by Mya O'Malley
“I wouldn’t do that, unless you want that nice hand of yours broken.” The man glared at him. He wasn’t finished yet. “How dare you break not only Lori’s heart, but crush a child’s heart as well. It’s men like you…”
Lori’s smug expression said it all. What had she been telling people? He had never even met her son, what was going on here? “Listen, I never met the kid, I barely even know this woman.”
“A liar too. I should teach you a lesson outside, that’s what I should do.” The man stood to his full height, raising his voice.
“Are you dating this woman?” Shane wondered aloud.
“This woman is my girlfriend.”
Shane barely noticed a small crowd growing around them. He probably shouldn’t have said it, but the words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop them.
“Well, buddy, sooner or later, probably sooner, you’re going to need a restraining order from her…” A fist connected with his jaw and he wobbled, straightening himself just before he fell to the ground. That wasn’t fair; he hadn’t even seen it coming. He stood, dizzy from the blow as one of his colleagues dragged the man off, screaming threats all the way.
“Watch your back, when you least expect it…”
Neil, a science teacher from the tenth grade, quickly moved to Shane’s side. “Man, are you okay?”
Rubbing his jaw, he squinted at the man. “Been better, I’ve got to be honest.”
“I don’t know what went down there, but a lot of parents just saw that little show with your ex-girlfriend.”
“She’s not my ex-girlfriend, she’s a crazy lunatic.” He wished that he never laid eyes on that woman.
“Well, ex-girlfriend or not, I’m pretty sure you’re going to have some explaining to do.” Neil patted him on the shoulder sympathetically and walked away.
“Great, wonderful!” He rubbed his jaw again as he felt the swelling start. Looking around the auditorium, he noticed he was alone. Releasing the pent up anger he had been holding in, he punched the wall in front of him with all he had. Blood formed on his knuckles as his hand throbbed, allowing him to temporarily forget about the pain in his jaw. He shook his head, placing his hands over his head. “What am I going to do about that woman?”
* * * *
The next morning, sure enough, Shane received an e-mail from the principal, Mrs. Lena Taylor. It wasn’t bad enough that even after keeping an ice pack on his face for hours last night, his jaw was still swollen and bruised. She stated she needed to speak with Shane as soon as possible. Mrs. Taylor was a fair woman who supported her staff, so Shane could only hope she would understand the situation. Grabbing his briefcase and placing it in his private cubby, Shane figured there was no time like the present to face the music.
Weaving in and out of the sea of students, Shane made his way to the main office. He informed Lucy, the main secretary, that he was here to see Mrs. Taylor. Lucy took an incoming call, looking up at him from behind her large spectacles, and motioned for him to take a seat in the waiting area. Great. Shane swiveled around and noticed that he was sitting next to Harry, an eleventh grader who was considered to be a school bully. This was humiliating. He felt like he was in high school all over again. Would the principal call his mother? He almost laughed at his own joke. The only thing that kept him from being so upset about last night was the hope that his plan for next Saturday would work out. Annie’s pretty face was etched in his mind and he could still taste her lips on his…
“Mr. Nicholls, Mr. Nicholls!” Lucy was shouting at him, trying to get his attention. He stood up straight, clearing his thoughts as red heat crept up his black and blue face. “Yes?”
“I said, Mrs. Taylor will see you now.”
“Oh. Th…Thank you.” He stammered.
Feeling like a derelict, head hanging low, he dragged his feet walking into Mrs. Taylor’s office. Mrs. Taylor scrutinized Shane, surveying the swollen jaw, no doubt.
“Mr. Nicholls…” She began.
“Please. Call me Shane.”
“Okay, Shane. Before I make any judgment, I would like for you to share your side of the story about the events that took place last night.” Shane was having a hard time reading her emotions. Was she upset? He was pretty sure she wasn’t happy, but the questions was, just how upset was his boss?
Taking in his surroundings, noting the photographs of Mrs. Taylor’s husband and children, Shane gulped and began his side of the story. He tried to keep it simple, not wanting to seem like he was wrapped up in drama, even though lately, it seemed to follow him everywhere he went. When he was finished, his boss sat back and just stared at him for a long, awkward moment.
“Okay, Shane. I believe you. Nick came by first thing this morning to stick up for you. He seemed worried you would be in trouble. Apparently he feels guilty because he set you up with this woman. Neil also came forward for you, sending me an e-mail last night with the events that he personally witnessed. You did not throw a punch and that is the reason that you aren’t in trouble here. If you had, well, regardless of the reason for it, you would be facing consequences for fighting during school time, on school property. You see?”
“I do. Thank you, ma’am.”
“Don’t thank me yet. Knowing this woman is a problem, do whatever you can to make sure she doesn’t make a spectacle of herself on school property again. You see, we are professionals here, and I, personally, abhor drama.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Oh, and Shane? Please don’t call me ma’am.”
“Yes.” He stood, reaching for her hand. Mrs. Taylor was fair, he would give her that. He only hoped that Lori wouldn’t rear her ugly head again.
Chapter Nineteen
Now that Annie had extra time on her hands, she was filling it with productive tasks like cleaning her apartment, working some extra hours here and there and catching up on episodes of her favorite television shows. Real exciting stuff, Annie thought to herself. Boredom was setting in and Annie had even considered extending her membership for just one more month on that awful dating site. Samantha, believe it or not, had discouraged her friend from joining again. She realized Annie had been stressed during that time and maybe she just needed a break from all the drama for now.
It had been several weeks since her run-in with Shane. Why couldn’t she get that man out of her head? Yes, they had shared an unbelievable kiss in the bathroom, but she couldn’t forget that girlfriend of his from the vet.
She was supposed to be off today, but Cindy, the other veterinarian assistant, asked if she could take this Saturday because her fiancé wanted to take her away upstate for the weekend. Their plans sounded so romantic, Annie couldn’t let Cindy down. Besides, what else did Annie have to do with her morning? And it was only until one o’clock. Grabbing her jacket, Annie rushed to the door. Cleo meowed incessantly as Annie realized that she forgot to fill his bowl this morning.
“Sorry, Cleo. My mind is elsewhere, I guess.”
Yeah, she was too busy thinking about her parents’ love story and Shane. It was a rare day that Annie’s mom offered up any dating advice. Why did she seem to think Annie should give Shane a chance? If she did, would she live to regret it? She was just so confused. Wondering what she was going to do tonight, she felt sorry for herself, something she despised feeling. Alone on a Saturday night. Aaron had a date, actually make that a second date with her friend Melanie. Aaron and Melanie seemed to hit it off, although Aaron said he wanted to take things slow. Annie was happy for him. He deserved to meet a nice woman. Sam had plans with the hubby and although she invited Annie to tag along, she wasn’t in the mood to be a third wheel tonight.
“Looks like you and I have big plans tonight, Cleo.” She spoke to her cat, who at the present time, was happily munching on his cat food.
“Don’t look so excited,” Annie muttered to herself, shaking her head at how pathetic her life seemed at this moment.
Traffic was slow this morning, for some reason. Edging clo
ser to the main road, she realized it was the train causing the delay. How many times had she been late to work because of this stupid train? She should have learned a lesson and carved an extra ten minutes into her short commute to work. A fond memory surfaced in which she was a young child, of about six or seven years of age. Annie and her dad would count the freight cars passing by whenever they were stuck waiting for the train to pass. Just for old times’ sake, Annie started counting the train cars. She got up to ninety-two cars when the train finally passed by the crossing. Somehow this small activity perked her up. She felt a touch of childhood lightening her dark mood.
Annie made it to work on time by the skin of her teeth. Rushing into the office, she quickly scanned the appointments for the day. Upon seeing Tiny’s name, she wondered why the dog would be coming in again so soon.
Speaking to the receptionist, Kristen, she inquired as to the purpose of the dog’s appointment. “Do you know what Tiny’s coming in for today?”
“Hmm. Let me see.” Scanning the recent intake of information on the computer, Kristen spotted the reason for the appointment.
“It seems that Tiny has fleas.”
“Fleas? That’s odd. Usually the owner would just take the dog to a groomer for a flea bath or buy an over the counter medicine.”
“Yes, I agree, but some of these pet owners get a little overprotective about their pets, you know.”
“True, but I would think that Tiny’s owner would be responsible enough to use preventative care.”
“You know the school of thought on that one, Annie. Some people just don’t like exposing their pets to harsh chemicals. Besides, why are you so concerned?”
Good question. “I’m not, it’s just…”
“Whatever you say, girl.” Kristen shook her head and got back to work. Contemplating her best course of action, Annie decided she would do nothing different than she would if this was a regular patient. She would behave professionally and that was the end of the story. Except it wasn’t the end, not by a long shot. Annie continuously checked her watch. The pit in her stomach grew more uncomfortable by the minute. Oh, she wished twelve o’clock would just get here already. A sobering thought suddenly struck Annie. What if Shane didn’t bring Tiny today? What if it was that nasty little girlfriend of his?
It was five of twelve and Annie must have wandered into the waiting area at least five times in the last ten minutes. She paced the room, staring out the window toward the parking lot. Kristen lifted her head from her paperwork and smirked at Annie.
“Okay, girl, what gives?”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, nothing. Maybe just the way that you keep looking outside, pacing like a rat in a cage, asking funny questions about a man and his dog and fleas… need I go on?”
“Boy, you’re a perceptive one, aren’t you?” Annie could do nothing but admit defeat. “You got me.”
“Who is he?”
“Just a guy.”
“Oh, sure. Fine, I’ll have to check him out myself when he gets here.”
Just then, Annie nearly jumped out of her skin and ran for the back room. Her heart was a bass drum. Dr. Peters was working on some paperwork. He glanced up when he saw her running to the back and chuckled to himself. “Okay…”
Checking herself in the bathroom mirror and smoothing her hair down, Annie puckered her lips and gave herself a pep talk. “You can do this. Act cool, natural.” She took a last glance at her reflection and went to face the man who made her pulse quicken.
With her head held high, Annie sashayed to the waiting area, acting as if she had no idea who was sitting in the room. The first thing she noticed was that he was positively handsome in a navy blue flannel and dark denim jeans. The second thing she noticed was that little miss nasty wasn’t with him. He was alone, thank goodness! Clearing her throat, Annie called for Tiny.
“Tiny? Tiny Nicholls?” It was quite ridiculous because not only did Annie know what Tiny looked like, but he was also the only animal in the waiting room. Not knowing what was wrong with her, she found that it was almost impossible to look directly at Shane.
Leading the way into the examining room, Annie kept up with the charade. She appeared like a librarian, with her head held high, still avoiding any eye contact with Shane.
“Who’s my favorite boy?” Annie called Tiny over and the dog went wild jumping on her, slobbering her with kisses up and down her face. In a fit of giggles, Annie dared a glance at Shane.
He moved closer until he stood directly in front of her. “You know, I’m beginning to feel a little bit jealous of that dog.”
She ignored him and continued speaking to Tiny as if Shane didn’t even exist. Shane moved closer still. She could feel his hair on her face, smell his breath which had the faint aroma of mouthwash. He leaned over…
“Don’t. What’s the matter with you?” Annie walked backwards, bumping into the examining light. It hit her squarely on the back of the head.
“That’s going to hurt.” He raised his eyebrows.
It seemed that every time that man was around, she was either falling, or bumping into something, or…remembering the horrified look on Eric’s face at the restaurant, she cringed when she visualized the toilet paper trail sticking to her heels.
“What’s the matter with me? What’s the matter with you? You act like you don’t even know me, meanwhile, that night in the bathroom…” he began.
Holding her finger up high in the air, she advanced upon him. “Don’t. Don’t you go there. You have a …girlfriend.”
“I do not have a girlfriend. For the millionth time, I do not have a girlfriend.” He was inches away from her, the tension between them palpable. The door to the office swung open and Dr. Peters entered the room, seemingly oblivious to the mood of the room.
“Well, what do we have here? Tiny’s back again, so soon?” He scrunched his brows quizzically at Shane.
“Yes. I think…I think…” He cleared his throat loudly, stalling for time.
Annie did her best to make Shane feel even more uncomfortable. “Yes?” She prompted.
“I think Tiny has fleas.” Barely audible, the doctor leaned over and placed his hand over his ear, straining to hear Shane.
“He said, he thinks Tiny has fleas.” Annie gladly finished his sentence for him.
Finally, the doctor sensed something going on between the two. “Do you two know each other?” He squinted back and forth between Annie and Shane, appearing to look confused.
“Yes!” “No!” They shouted in unison.
“Listen, it’s not my business, I suppose. Now, let’s get on with this.”
After a careful and thorough inspection, Dr. Peters declared Tiny free of fleas. Shaking his head, he faced Shane.
“To save you and that dog of yours a trip next time, I suggest looking for fleas, first of all, and then, if necessary, following up with a flea bath. I know that you buy your flea medicine from here, so quite frankly, I’m not sure what to make of all this.”
Scratching his head, Dr. Peters continued on. “Again, follow my advice next time to save yourself a trip, that is unless, you have another reason for coming here. Good day.”
He patted Tiny on the head and nodded to Shane before leaving the examining room. Shane and Annie were left with their mouths hanging open. It seemed Dr. Peters wasn’t as absent-minded as he appeared.
“Now look what you did!” Annie whispered, worried her boss would be upset with her because of this little show.
“Look what I did? Look what you did!” He was incredulous. “You, you act like I did something horrible every time I see you, you kiss me like I’ve never been kissed before, you leave me wanting more…” He ranted as his voice got higher.
“Shh! They’re going to hear us!” She moved close, right up to his face, lifting her hand to his mouth to silence him. Tiny cocked his head back and forth between the two and whined.
In a flash, Shane moved Annie’s hand away from his mou
th and pressed his mouth on hers. Sucking in her breath, Annie succumbed to his kiss; she melted into his embrace as he pulled her even closer. Minutes ticked by as neither one came up for air. When they could stand it no more, they finally parted.
“Wow.” Shane whispered, keeping her face close to his, running his fingers through her golden locks. She gazed deep into his warm eyes, lost in the depth and shades of brown.
“I…”Annie, for once, was at a loss for words.
“Don’t. Don’t say anything. Just say that you’ll see me again.”
“But, what about that woman?” She managed.
“She’s not my girlfriend. How about tonight?”
“Huh?”
“Tonight? Are you free? I thought you and I could get a bite to eat.” How could she resist when she was standing so close to him?
She gulped. “Okay.”
“Can I have your number?”
“Oh! Of course!” She scrambled for a pen and a piece of paper. Finding both on the counter, she scribbled down her number.
“Seven-thirty okay?”
“Perfect.” He went to walk out of the room, but then turned on his feet, walking right up to Annie again. He gently kissed her, nothing like the kiss they had shared before, but this time it left her wanting more.
Chapter Twenty
“We did it, boy!” Smiling, Shane hugged the dog as soon as they were out of the parking lot. He was running high on adrenaline. It would take a while for his heart rate to return to normal, he was sure of it. His mind was racing with plans for this evening. He wanted everything to be perfect. Where should he take her? Should they have another go at Rena’s on the Hudson, do it right this time? That wasn’t a bad idea. He had always wanted to try Rena’s for dinner but couldn’t bring himself to go there by himself or with a casual date. Rena’s had to be experienced with somebody extra special. He just hoped he was able to make a reservation for tonight. Fumbling for his cell phone, he pulled into his driveway and shut off his car. Letting himself into the house, he sat at the dining room table, which was filled paperwork from school. He completed an Internet search for the number of the restaurant and called, crossing his fingers.