by Tia Siren
Checking my schedule, I realized I was free for the rest of the weekend. I had beat my deadline, which meant I got to take tomorrow off.
I packed up, deciding I didn’t want to waste another minute of the beautiful spring day cooped up in my office.
“Hi!” I said to my mom as I walked through the door of her shop.
“What are you doing here?” she asked in surprise.
“I finished early and wanted to see if you could get lunch and maybe go for a walk? It is absolutely gorgeous outside. We could both use the fresh air.”
There had been plenty of bright spring days, but today felt different. I felt different. I felt alive and looked forward to the future. I was not going to give Brad all the credit for my new outlook on life. No way. I was convinced it was the closure. I finally had closure for that heartache in my life. I was healed and ready to get out there once again.
“I would love to. Let me tell Mattie,” she said, disappearing behind the little curtain that separated the front and back rooms.
I took a minute to look around and burst into laughter at the princess costume for an extra-large dog. I somehow didn’t see a proud Labrador or Great Dane being happy to be sport a frilly pink getup.
“I’m ready,” my mom said, emerging with her purse and sunglasses.
Smiling, I once again thanked the universe for letting me keep my mom on this earth a little longer.
“What do you want for lunch? My treat.”
“Oh, gosh, I don’t know. I’m sure you’re tired of sandwiches.”
I shrugged. “I could go for a nice meaty sandwich with everything piled on it. Let’s stop at the shop on the corner where we used to always go.”
“Sounds good to me.”
We walked to the corner and ordered our lunch before walking across the street to have our picnic. The entire time, my phone was beeping.
“Who is that? Do you need to answer it?” she asked with concern.
“No.”
“What’s new with you anyway?” She smiled. “Is that a boyfriend you’re dodging?”
“Not exactly.”
We sat down on a park bench overlooking a small pond.
“Tell me,” she said in a low voice.
I hesitated for a second. My mother was my best friend. I knew I could tell her everything. She had known Brad well. She had been fond of him.
After taking a deep breath, I blurted out the twisted story of our marriage pact and the fact that Brad was calling it in now after all this time without even talking.
She was smiling, beaming really.
“I think you should do it,” she announced after only mulling it over a few short seconds.
“Mom!” I exclaimed in horror. “You can’t be serious!”
She nodded her head. “I am. You’re all alone, Mia. He cared about you so much back then. I had always hoped you would be able to see it, and you never did. I didn’t know if you were oblivious or simply didn’t feel the same way. I always thought you two would end up together. When you didn’t, I was very sad. He’s a good man, and he always treated you so well.”
“You mean when he up and left and never called me again after we slept together?” I said dryly.
She waved a hand in the air. “You were both young back then. You both had your entire lives ahead of you. He was looking at a career doing something he loved. You were too. Neither one of you was ready to settle down.”
“No, but he could have called,” I said.
“Maybe he didn’t know what to say. Or maybe he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to leave you if he talked to you. You were both on the brink of making huge changes in your lives, and if he had stayed, he might have missed his chance. Maybe you guys would have gotten together, but he would have resented you. He would have constantly wondered what would have happened if he had gotten on that plane.”
“I hate when you’re rational,” I grumbled before taking a bite of my sandwich.
She just laughed. “And besides, phones do work both ways. You could have called him, too, but you never did.” She gave me a pointed look and dug into her lunch.
What did she mean by that? He was the one who had left. I mean, yes, I knew he was leaving that next day, but he had promised not to get weird, and he had. That was all on him. Right? Ugh, I hated when my mom didn’t just side with me.
We ate in silence for a while, doing a little people watching while we listened to the birds. It was peaceful, and I needed peaceful right now.
“So, when’s he coming?” my mom asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t know that he is. He hasn’t given me a specific date. I think he’s just having some fun. He’s probably bored or between girlfriends.”
“I don’t know about that. For him to call you out of the blue like that seems like he is pretty serious.”
I laughed. “Brad is never serious about anything. It’s all a silly game. He’ll get tired of it soon enough. He’ll find a new girlfriend and the whole thing will be forgotten again.”
“Sometimes fate has a funny way of working out.”
“Yes, it does, but does fate normally take vacations that stretch eleven years?”
She nodded. “Yep, if that’s what is needed to have everything work out as it should.”
“I don’t know, Mom. Brad and I had our time. It didn’t work.”
With a shrug, she didn’t say another word about it. We spent the rest of the afternoon doing a little window shopping and walking around the city. It wasn’t often I got to take a step back and simply enjoy the life I had. Being with my mom on a beautiful spring day was something I wanted to treasure forever.
“I should get going,” my mom said. “Thank you for hanging out with me today. I had a really good time.”
“So did I, Mom. I’ll call you tomorrow,” I said, waving as I hailed a cab to take me home.
It was after dinner by the time I got home. I had used my phone app to have dinner delivered. It would be at the desk by the time I showed up.
“Hi, George,” I said to the man at the front security desk.
“Good evening, Miss Hunter. Got a couple things for you,” he said, pulling out the bag of takeout.
He also handed me a stack of mail and then grabbed the vase of pretty pink and yellow tulips off the desk.
“What’s this?” I asked, looking at the vase full of gorgeous flowers.
“They were delivered for you earlier,” he said with a smile. “I sure do love spring flowers.”
I smiled, already knowing who they were from. I loved tulips. They were my favorite flower, and there was only one person in my life besides my mother who knew that: Brad.
“Thanks, George,” I said, hanging the bag of food from my arm before taking the vase.
Once I got in the elevator, I quickly opened the card. There were no sweet words or even a name. A kissy face emoji was front and center. It was enough. The man was going to spoil me. I couldn’t let him lull me into this idea of a relationship. We weren’t together. We wouldn’t be together. He was in California and I was in New York. We both had careers and lives and couldn’t just up and leave. One of us would have to move. I wasn’t going to do the long-distance thing.
When the elevator dinged and stopped moving, I shook my head. Why was I even thinking about the logistics? This was all a joke anyway. I carried the flowers to my small dining table and centered them before leaning over and inhaling the lovely fragrance.
The man was smooth. He had always been a bit of a smooth operator, but clearly the years had refined his skills. That was not my type. I hated guys who relied on their good looks and charm. They usually ended up being snakes. I couldn’t imagine how Brad was still single. Maybe he’d already run through all the women in Los Angeles.
I grabbed a plate and dished up my dinner. I chose to sit at the table, wanting to be near the beauty of the flowers. I used my phone to turn on the surround-sound music system in the condo, lit some candles, and poured a glass of win
e. I loved my life in New York. No way was I going to move for him.
Once I finished eating, I grabbed my phone and headed for the bathroom. I was going to sink into a luxury bath and wash away all my worries. I considered taking the flowers with me but quickly reminded myself they were part of a game. A game I wanted no part of. The man had broken my heart once. I couldn’t give him the chance to do it again.
I sank into the tub loaded with fragrant bubbles. The candles flickered all around me, creating a soothing atmosphere. I took a drink from my wine glass before picking up my phone to send him a quick text.
Thank you for the flowers. They are beautiful.
His response was almost instantaneous.
Just like you. What are you doing right now?
I smiled. If the man only knew. I felt a little daring and decided to tell him exactly what I was doing.
Bubble bath.
I closed my eyes and luxuriated in the scent of strawberries emanating from the bubble bath. My phone chirped. I smiled when his reply demanded I prove it.
I popped my toes above the water. My painted red nails looked bright against the mountain of white bubbles surrounding them. I took a picture, making sure he could see the candles around the tub. Once the picture was sent, I put the phone down and concentrated on the music streaming through the speakers. I had recently stumbled onto Yo-Yo Ma after a date had taken me to one of his concerts. It wasn’t usually my taste in music, but I had fallen in love. I had thought only old people listened to symphony music. Either I was officially old or I had developed a little culture.
My phone chirped several times, but I ignored it. Brad needed to take a step back. Bath time was all about me. It was a luxury I rarely got to enjoy. Persistent chirping from my phone had me finally reaching for it, though.
There was a series of emojis ranging from mad faces to praying hands. He wanted more pictures. I laughed. He wasn’t going to be getting any nudes from me. I wasn’t going to risk being on the cover of Page Six as the fashion columnist who’d been hacked and had my naked ass splashed all over social media.
I silenced my phone and enjoyed the rest of my bath. Brad was going to have to do something much bigger if he wanted me to take him seriously. The flowers were nice, but that did not make up for his eleven-year absence from my life.
Chapter Eleven
Brad
I did a few stretches in my apartment before taking the stairs to the lobby. Jaxon finally agreed to get his ass out of bed and hang out for a bit. We were heading to the gym to play basketball. He refused to go surfing with me. According to him, I was a show-off. I didn’t think I was a show-off, but I was good at it. Surfing had become my favorite pastime since I’d moved to LA. I was too close to the ocean not to learn. Plus, I loved being outside. Anything I could do to get in a good workout while having fun outside was at the top of my list of things to do. Lately, surfing had taken the place of chasing women and sex. I had a lot of free time on my hands these days.
“Hey. Thought you would call and say you weren’t going to make it,” I said when I saw Jaxon already in the gym shooting baskets.
“I’m here and you’re late.”
We got right to playing a little one-on-one. I sucked. My mind was not on the game. It was on Mia and those pretty little red toes that I knew were attached to a wet naked body. My brain had been stuck on her and the idea of her being nude for days.
“What the hell?” Jaxon grumbled when I missed an easy shot.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. My head just isn’t in it.”
“Obviously. What’s wrong with you?”
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
“Bullshit. You’re still hung up on that New York chick, aren’t you? You’ve been acting off for over a week.”
I considered denying it, but there was no point. It was painfully obvious. “Yes,” I muttered.
“Holy shit, man. She’s got you hooked. Who is this girl?”
I rolled my eyes. “I told you, someone I used to know.”
He shook his head. “I’m calling bullshit. This is much bigger than an old fling. You are sprung.”
“She wasn’t a fling. She was a very good friend. My best friend, really.”
He nodded his head slowly. “Sounds like it’s a bit more than that.”
We sat down on one of the benches. I waited a few minutes before I told him the real story.
“Wow.”
I laughed. “Yes. I guess that’s one response.”
“Wow,” he repeated. “Really? You really want to get married? You don’t even know her. What if she is just messing with you? You dumped her. This could be her revenge.”
I shook my head. “I do know her. She isn’t like that. Plus, she keeps telling me no.”
He looked at me like I had three heads. “What the fuck? Why are you chasing her if she doesn’t want you? She’s told you to get lost and you’re still pursuing her from three-thousand miles away?”
I let out a long sigh. “Yes.”
“Maybe you should think about finding a girlfriend. A real one. There are plenty of good women I could hook you up with. Don’t rush into marriage. You’ll just end up losing half of everything you have,” he warned.
“Not with Mia. She has plenty. She wouldn’t want anything from me.”
He chuckled. “You really don’t know women. You piss them off, cheat on them or whatever, and they have you by the balls.”
“I’m not going to cheat on her. Plus, we both agreed we would have an open marriage if our sex life wasn’t satisfying,” I said, feeling confident we had covered all the pertinent details.
“Yeah, right. Like that is ever going to happen.”
I shrugged a shoulder. Jaxon wasn’t going to talk me out of it. Obviously, Mia could turn me down, but I was going to make it difficult for her to do that.
“I want to get married,” I said. “I want to have a family and feel more settled in life. You have to know that feeling. You can’t tell me you are truly happy jumping from one bed to the next.”
He shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t think I have ever wanted the family thing. Not yet. I still got time.” He grinned. “But I don’t think I am made to be with one woman for the rest of my life.”
“Because you haven’t found the right woman yet.”
Jaxon laughed. “Brad, I’ve met a lot of women. A lot of pretty, successful, smart women, and none of them have made me think about putting a ring on her finger and making babies. It just isn’t in my DNA.”
“Well, I feel like I need that in my life to make me happy. I want Mia. I’m going to grovel at her feet and beg her to have me.”
He groaned. “Man, you don’t have to grovel. There are about a thousand women right this minute who would be your bride and give you babies.”
I shrugged. “I want Mia.”
“Fine. More power to you, but don’t you think you should actually get to know the woman before you decide she’s the one you want to marry? Eleven years is a long time. She could be totally different,” he said.
“That’s what we’re doing: chatting and flirting, getting to know each other again. She thinks I’m joking about the pact, but I’m not. I just need to convince her she wants me. Shouldn’t be too hard.” I winked. “I’m a catch.”
Jaxon burst into laughter. “If only you had some self-confidence.”
“Let’s get out of here. I need the water. I can’t be locked up in a gym.”
Jaxon groaned. “You always make me look bad when we’re out there. You’re an overachiever. Simply being toned would do, but oh no, you’ve got to take it a step further and be all hard and tanned. It’s really kind of embarrassing.”
“You are bad, and you could get a tan if you stopped hanging out in bedrooms on your days off,” I quipped.
“Thanks. That really makes me want to go hang out on the beach with you. The women act like you are some Adonis. It’s kind of insulting. Maybe you could keep your shirt on, give me a
chance,” he said.
I slapped my bare chest and washboard abs. “I work too damn hard to cover this up,” I said with a grin. “The public should not be denied my awesomeness.”
“I hate you.”
“Will you be my best man?” I said, wrapping my arm around his shoulders as we walked out. I was taller than him by several inches, which was another point of contention with him.
“No.”
“You know you want to. I’m sure Mia will have hot bridesmaids.”
“No.”
“Thanks. I knew I could count on you.”
We parted ways in the parking lot. I made him promise not to stand me up. I loved to tease the guy.
We met at my favorite spot and headed out for a day of surfing. It was nearly five by the time we finished for the day. Jaxon had spent most of his time on the beach, flirting with women and getting a stack of phone numbers. I realized then he really wasn’t ready to settle down. He was a consummate bachelor. If that made him happy, so be it.
I was dog tired when I strolled through the doors of my building. I was about to head into the elevator when the night watchman waved me over.
“Mr. Jones!”
“What’s up?” I asked, dragging my tired ass toward him.
“This was delivered for you,” he said, holding out a box with Amazon Prime tape on it. I didn’t think I had ordered anything, but maybe someone at the station had.
I took the box, looked at it, and noticed it was from New York. Mia had sent me something. I listened to the box to make sure it wasn’t ticking or leaking anything gross. It seemed innocent enough. I smiled, thanked the man, and headed for the elevator. I couldn’t wait to see what she had sent me.
I rushed to my door and ripped open the package the second I was inside. I pulled out something flat and rubber.
“What the fuck is this?” I muttered.
I flipped the package over and realized it was a blow-up doll. I burst into laughter when I pulled the note out of the package.
“Her name is Judy. Maybe she’ll marry you?” the note read.
I shook my head, laughing at the woman’s sense of humor. That was the Mia I remembered. She gave as good as she got. I was already thinking about what I would send her in return. I opened the package and nearly took out an eye when the damn doll inflated in my hands.