I Hear...Love (A Different Road #2)

by Annalisa Nicole

  “Let’s get to the shop,” Joss says to Nina.

  “Fine,” Nina replies, still rubbing her arm.

  On the way to their van, Joss softly elbows Nina with their secret I love you elbow nudge, but Nina doesn’t elbow her back. The two of them are extremely cute together. They’ve known each other since they were little girls, and they have this secret elbow nudge thing they do that secretly, without words, tells the other that they love them. Joss always says that sometimes you may not be able to say it, but you want the other person to know, so that’s what they came up with. Oh my gosh, one day River did it to Joss in front of Nina, and I seriously thought she was going to pop her eyeballs out of her head, she was so jealous. I’ve never seen River do it to Joss again.

  Josh gets out of the driver’s seat and opens River’s door. Joss kisses him one last time, before he gets in the car. Josh opens my door and I get in. He closes my door as Joss and Nina get in their catering van, then they head out of the driveway.

  River sighs loudly, as Josh walks around the vehicle to the driver door. River, again, sighs and it irritates the crap out of me. All of his loud sighing all the time is enough to drive me crazy.

  “What? If you have something to say, just say it,” I tell him, looking at the back of his head.

  “Was the new client you secured for Joss and Nina, Cooper?” he asks, as Josh opens the door. “Where were you this morning? Did you sleep at Cooper’s?” he has the nerve to ask.

  Josh hears the conversation and immediately closes the door without getting in the car. He turns his back and leans against the driver’s door.

  Smart move, Josh.

  “Did I sleep at Cooper’s?” I repeat back to him. “Are you sure you didn’t want to go for the win and ask if I slept with Cooper last night?” I fire at the back of his head.

  “Don’t be crass,” he returns, turning his head to the side.

  “Crass! You need to look up the definition. You’re the exact definition of crass.”

  I lean over and tap on the window, then say loud enough so Josh can hear, “Josh, I need you to look up the word crass on your phone, then tell River what it says. When you get to the word, stupid, make sure you say it slowly so he can understand.”

  Josh scratches his eyebrow, but completely ignores me, so I sit back in my seat with a plop.

  “Kate, you’re not to see him again. Do I make myself clear?” he asks.

  My mouth hangs open with words unable to come out. I’m not to see him again! Who the hell does he think he is?

  “That’s it! I’m taking the necessary steps to remove you as conservator. Then, as soon as I can, I’m moving out. I’ve been bending over backward, jumping through every freaking hoop you toss at me, to prove to you that I’m better. I’ve been to every counseling session, I take my medication religiously, I’ve eaten everything they tell me to eat and don’t eat the things they say I shouldn’t. I’ve allowed strangers into the pool house, where I live, on a regular basis to come in and tear my belongings apart looking for suicidal paraphernalia. I’ve been running around like a crazy person to make sure I do everything to your high levels of satisfaction, so I don’t ever let you down again. I second, sometimes third, and fourth guess, every move I make, every word I say around you to make sure I’m good enough for you. But this, this time you’ve stepped over the line. I’m an adult. Yes, I’ve screwed up my life before, but you can’t hold that over my head for the rest of my life and keep me your little prisoner in your pool house. Not that I need to tell you, but no, I haven’t slept with Cooper, and I didn’t sleep over his house last night, either. I slept in my bed with Sadie. I returned her to him this morning. We’re friends. Are you seriously going to sit there in good conscious and tell me who I can and can’t be friends with?”

  “You slept with a dog?” he asks.

  Out of everything I said, he chooses to dwell on Sadie. He leans over, taps on the driver side window with his finger, then Josh opens the door and gets in. I cross my arms over my chest and sit in the back seat like a petulant child. Josh starts the car and proceeds to drive to work. Again, I find myself staring at the back of River’s head, wishing I could slap him upside his crazy ass head.

  Not another word is said the entire drive to the office and the elevator ride to our floor is suffocating. I head to the receptionist desk, put my purse in the filing cabinet, then get to work ignoring both River and Josh’s stare.

  Just before lunch, a flower delivery man gets off the elevator. It’s not uncommon for women in the office to get flowers. It’s bittersweet. Part of me loves how beautiful they are and the sentiment behind them, but the other part is extremely jealous that someone out there is thinking of this person so much that they go out of their way to do something so nice as to send them flowers to their place of work.

  I stand as he places them on my desk, then I take the clipboard from him and sign for them.

  “Thank you,” I say, as he turns around and leaves.

  “Have a nice day,” he replies.

  Yeah. Real nice day so far.

  I remove the card from the little plastic fork, so I can read the name and buzz the lucky lady. I remove it, flip it over, and read the name on the card.

  Kate Mason.

  Wait. That’s me!

  That’s my name!

  I take a seat, bring the card to my chest, then look at the beautiful flowers again and smile. Wait just one minute. These better not be from River. He has more to apologize for, and he’s not getting off that easy by sending me flowers. Flowers can’t smooth over what he’s been doing and what he said to me.

  I slam the unopened card on my desk, then grab my purse and leave the building to go to lunch. I’m sure as hell not going to sit in River’s office and eat lunch with him today. I know I’m being a huge pain in the ass, immature child right now, but seriously, I’m done proving myself to him. The only person I need to prove anything to is my own damn self.

  It’s another beautiful sunny day, so I walk the two blocks to the deli and order my favorite vegetarian sandwich. I take a seat at a table outside, dig my headphones out of my purse, put them on, then take the first bite. I close my eyes as the delicious flavors mingle on my tongue. God, this is good. When I open my eyes, someone sets down a tray on the table in front of me.

  Say what?

  I mean, I don’t mind sharing a table with someone when there are no open tables to sit down at, but there are at least three empty tables right now.

  I look up to politely ask the person if they can please sit somewhere else, but I see Cooper standing in front of me with a handsome smile on his face. His hint of cologne passes by my nose and I smile.

  I flip my headphones off my ears, then turn off my music.

  “Hi,” I say, setting down my sandwich.

  “Hi,” he returns with a smile.

  “Did you get flowers today?” he asks, taking a seat.

  “How’d you know I got flowers today?” I ask. Oh, shit, were they from him? “Did you send me flowers?” I ask.

  “Nope,” he says, then takes a bite of his sandwich.

  Um . . . OK. I eat the rest of my sandwich and the longer I sit with Cooper, the less my brain hurts from being mad at River. I glance at my watch, and I should really head back.

  “Thank you for eating lunch with me,” I tell him, wrapping up my trash.

  “Thank you,” he says. “I needed a break from the meeting I was in all morning. You’ve recharged my batteries,” he finishes.

  I smile at him thinking my battery level is at an all time low, I don’t know how I could have helped him.

  He stands, leans in, kisses me on the cheek, then smiles and tosses his trash in the garbage can. He turns around, gives me a low wave, another gorgeous smile, and then walks the opposite direction back to his office.

  I let out a little chuckle and smile at him as he puts a little dance in his step.

  I walk back to work with my headphones on, feeling a millio
n times lighter. The second I get off the elevator on my floor, I spot the beautiful flowers. I put my headphones in my purse and put it away, then take the card off my desk.

  I open it and read the card.

  I can’t help it. It’s so damn cute, I laugh out loud. I look up at the ceiling with an honest to God happy smile on my face. I put the card back in the envelope, then lean over and smell the beautiful flowers. Then I see Josh guiding River down the hall toward me and my smile fades.

  “Where were you during lunch?” he asks angrily, sniffing the air.

  Before I head home from work, I stop at the grocery store to pick up a few things. I emailed California Chef my paperwork, then I went on their website and picked out my meals. It was actually fun. They’ve assigned me Maddy, and she starts next week. It’ll be nice to have home cooking again, even if it’s not my mom who’s cooking it.

  I grab a cart and start pushing it aimlessly down the aisles. I’m kind of at a loss as to what to buy now. It’s nice not to think about what ingredients I need to buy to make meals. Although I mostly order pizza, I can make a mean breakfast and it’s one of my favorite things to eat for dinner. I pick up some bagels and remind myself to grab some cream cheese when I go down the dairy aisle. I walk slowly through the aisles not picking up much.

  When I get to the milk section, I grab a gallon of orange juice, then pass the coffee cream. The conversation with Kate in my kitchen crosses my mind, and I walk my cart backward to the coffee cream. I lean back and take a look at all of the different brands, and the multitude of flavors, and I just don’t have a clue. I drink mine black, sometimes with a little sprinkle of sugar, but the amount of choices here is insane. There are at least twenty different flavors, and some flavors come in sugar-free and fat-free.

  I grab a bottle of regular coffee cream, not flavored with anything and place it in my cart. I grab eggs, bacon, sausage, shredded cheese and a bag of prepared hash browns, and place them in my cart. I remember I’m running low on coffee, then head back down that aisle. I grab a case of beer and a couple of bottles of wine, then head to the checkout. As I grab the coffee cream out of my cart to place it on the belt, I smile.

  I load everything in my car, get in the driver’s seat, then remember I forgot the cream cheese. I’m not going back in there. Good old butter will just have to do.

  I greet an enthusiastic Sadie once inside the door and place everything on the counter. I put everything away, then grab Sadie’s clean dish out of the dishwasher and feed her. I make myself three breakfast burritos, eat, then grab Sadie’s leash to take her for a walk.

  Once down the steps, Sadie immediately pulls me to the right. Good thing, because I wasn’t planning on going the other direction. There are several people out on the beach, but Sadie ignores every one of them. She walks a determined, direct path to a woman sitting on the beach a few feet away from the shore.

  I’d recognize that beautiful, long brown hair anywhere. Kate’s hair blows in the wind as she stares out at the ocean. Sadie gently walks up behind her and noses her gently on her neck, then sits down behind her. Kate turns her head and looks at Sadie. The sullen look on her face immediately disappears and she smiles.

  “Sadie!” she says, excitedly.

  Sadie scoots across the sand and sits down next to her. Kate looks up at me and smiles again.

  Kate wraps her arms around Sadie, places her head on her, then gives her a tight squeeze.

  “Thank you for the flowers, Sadie. They made my day, among other things,” she says, then looks up at me again.

  I sit down on the other side of Sadie, pick up a piece of driftwood and start to shred it, then ask, “How was the rest of your day at work?”

  Kate sighs and doesn’t answer.

  “That bad, huh?” I ask.

  “I’m trying so hard to do all the right things, but I’m wondering if I shouldn’t have started to work at Mason Group in the first place,” she says.

  “What would you do instead?” I ask.

  “I don’t know, teach yoga,” she replies, then her face lights up.

  “I can totally see you doing that. I see how passionate you are about it. You should do what you love and not worry about what others are going to think about it, or you,” I tell her.

  “I just started taking an active role in the company. I couldn’t leave Mason Group,” she says.

  “You can’t leave Mason Group, or do you mean you can’t leave River?” I ask a tough question.

  She looks at me and her eyes tell me it’s the latter, not the former.

  “My brothers and I own equal percentages of the business. It’s a family business. It’s my dad’s business. It was his legacy. I should have been active in the company a long time ago,” she replies.

  “You can always become a silent partner.”

  “I just don’t know,” she sighs, then looks back out at the horizon.

  “Well, just know that you do have options and seriously, you should do what you love and makes you happy.”

  Sadie gets up between us, then walks around the other side of Kate and lays down with her snout between her paws. Kate gently strokes her from her shoulders down to her rump, and Sadie lets out a contented sigh.

  We don’t say another word as we sit on the beach and watch the sunset. I scoot closer to her and wrap my arm around her. She lays her head on my shoulder. I’m sure she’s deep in thought, weighing her options about what to do about her job.

  “I should head home,” she says, lifts her head, then stands up.

  “I’ll walk you,” I say, as I stand, then wipe the sand off the back of my pants.

  The three of us slowly walk to her house, then stop at the bottom step. I raise my hand, and run it up and down the back of her arm. I lean in and kiss her on the cheek. Sadie quietly climbs the stairs, then turns around and sits down, waiting for Kate.

  Kate looks up the stairs at Sadie, then looks at me for my reaction.

  “Good night, Kate. Good night, Sadie,” I call to the top step.

  Sadie raises her paw as if she’s actually saying goodbye, and I laugh at her.

  “Good night, Cooper,” she says, then climbs the stairs.

  Sadie walks to my back door and sits as I reach the top step. I walk to the door and reach for the handle, feeling content and happy that I get to sleep with Sadie again tonight. I had such a good sleep with her last night.

  “Kate,” River’s stern voice calls, scaring the shit out of me.

  “Oh, my God! You scared me half to death,” I say, turning around, looking for River.

  “I was serious this morning when I said you’re not to see him again,” he says, stepping out of the shadows.

  “I’m not a teenager, and you’re not my dad. You can’t tell me who I can see,” I fire back.

  Sadie stands perfectly still by the door, but has her eyes trained on River.

  “I’m nothing like him. I can tell you who you can see and what’s that awful smell?” River asks disgusted, taking a few deep sniffs.

  Sadie cocks her head to the side. I raise my hand in an it’s alright motion, then look back to River.

  “I don’t know, the ocean,” I reply snottily.

  “Kate, I’m not kidding and it’s not up for discussion. You will not see him again,” he says again.

  “I think a judge will see differently,” I tell him.

  I’m calling in sick tomorrow, and I’m hiring myself an attorney to remove his conservatorship. This has gone on long enough.

  “If you think you have a shot at that, go right ahead. But until then, you heard what I said,” he replies, turns around, and walks back into the house.

  I grab my hair in my fists at my neck and pull. God, why is he doing this? Sadie comes to my side and whines. I loosen my grip, look up at the stars, and let my hands fall to my side.

  “Come on, let’s go inside,” I tell Sadie.

  I wash my face and get ready for bed. Sadie never leaves my side. I flip on the televisi
on, then get into bed. Sadie jumps up and lays down with a disgruntled sigh at my side. I grab my headphones and place them over my ears, then sink down into bed. My thoughts run wild as I lay there.

  I haven’t been happy since I started working at Mason Group. It can’t be good for my state of mind, right? I do love yoga, and I love teaching it to Joss and Nina. I’m really good at it. How can I turn that into a business, though? I don’t have any money saved to invest in opening up my own yoga studio. I’d have to sell my third of Mason Group to come up with that kind of cash.

  I could never do that. I’d never want to let my dad down like that. I know how much Mason Group meant to him.

  Sadie snuggles closer to my side and I close my eyes. Soon, I’m fast asleep.

  The next morning, I wake up, grab my yoga mat and head out to the deck to get in a good session. Sadie follows me and sits next to my mat, while I move my body and free my mind. I place my palms flat down in front of me with my feet hips length apart and press my ass to the sky in a downward dog position. As I stretch further down, I look to my right. I see Sadie with her rump in the air, and her paws and head down in front of her in her own version of a downward dog.

  I can’t help it, I tip over and start laughing uncontrollably. I roll over on my back, grab my stomach and laugh, as Sadie licks me in my face.

  River opens the door to his house and steps outside.

  “What’s going on?” he asks, sternly.

  I put my finger over my lips to Sadie, like she can understand what I’m saying and wrap my arms around her middle.

  “I’m just doing yoga,” I tell him.

  “I expect you at the breakfast table this morning,” he says.

  God, he’s so bossy. He hasn’t behaved like this since before he met Joss.

  “I can be there for breakfast, but I’m not going to the office today. I’m taking a personal day,” I tell him.

  He growls low in his throat, then goes back inside and closes the door.

  I go back into the pool house and take a shower. I slip on a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, then grab Sadie’s leash.