back of the couch down on her and took another nap, this one fueled by too much wine.

  She woke up to a knocking on her door. Groggily, she looked at the clock on the cable box. It was after nine. She stumbled to the door and opened it. Neil and Lindy stood on her porch.

  “We tried to call you,” Lindy said. “A bunch of times.”

  Cathy tried to clear her head. “My phone fell in the bay this morning,” she said. “I’m going to get it replaced tomorrow. Aren’t ya’ll supposed to be at the B and B?”

  Lindy and Neil looked at each other, then back at Cathy.

  “We’ve got to tell you something,” Neil said. “It’s too important to wait.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Aaron sped down the highway toward the coast. He would have liked to go without stopping, but halfway there he was running on empty. He took the next exit and pulled into a gas station. He filled his tank and used the restroom. Before he got back on the road, he tried to call Cathy. He knew she wouldn’t answer, and she didn’t. He left her a voice mail saying that he knew who had set him up and to please call him back. Then he sent her a text with the same message, then an email saying the same thing. He was desperate for her to know the truth.

  He finally pulled into his driveway of the bay house at nine-thirty. A light shone from the front porch and he silently thanked Neil for that. He only had his duffel bag, which he threw onto the floor in the living room. Now what?

  Aaron went into stalker mode again. It was Valentine’s Day and Cathy would likely be out with her high school boyfriend or entertaining him at her house. Or his? He couldn’t go barging in on her, as much as he wanted to. What he had to say to Cathy was private, between him and her. No high school boyfriends allowed.

  He poured himself a glass of scotch on the rocks and drank it down before he went outside with his backpack and flashlight. The moon was only a crescent and offered him no additional light whatsoever. He shined the light to the opening and started down the path.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “I told you he looked familiar,” Lindy said.

  “Are you sure?” Cathy asked them, looking from Lindy’s face to Neil’s.

  “We’re sure,” Neil said. “When Lindy showed me those photos of your fiancé, I knew it was him right away. But I looked at a lot more before I decided one hundred percent. Your fiancé is Richard Smith. He bought the house next to you.”

  Cathy was stunned.

  “I don’t know why he would do that,” she finally said in a voice that was almost a whisper.

  “I know why,” Lindy said. “Because he loves you madly, that’s why. He wanted to be near you.”

  “But it’s kind of crazy, isn’t it?” Cathy said.

  “Did you ever return his calls?” Lindy said. “Did you ever let him talk to you again? I think he wanted to be near you. I think he loves you completely.”

  Neil looked at Lindy. “Or else he’s crazy,” he said.

  “Or that,” Lindy said. “But I don’t think so.”

  “I emailed him tonight,” Cathy said. “It’s the first time I’ve tried to contact him since I left.”

  “Did he email you back?” Lindy asked.

  “Not the last time I checked,” she said. She opened her laptop, which thankfully was only o
n sleep mode, and pulled up her email. Lindy peered over her shoulder.

  “He hasn’t written back,” Cathy said.

  “What’s that?” Lindy asked putting her finger on the screen at an email almost at the end of the page. “Isn’t that an email from Aaron?”

  Cathy looked at Lindy’s finger. She hadn’t even bothered to thoroughly look at her emails earlier and there was one right there from Aaron, staring her in the face. She opened it.

  Lindy made no pretense of giving Cathy privacy to read the email. She put her hands on Cathy’s shoulders, peering over them.

  “Oh my God,” Lindy said putting her hand over her mouth. “He knows who did it! I wonder who it is.”

  “I need your phone,” Cathy demanded. Lindy handed it to her. She called Aaron’s number. It rang four times and then went to voice mail. She heard his voice, asking her to leave a message, for the first time in months.

  “Aaron, I got your message. I lost my phone. Please email me right away and I’ll figure out a way that we can talk. Please.” She handed Lindy’s phone back to her.

  “You keep it,” Lindy said. “You can use it until you get your phone replaced. I don’t need it.”

  “Thank you,” she said giving Lindy a hug. She called Aaron right back and left another message asking him to call her on Lindy’s phone. Then she burst into tears.

  Neil and Lindy both enveloped her and she was in a protective cocoon. She could have stayed there forever, but a glance at the clock told her that they were going to miss their dinner if they didn’t get going.

  “I’m okay,” Cathy assured them. “I’ll call you tomorrow and let you know what happened, if anything. Try to have a good time.” She smiled at them. They looked uncertainly at each other.

  “I’m serious, y’all. I’ll be fine, especially since I’ve got a phone. I’ll call you if I fall apart, I promise.”

  It was after nine-thirty by the time Lindy and Neil left. The B and B would be serving dinner until ten. Cathy called her grandfather.

  “Hey, Grandpa, it’s me,” Cathy said. “I’m using Lindy’s phone because I dropped mine in the bay. I just wanted to make sure Lindy and Neil can get their dinner tonight.”

  “Hey, hon. Hold on.”

  “Hey, Eileen,” Cathy heard him call out. “Can Lindy and Neil still get their Valentine’s dinner? They got waylaid.”

  A second later he came back on the phone. “She said Lindy already called her and she knew they were running late. Are you okay?”

  “I’m okay,” Cathy said. “I heard from Aaron. Well, I mean he left me a message. I’m trying to get in touch with him.”

  “Good luck, hon,” he said before they hung up.

  Cathy threw herself back on the couch. She didn’t turn the TV on because she couldn’t stand its mindless chatter. Her own mind was scrambled enough. She kept Lindy’s phone on top of her stomach and every few minutes, she checked her email. Nothing.

  She had been alone for ten minutes when she heard a loud knocking at her door. Surely it wasn’t Lindy and Neil, but who else would it be so late? She looked out the peephole and Zachery’s face stared back at her. Damn. That was the last thing she needed. She cracked the door.

  “I’m about to go to bed, Zachery,” she said.

  “I just want to talk to you for a minute,” he said. He sounded a little slurry and Cathy figured he’d been drinking.

  “I’m too tired,” she said.

  “Just a minute,” he insisted.

  She opened the door and stepped out onto the porch.

  “You can’t do this to us, Cathy,” he said coming close to her. She pushed him away.

  “I’ve already explained it to you,” she said.

  He tried to put his arms around her.

  “Come on, now. Don’t you remember how it used to be with us? We couldn’t keep our hands off each other.”

  “You’re drunk and I’m ready for you to leave,” she said turning to go back in the door.

  Zachery pulled her back, then pushed her against the porch wall.

  “No!” she screamed.

  And then there was a noise so loud from the dark yard that they both turned to look. A big bear of a man came roaring onto the porch and punched Zachery square in the face, sending him slumping to the porch floor.

  Aaron turned his bay-blue eyes to Cathy. “Are you all right?”

  She stared at him, then down at Zachery, then back at Aaron.

  He opened his arms. It was now or never. She took two steps toward him and he folded her to his chest, holding her close against his thumping heart.

  Cathy looked up at him, his eyes so familiar but set in a vastly transformed face.

  “I love you,” she whispered before her lips touched his and the current moved between them.

  Chapter Twenty

  “Do you think he’s hurt?” Cathy said.

  “I think he’s passed out,” Aaron said. “My fist to his face just helped things along.”

  “He’s pretty drunk,” Cathy said. “I think he more fell on me than pushed me.”

  “It looked like a push from where I was standing,” Aaron said. “What are we going to do with him?”

  “I hate to do it, but I think I’m going to call Neil and Lindy to help us. They’re probably finished with their dinner by now. Hell, Lindy’ll probably get a kick out of it.”

  Cathy took Aaron’s hand and led him inside. She poured him a scotch before calling Neil.

  “They’ll be right over,” she said. “Lindy sounded excited.”

  “She’s a firecracker,” Aaron said. “I like her.”

  “So who did it?” Cathy asked. “I can’t wait another second to know.”

  “Marsha,” he said taking a drink of his scotch.

  “Marsha?” Cathy said. “Your secretary Marsha?”

  “Yep. Come sit by me.”

  Cathy sat on the couch and Aaron put his arm around her, pulling her close.

  “She worked at that first firm I was at. She had only been there a week or so when I left and she looked vastly different. She was thin and had brown hair. That’s why I didn’t recognize her when she came to Peachtree. Plus, I hardly knew her anyway.”

  “How did she know so much about you?” Cathy asked. “Like about your special birthmark?”

  Aaron laughed and she giggled just a little.

  “I got pretty drunk at my going away party at Deccio’s. Marsha was there and I ended up going to a hotel with her. I barely remember anything after that. I passed out and left early the next morning. But she called me and something about the desperation in her voice and her refusal to take no for an answer freaked me out and I changed my cell number.”

  “I would think you would remember something like that,” Cathy said, looking at Aaron with narrowed eyes.

  “But I didn’t!” he said. “I had put it totally out of my mind, that’s how unpleasant it all was. I thought it was inconsequential.”

  “But it was the opposite,” Cathy said.

  “The polar opposite,” Aaron agreed. “The good news is that I didn’t sleep with her. I tried to—I’m sorry, Cat—but it didn’t happen. Marsha confirmed that when I confronted her at the office.”

  “How’d she take that? The confrontation?”

  “She freaked out and ran out of the office. But not before I told her I was going to sue her.”

  Cathy sat up and looked at Aaron, taking his hands in hers.

  “I know you dated people before me,” she said.

  “I was searching for you the whole time,” Aaron said. “Except that one stupid night when I got too drunk and caused all these problems.”

  “Too drunk just like Zachery out there,” she said. “I know we have a lot to sort out, but Neil and Lindy will be here any minute. We’ve got to deal with Zachery first.”

  Aaron pulled her to his lips, only pulling away when there was a knock at the door.”

  “Come in,” Cathy called.

  “Looks like
he’s out for the count,” Neil said as he came through the door.

  “Who did it?” Lindy asked. She seemed unconcerned about Zachery.

  “Babe, that’s none of our business,” Neil admonished her. She ignored him.

  “So, who was it?” Her eyes sparkled. “I’ll bet it was the secretary,” she said. “There was something about her eyes I didn’t trust. And that dog!”

  Cathy and Aaron looked at each other and laughed.

  “You’re right, Lindy, it was the secretary,” Aaron said. “Maybe I should’ve hired you as my private detective.”

  “I think we need to deal with Zachery out there,” Neil interjected. “We can finish this game of Clue later. I think he’s starting to come to.”

  “Cat, Neil and I can take care of this,” Aaron said. “You and Lindy should get yourselves a big glass of wine. You deserve it.”

  Lindy sat down at the green Formica table and Cathy poured two glasses of wine. She was beginning to tell Lindy all about everything—there was no point in being secretive with her—when Neil and Aaron came back in.

  “We’re going to put Zachery in his truck and Neil’s going to drive him home,” Aaron said. “I’m going to follow him in his truck.”

  “If you know how to drive a shift,” Neil said.

  Aaron swung his head around toward Neil. “I grew up on a farm, man,” he said.

  “Okay, okay,” Neil said. “Anyway, we’re leaving now. We’ll be back soon.”

  After they left, Cathy continued telling Lindy all about Marsha. When she was finished, she took a long sip of wine.

  “Are you going to marry him now?” Lindy asked.

  “You bet your ass,” Cathy said. “Just as soon as he asks me.”

  They talked for the next hour about Marsha, the house in Buckhead, the Victorian next door, Zachery.

  “I feel bad for Zach,” Lindy said. “I could tell he really wanted to get something going with you.”

  Cathy agreed that she felt bad about it too. “But what can I do? I love Aaron and I’m going to marry him!”