Drowning In Love

by Beth Rinyu

  ***

  I awoke in the morning, feeling like I had finally gotten a good night’s sleep for the first time in over a year. It amazed me how my body somehow knew it was finally home. I was headed to the gym and then to sign the papers to finalize the business deal at Carol’s office; she had made special arrangements to meet up with me on a Sunday so that I could get it started right away.

  I made a quick cup of coffee, changed, and was just about to head out the door when I suddenly remembered something else I needed to do today. I grabbed the ring box from my dresser. I needed to get rid of it. It was just a painful reminder of how my life could have been. I stuck the box in my gym bag, hoping that I would have time to stop off at the jeweler at some point in the day.

  I had been keeping up on my fitness routine while in Los Angeles and was almost back to where I had been before my accident. I knew once I started working with my old trainer, Dave, I would be back to where I wanted to be in no time. He had moved to a new gym, but I didn’t care; he was the best there was, so I was willing follow him anywhere.

  I took the taxi ride across town to the gym. I walked into the lobby and was greeted by an over enthusiastic red-headed girl.

  “Oh, Mr. Montgomery, it’s so nice to meet you,” she said, extending her hand to me and eyeing me up and down. I wanted to make it clear that I wasn’t the least bit interested. I just nodded and smiled. She picked up the phone. “Dave, Mr. Montgomery is here.” Within seconds, the door flew open and Dave appeared. “Travis, my man!” He shook my hand and quickly wrapped his arm around me. “You look great, man,” he said.

  “Thanks, I’m still not feeling where I should be at physically.”

  “Oh, don’t you worry about that, bro, I will have your ass whipped back in shape in no time!”

  “I’m depending on that, man.”

  After an intense two-hour workout, we were finally wrapping up. My body was sore, but it felt great.

  “So will you be coming back tomorrow for some more torture?” Dave asked.

  “Definitely.”

  “Oh, Travis, I wanted to introduce you to Keith.” I extended my hand to the short stocky guy who had just entered the weight room.

  “Wow, Travis Montgomery, this is an honor, man!” he said.

  “Thanks, great meeting you too.”

  “You know, we have a mutual acquaintance,” he said.

  “Oh yeah, who’s that?” I asked.

  “Cute little blonde girl. What was her name? Oh, Mia.”

  Suddenly my ears perked up at the sound of her name. “How do you know Mia?” I demanded.

  “She’s a friend of a friend. Beautiful girl, but man, is she messed up. What the heck did you do to her?”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” I was losing my patience, fast.

  “Well, when I bought up your name, she just lost it; got totally wrecked, I mean drunk off her ass wrecked. She is one fine-looking piece of ass. You’re a lucky guy to have been hittin’ that. I’m going to be honest, I wouldn’t have minded fucking her myself.”

  I could feel the anger coursing through my veins over the way he was talking about Mia. I grabbed him by the shirt. “You are so lucky that you didn’t tell me that you did, because I swear to God I would have had to kick your ass right now.”

  He held up his hands in defeat. “Bro, calm down, nothing happened. Sorry, man.”

  I took a deep breath. I was still raging inside. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Dave.”

  “Yeah, okay.” Dave was looking a little shocked over my abrupt reaction.

  I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down before walking out to shower. The thought of him touching Mia in any way made me want to kill him.

  I stepped into the shower and tried my best to figure everything out. Why the hell would Mia even be associating with that guy? The only thing that I could think of was that he was full of shit and making everything up. He could have easily read about my relationship with Mia and used it in a conversation. It wasn’t like it wasn’t plastered all over the internet. Little did he know, that was a topic of my life that was totally off limits.

  Chapter 64

  Mia…

  I had made a huge dent in the packing process, but still had a long way to go. My mother and stepfather were a godsend; they had spent the last two weekends at my place, helping me out. It made me wonder: how the heck did I fit all of this stuff into this tiny little apartment? I had to stop and pull myself together, the few times that I had come across some of Eric’s items. I made sure that I tucked those things safely away, never wanting to part with them. It made me think about how different my life would be right now if only he were here. I would have been married, probably with my two kids that I had always dreamed about having. I would have been happy, instead of running away and trying to rebuild a life for myself.

  I had enticed Juan and Victor into giving up their Sunday morning to help me out, by promising to take them out to dinner later in the week. I was hoping that they could help me get my bedroom closet at least a quarter of the way packed. Although I think Juan was having more fun picking apart my wardrobe, making a comment about every article of clothing that he would place in the box.

  “Could you just shut up and pack?”

  He shook his head and laughed. “Just wait until she moves back to the boondocks, Victor. She’ll be dressing in muumuus.”

  “Haha….you are so funny! Just for that, maybe I’ll find a new friend to be my shopping buddy.”

  “Oh, Mia, you know I’m just kidding with you! Besides, you will never find another friend with my fashion sense.”

  “Less talking and more packing!” I yelled. “I have to be at Mrs. Montgomery’s by one!”

  Mrs. Montgomery hadn’t been feeling well and hadn’t been in the salon in two weeks. She had asked me if I would mind stopping over to do her hair for her. Since I was only going to be at the salon for one more week, I agreed to go over, also to allow me to say my goodbyes to her.

  “Really, Mia, why the heck are you giving up your Sunday to go over there?” Juan asked.

  “Because she asked me to and I feel bad. Besides, I want to say goodbye to her before I move.”

  Juan rolled his eyes and shook his head at me. “Whatever, Mia! She’s just a painful reminder of the one person that you’re trying to forget.”

  I walked over to my jewelry box. I wanted to go through it and get rid of some of the old costume jewelry that I no longer wore. I began to throw away some of the old mismatched earrings that I knew I would never wear again into the trash. I briefly closed my eyes and took a deep breath when I pulled out the gold heart necklace that Travis had given me a few Christmases ago. I had buried it in the bottom of the jewelry box so that I wouldn’t have to look at it; this was now another very painful reminder of what could have been. I turned it over and read the inscription. “Yeah, okay,” I said sarcastically.

  “What?” Juan asked in confusion. He walked over to see what I had in my hand. “Mia, put it away! Get rid of it! Remember your closure?” He went to take it from my hand, but I wouldn’t let him.

  I lifted my hair and clasped it on my neck. “It’s okay, I want to wear this so I can always look down and be reminded of what a sucker I was for him and never fall into that trap with any other man.”

  “Oh, Mia, what am I going to do with you?”

  I shook my head and smiled. “Nothing, I am a hopeless fool – don’t you know that?” I sure was hopeless, still hopelessly still in love with a man who didn’t love me back.

  ***

  The elevator doors closed as I made my way up to Mrs. Montgomery’s apartment. I was in such a good mood, thinking about the progress that we had made this morning with my closet. I was another step closer to my new life. I was immediately greeted by Bernice, Mrs. Montgomery’s maid.

  “Mia, it’s so nice to see you again. It’s a shame that we only get to see one another when Charlotte is under the weather.”

 
“Yes, I know. Is she feeling any better?”

  She shrugged her shoulders. “She says she is, but who knows? Maybe once she gets her hair done, that will help.”

  I smiled as I made my way into the living room where Mrs. Montgomery had her nose buried in a book. She finally looked up at me and a smile appeared on her face. “Mia, dear, how are you?” She stood up and wrapped her arms around me.

  “I’m good. How are you feeling?”

  “Much better, dear, but the doctor said he still wants me taking it easy.”

  “Well, let’s get you beautiful so you’ll be all ready to go out when the time is right.”

  She smiled and patted my shoulder as we made our way to her kitchen to work on her hair.

  I was feeling myself getting upset by the time I was done and getting ready to say my goodbyes to her. I was truly going to miss her. She had become a very special part of my life. She walked me to the door and wrapped her arms around me. “I will never find another stylist as good as you.”

  “Aw, thank you, Mrs. Montgomery.”

  “Please make sure you come and see me when you come back into the city.”

  “I definitely will.”

  “Oh, wait one second, dear.” She walked back into the living room and came out with an envelope.

  “What’s this?” I asked.

  “It’s just a little something to get you started with your new life and to say thank you for always being so accommodating to me.”

  I gasped when I opened up the envelope to find a check for three thousand dollars. “Mrs. Montgomery, this is so very kind, but I can’t accept this.”

  “Mia, I will be insulted if you don’t. You are very special to me. You’re like the granddaughter that I never had. You have been through so much, first with your fiancé, then with Travis. Please, dear, take it. No one deserves it more than you.”

  “Mrs. Mont –” She waved her hand at me to stop me from talking.

  “Thank you so much. You have no idea how much I appreciate it.”

  I hugged her tightly and began to cry. “Just be happy, Mia. You deserve nothing but happiness, dear.”

  “Well, that’s my plan. Hopefully I’ll succeed,” I said as I wiped the tears from my face.

  She took my hands in hers and I could see tears forming in her eyes. “I have a good feeling that you will.” I gave her a smile before heading out the door. The tears rolled down my face as I waited for the elevator. I wiped my face and tried pulling it together as I heard the dinging of the elevator. My stomach dropped along with my jaw when the elevator door opened and I was staring into Travis’ eyes.

  Chapter 65

  Travis….

  I was speechless. I had to do a double take to make sure I was seeing right. But there was no doubt, it was her, even more beautiful than I remembered. "Mia, how are you?"

  She stared at me coldly; the look in her eyes was so different from the Mia I used to know; the Mia that I loved and still loved with all my heart. She bit her lip and shook her head. She was silent, staring at me coldly. "Why didn’t you tell me?” she finally shouted.

  "Mia, what are you talking about?"

  I could see the tears building in her eyes. “I was your biggest supporter. I tried to be there for you every step of the way and I had to find out that you're walking again from a virtual stranger. Regardless if you wanted to be with me or not, I think you could have least picked up a phone and told me that news yourself."

  "Mia, I'm sorry. I just didn't want to intrude in your life."

  "Oh yeah, because my life has been so exciting since the day you left. Well, I'm glad to see that you did it, Travis, but other than that, I have nothing else to say to you."

  She pushed past me and got into the elevator. I grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back out. "Ouch, Travis -stop it!" she yelled.

  "Listen to me, Mia, I did what I had to do for you because I loved you. I still fuckin' love you so much that it hurts. You have everything that you want now and even though I'm not happy, I know that you are and that's all that matters - that's all that ever mattered.” I couldn't resist kissing her softly on the cheek. I had to catch my breath as my lips grazed her velvety soft skin. My eyes widened when I focused my attention on the gold heart hanging around her neck. She quickly placed her hand over it, almost as if she was embarrassed for me to see it. I stared into her eyes, looking for some kind of warmth, but there was none, only sadness.

  "You will always own my heart, Mia, forever," I whispered in her ear.

  “Really? I’m sure your girlfriend wouldn’t be too happy to hear that,” she said as she stepped into the elevator. She looked at me one last time before putting her head down, just as the elevator door closed.

  I hadn’t a clue what she was talking about or why the hell she was so angry with me. I stood in the hallway just outside my grandmother’s door, trying to pull it together. I finally felt composed enough to enter and was greeted immediately by my grandmother’s maid, Bernice.

  “Travis!” She smiled and wrapped her arms around me.I smiled back and kissed her on the cheek. “Your grandmother is going to be so happy to see you!”

  I walked into the living room, where my grandmother was sitting on the couch, wiping her eyes with a tissue and finally looked up. “Travis, you have just made my day!” She got up and hugged me tightly. She looked me over, up and down, as more tears formed in her eyes. “I knew that you could do it, Travis. Oh, my goodness, I’m going to go through a whole box of tissues today, between you and Mia.”

  “Mia?” Why was she crying with Mia?

  “Yes, dear, she was just here doing my hair for me. She’s moving in a week and we both had a good cry when we said our goodbyes.”

  “Oh,” I said, trying to play it off like the mere sound of her name didn’t pain me.

  We both took a seat on the couch and began to catch up. She listened closely as I told her all about California.

  “Well, I’m just glad you’re home now.”

  “Yeah, I am too.”

  “Why don’t you stay for dinner?”

  “Oh, I can’t. I have to get to the jeweler before they close.”

  “Oh?” She raised her eyebrow at me.

  “Yeah, I need to get rid of a painful memory.” I opened my gym bag that I had been carrying around all day and pulled out the box. I opened the lid and my grandmother’s eyes widened. “This was meant for Mia, a long time ago, before I messed everything up.”

  She looked at me sadly. “Oh, Travis, dear. Have you tried talking to her since you’ve gotten back?”

  “I actually just ran into her in the hallway, would you believe that?”

  “And?”

  “Nothing. It’s too late now anyway.”

  “Why is it too late? She’s only moving an hour away, Travis, and who knows; maybe you could talk her out of it.”

  “Yeah, well somehow, I don’t think her husband would appreciate that.”

  My grandmother looked at me strangely. “Her husband?”

  “Yeah, it’s okay, I’m slowly getting over it. Stacy told me all about her husband and her baby. It’s what I wanted for her, so I can’t complain about it.”

  My grandmother furrowed her brows and looked at me in confusion. “What are you talking about, Travis? Mia’s not married and she certainly doesn’t have a baby.”

  “But Stacy ran into her a few months ago. She said she was having lunch with some guy and she was holding a baby – Jackson.”

  “Jackson?” my grandmother asked.

  “That was Mia’s name that she had picked out if she ever had a son. She told Stacy that the baby’s name was Jackson.”

  “Well, I don’t know whose baby it was, but I can tell you for certain, it wasn’t Mia’s. I have been going to her faithfully to get my hair done and I know for a fact that she has never been pregnant!”

  Now, I was more confused than ever. I snapped the lid on the box and shoved it in my coat pocket. "I have to get going." I g
ave my grandmother a kiss on the cheek and sprinted out the door.

  "Travis," my grandmother shouted just as I reached the door. "Good luck!" Her smile was a mile wide.

  I nearly got run over trying to flag down a taxi. I jumped in the back and gave the driver the address to Mia's apartment.

  I hadn’t a clue what I was going to say to her, but I didn’t care. I needed to see if she really meant it when she said she would wait for me forever.

  Chapter 66

  Mia…

  I arrived home and jumped into the shower. I was more confused than ever by Travis’ bizarre behavior. I had everything that I wanted now? Was he serious? Little did he know that the one and only thing I wanted was him! And, how dare he say that he still loved me when he was going to press conferences professing his love for someone else. I wrapped myself in a towel and sat on the toilet, trying to clear my mind. If I ever wanted closure, I had to watch the rest of that video and hear it with my own ears, just exactly who the “lucky girl” was in Travis’ life. I quickly threw on my sweats and scoured through the boxes on my kitchen table for my laptop. I typed Travis’ name in the search engine and found the video that Juan and I had watched a few months ago. But this time, as much as it hurt, I was going to watch the entire thing. My stomach clenched when I listened to the reporter ask the question:

  “Mr. Montgomery, I’m going to ask the question that the entire female population wants to know, is there someone special holding the key to your heart?”

  “Yes, there is.”

  “Do you mind me asking who she is?”

  “She’s actually no longer in my life. But she will always remain the number one person in my heart. She believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself and I will always love and appreciate her for that. And I truly believe that she is the only reason that I’m walking right now.” His voice turned almost into a whisper and his eyes became much more emotional. “Thank you, Mia.”

  I covered my mouth in shock. “Oh my God!” None of this was making sense to me. If Travis didn’t have someone new in his life, then why didn’t he call me and tell about his good news? I was more confused than ever. I was done playing guessing games. I needed to confront him immediately to find out exactly what was going on inside that head of his. I quickly changed into my jeans and threw on my coat. I opened the door and gasped when I saw Travis standing on the other side.